Stop playing this club!!

I saw information on rampage youtube in July.

I am not cheating.
But the club banned me from playing.
And claimed my chips about 6K.
I don't have another account.
Playing for the app first time.
Customer service did not reply.
I'm an idiot to believe youtuber.

If you win, you won't get paid.

In my opinion, I think the mods should let this thread air and see who else and what else is posted in it.

I don't play on apps, but I have seen a number of new threads in NVG popping up, alleging some kind of impropriety at an app or apps that Rampage (Ethan Yau) is associated with or is an agent or joint owner/game runner of etc, and then being very quickly taken down by the mods.

They were probably taken down due to a lack of evidence and "receipts" but perhaps the OP of each of those threads would have come forward with receipts, or other players on the same app would have done, had the thread survived longer.

I don't know whether the app(s) in question do have a lot of colluding going on, or if they have the potential to be a type of Ponzi scheme, but I think it is right and proper that information and peoples' experiences are aired on this forum.

One thing I will add, that is purely "circumstantial evidence", that Rampage, and possibly some other streamers, might have been making large profits from apps that they are agents for and/or own, is that he and some other streamers, well one actually, Mariano, have moved up to high stakes very quickly, and it doesn't appear to have happened organically through building a bankroll purely from playing poker at conventional venues or on conventional on line sites.

Now it could be possible that they are backed for the bulk of the action at high stakes, or that their legitimate revenue from YouTube and things like merchandising is really large, or maybe the high stakes venues gift them a buy in, or half a buy in as appearance money, I don't know.

So I think them playing these high stakes so quickly after playing small and medium stakes is another reason why this thread should be given time to develop.

Let me withdraw when I don't win too much
When I run good, do not let me withdraw.
What a joke.

Yeah, I'd like to know how this Rampage guy is constantly playing high stakes games punting 100s of thousands of dollars to people on a regular basis, how does he have a bottomless pit roll when he was doing 5/5 vlogs a few years ago? Crypto maybe? getting staked? Pretty sure YouTube doesn't pay that well. I know he won a few tourneys, but they were not that big of scores.

perhaps do the above haha
+6K and go to high stake

Definitely need a lot more hard evidence from multiple people before it can be established if there is any wrong-doing.

Until that happens, perhaps the thread title should be changed to,
"A possibility (as yet unproven) that ClubGG: Rampage poker club is a Ponzi scheme rife with collusion."

That title would be fairer on Rampage, and on Mariano who I mentioned, because they are both innocent as of now.

lol
Didn't give me a reasonable explanation, and block me.

What was your name in the club?

I was actually banned a few months back from that club for winning too much, similar to what they're accusing you of in the screenshot. If you are innocent of their accusations as you claim, it seems they may have incorrectly linked your account to a previous one that was banned for those reasons.

My speculation is that there’s not much Rampage can do - he’s an agent and was/is paid to advertise the club. He is most likely not part of the ownership nor would he have much say in this matter. I believe this club is actually run by JohnnyVibes and some people associated with him.

Who’s your agent?

I don't think so.
When my account is 3000, I can withdraw 1000.
When my account is 5000, you can't play , I claimed your chip. haha

Rampage

There should probably be a general thread for all the random club grievances. It's beyond common knowledge that you're taking a huge risk playing in these completely unregulated games. It's not newsworthy each time someone gets stiffed as a result of their own actions. It's OPs word against theirs and I really don't know or care who is right.

This should be common knowledge-- Rampage, Mariano, etc... have made hundreds of thousands in rake from these ClubGG clubs since the pandemic. Now he's winning in these juicy high stakes games, but getting that initial bankroll came in a large part from here.

He also is making like $150k/yr in YouTube revenue, who knows how much in merch. Rampage is raking maybe $400k/yr even before poker.

If you scroll thru the first youtube videos when Mariano started promoting these scam clubs. I asked if he was personally backing the funds. He replied yes he was.

All app games are shady at best and it would be best for poker that they would banned.

If Rampage is his agent it's on Rampage to make it right

How do you know he wasn't rightfully banned?

Not very impressive when he's losing 500k / year lol

I encourage you to look into the GG Poker / Club GG relationship and all of the scandals that the people working for them have been involved in.

Rampage seems somewhat naive to the realities of the poker world. Do your own due diligence.

ok,ty.
manager coming block this account, remove the chat.
GG

Because they took his money. Let's see how foolish you are when I remove the fluff. Send me money. If I decide I want it and am willing to lie I get to take it from you. If not you get to play poker. Would you send me your money? BTW not a real offer on my part; for illustrative purposes only.

If OP is playing from anywhere within the US, for real money, he should make that clear. It may matter in getting his claim resolved.

"Give the man hees money"!

You're a lawyer right? Is it not super illegal to be taking rake from running these online clubs?

I think the idea is that all chips on these apps are play chips, and this is the essence of no laws having been broken because all of the financial transactions are player to player, as if they are just random transactions that happened to take place.

Likely, it is one massive legal grey/gray area and that might be what is stopping any legal action being taken.

It does seem like a huge loophole that the people that organise games on these apps and are running them 100% as a business are running online poker and circumventing the normal laws.

It reminds me of window tax, which was around in European countries 2 to 3 centuries ago, a tax on property owners calculated on the number of windows that the property had. Many property owners would brick up their windows and so pay less tax.

Why didn't the government just change the law and say that a bricked up window still counts? Similarly, if the US or whoever wants to ban/restrict/regulate online poker then why don't they make what agents and game organisers are doing illegal?

A previous poster made a great point that Rampage, Mariano et al, may well have "legitimately" made a small fortune in rake as agents, while at the same time not doing anything outright shady such as withholding player funds without a very good reason to do so.

However, I typed legitimately in quotes, because IMO, what they are doing by promoting app play and by being agents in it, is the equivalent of your butcher selling you beef burgers that are actually made of horse meat, or selling you designer watches or sunglasses that are fake. In other words, they are acting unethically.

Because of this, they should not be treated with reverence as these fun loving vloggers who are always wiling to engage with their fans and who make happy, feel good content.

The reality is that they are ruthless business people with as it turns out, a paper thin facade masking their true character.

Im also starting to think GG has these "agents" on purpose - so they can legally distance themselves if anything goes wrong, or the Govt gets involved

"it wasnt GG... it was Rampage doing it all" etc..