Josua Rivera Wins METRO 2M410K / Filipino Poker Tour 5
The biggest tournament our local poker scene has ever seen ended last night with one of The Metro Card Club regulars taking home a cool One Million Pesos and bragging rights as the champion of this historic tournament. Outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting 325 other players, not to mention another star-studded final table, is not an easy feat. The final table included Erick Sia (2nd place in the last FPT 3 and APPT Manila money finisher), Ronnel Sto.Tomas (Online poker pro and Champion of the FPT charity tournament), Jun Amito (three-time FPT final table finisher in the last 5 tournaments), and other well-known faces in the poker community.
Josua was actually a dark horse in the final table. Several more seasoned veterans like Erick and Ronnel were the favorites to win the tournament. Most of the final table was dominated by Nicky Filart, fondly known in the poker community as 11-finger (he DOES have an extra finger in his hand!). Nicky at one point had more than 70% of the total chips in play! After several grueling hours of playing, it came down to 3 players. Josua, Nicky, and Pele Abella (another seasoned cash game player) faced off in a three-way battle that seemed lopsided in the favor of Nicky who had most of the total chips. Josua, who played tight and was under the radar throughout the final table, ended up heads-up against Nicky with a 3-1 chip disadvantage after Pele busted out. This was when he suddenly opened up his play with a masterful strategy. After playing quietly for so long, he suddenly became very loose and aggressive, raising and re-raising almost every hand, and showing his hands every time he pulled a successful bluff. He climbed back from behind and finally ended up winning the tournament and becoming FPT5 Champion.
Here is a list of the final 9 players and their prizes:
1st place Josua Rivera P1,000,000 2nd place Nicky Filart P550,000 3rd Place Pele Abella P300,000 4th Place Jun Amito P230,000 5th Place Denver Dy P180,000 6th Place Nick Chlebeck P140,000 7th Place Ronnel Sto.Tomas P115,000 8th Place Mark Amparo P80,000 9th Place Erick Sia P65,000
Congratulations to all those who made it into the money too, as the metro paid 30 places, with the winners getting at least 20,000 for their efforts. Congratulations to Josua Rivera for showing great poker skill and becoming part of history by winning the biggest tournament yet. Congratulations also to The Metro Card Club and Pokerstars for another successful event.
We all know that this is only the beginning. Expect only bigger and better tournaments from The best Poker Room in Asia, The Metro Card Club!
Posted by The Metro on October 6, 2008 under News & Updates. 42 Comments.
The New Metro Kicks Off With Record-Breaking Tournament
The New Metro card club opened its doors today with The Metro 2M-4-10K Tournament, shattering previous local tournament records for number of participants when an unprecedented 328 poker players came to join this milestone in local poker history. No other local tournament has come even close to breaking the 300 players mark. This tournament now has a P3,280,000 prize pool, meaning the winner will receive at least ONE MILLION PESOS for a P10,000 buy-in.
The New Metro, with a seating capacity of 300 players, had to resort to giving late-comers alternate seats, and also had to turn away dozens of other hopefuls who wanted to join but didn’t make the cutoff. Several disappointed players who were used to local tournaments starting late and always not filling to capacity expected to have seats available due to the fact that The New Metro can seat 300 players. Needless to say, this record turnout exceeded all expectations both from the organizers and also the local poker community.
This momentous event just shows that poker is still geared toward a tremendous explosion in popularity here in the country. The Metro Card Club, with its vision of making poker a mainstream sport and activity, has proven it today with this tournament.
Stay tuned to this website for more updates on the tournament.
Come and watch the tournament at the New Metro Card Club, still located at Metrowalk Commercial Complex. Be a part of history! See you at The Metro!
Posted by The Metro on October 5, 2008 under News & Updates. 4 Comments.
The New Metro Card Club
The Best Poker Room In Asia Just Got Better.
