John Oliver Tapel wins maiden title at the Metro Walk To A Million for ₱867,470 (~$15,550)

After six days of heated competition, John Oliver Tapel emerged as the newest Metro Walk To A Million champion! As a newcomer to the Metro Card Club, Tapel overcame the regulars, including a few at the final table to claim his first ever poker live title. For his achievement, Tapel pocketed a cool ₱867,470 (~$15,550) payout deal and a trophy to commemorate the moment.

Final 9 payouts

*Final three ICM deal

If you missed the showdown, you can relive the final table race right here via the recorded livestream with commentary by Jester Intia and Ron Regis. We also have a brief recap down below.

Metro Walk To A Million review

From the get-go, there was no doubt that the Metro Walk To A Million was going to set a new record, it was just a matter of how high the pot would grow. With long lines at registration, and alternates waiting on the sidelines, the turnout was an immense 1,656, the largest ever for this event. In turn, the prize pool surged to ₱5,140,000 (~USD 92,150) with the champion guaranteed to earn over ₱1.2 Million.

Date: June 14-19, 2023
Buy in: ₱3,500 (~USD 63)
Guarantee: ₱3,000,000 (~USD 53,790)
Entries: 1,656
Prize pool: ₱5,140,000 (~USD 92,150)
Day 2 / ITM: 199 players

Final Day rundown

Day 2 saw 199 players return then trim down to the final 18 players. The final day opened with another newcomer at the top of the pack, Marlon Laxamana, who carried his mighty stack all the way to the final table. Leading up to the final table, one of the most impressive movers was George Salud who entered with just 4 bb and finished in 12th place. The final table was formed at the fall of Darrel Stephen Austria in 10th place with {as}{qd} missing the board against {7s}{7d}.

As mentioned, Laxamana entered with the largest stack, and to emphasize the enormity, he had a quarter of the chips in play at his disposal. That’s an overwhelming 11M out of the 41M total chips. However, the tides shifted on the leader. Short stacked Emmanuel Segismundo doubled up twice then on his third showdown, he dethroned Laxamana down to mid-rank.

Just like Laxamana, Segismundo couldn’t keep the lead intact and progressively dropped in rank. After Gary Serafin fell in 9th place on a brutal Ace-King over Vince Ortillo’s Ace-King flush, Segismundo crashed in 8th place. The only Day 1 chip leader remaining, Michael Concepcion exited next (6th place) after doubling up eventual champion Oliver Tapel. Marciel Cerbito followed in 6th place then Tapel earned his first final table knockout in Laxamana.

Leading up to heads up, Tapel doubled up through Ortillo who then busted in 4th place. Tapel doubled up again at three-handed through Jeffrey Calogne to amass a commanding lead. The final three then struck an ICM deal. When the game proceeded, Calogne recovered the lost chips by railing Sandy Cea in 3rd place with {kc}{3c} spiking the King to dust pocket Tens. This brought about heads up between Calogne and Tapel. Tapel shipped it with {kh}{9c} staying ahead of {qc}{7c} on a board {8h}{8c}{10c}{jh}{5h}.

Congratulations to Oliver Tapel for his victory!