It has been over a year since The Metro Card Club first opened its doors to the poker community, and what a great year it has been. The Metro immediately blazed its way to the top of the local poker industry and set the standards that make it the benchmark for every other poker room today. It provided an unparalleled poker experience to all poker players, and also elevated the awareness and integrity of the game to non-poker players as well. The success of The Metro is all anchored on its motto, “Putting Players First”, and true enough, it is its great relationship with the poker community that made it the best in the country today.
Now, The Metro Card Club opens its doors once again, but this time in a bigger, better facility designed to give you the best world-class poker experience that you can have. The New Metro Card Club now boasts Thirty Poker tables, more than double of the previous Eleven tables, in a brand new, 800 sq.m. State-of-the-art poker room with amenities like a bar and lounge area for players. The New Metro is also still located in the Metrowalk Commercial Complex, making it easily accessible to everybody. Be prepared for more action-packed tables, bigger and better tournaments, and more international quality poker events like The Asia Pacific Poker Tour, Filipino Poker Tour, and many others. Expect to see world-class professional players more often too, and also get a chance to play with them. The New Metro Card Club will be the place to play poker not only in the Philippines, but in all of Asia.
The best poker room in Asia just got better, and you are welcome to be a part of it. Join The Metro Card Club as it enters a new era in the growth and awareness of Poker in the Philippines and all over the world.
Posted by The Metro on October 3, 2008 under News & Updates. 3 Comments.
PokerStars Satellites For FPT5!
Online Satellites Schedule:
- Phase 1
- Open Freerolls: September 11 to October 1, 2008 - 8PM, 10PM
- $3 Qualifier: September 11 to October 1, 2008 - 9PM
- Phase 2
- Open Freerolls: September 14, 21, 28 and October 2 - 8PM
- $24 Qualifier: September 14, 21, 28 and October 2 - 9PM
How To Join
- Go to PokerStars and click on the “Play Here” or “Free Download” icon to download the software.
- Follow the step‐by‐step instructions to creating an account.
- Log‐in and find the Filipino Poker Tour 5: Open Freerolls under the following tabs: Tourney > Regional
- Play! Good luck at the tables!
Note: Winners get a buy‐in only. Players may win more than 1 seat but cannot cash‐out or convert their seats for another tournament. Players must also pay for their own way to the event. Good luck at the tables!
For more information, please visit www.filipinopokertour.com or email us at filipinopokertourph@gmail.com.
Good luck at the tables!
Posted by The Metro on September 12, 2008 under News & Updates. 6 Comments.
The Metro Presents Filipino Poker Tour 5
Posted by The Metro on September 6, 2008 under News & Updates, Special Events. 6 Comments.
Filipino Poker Tour Charity Tournament a Big Success, Raises P1 Million for Charity
A total of 130 players came out last Saturday to the Metro Card Club for the 4th Filipino Poker Tour event. This time, they were not there to play for millions of pesos in prize money, but to support a noble cause. The Metro Card Club, Pokerstars, and the host of the tournament Ms. Tessa Prieto-Valdez, went all out to make sure people who came to play got their money’s worth. Several big local celebrities came to support the event alongside the poker community. Richard Gomez, Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasquez, John Estrada, and Priscilla Mereilles were among them.
Over 70 prizes were given away, and almost everyone who joined got something for their time and effort, even if they busted out early. The Rebuys pumped the buyin to almost P900,000 by the end off the rebuy period, and the million peso mark was cleared by some generous individuals who pledged to donate their prize to the same charity.
By the time final table play came, the top ten players of the field turned out to be again mostly Metro Card Club veterans, showing that Poker really is a skill game. A short list of notable final table players included Kent Del Rosario, FPT 2 Champion, Ronald Singson, FPT 3 3rd placer, Nick Galan, APPT celebrity/media event champion, Sunshine Samson, Winner of multiple local tournaments, John Etsrada, Metro75 winner, and Ronnel Sto.Tomas, FPT 1 money finisher. These players are all consistent final table finishers, and amongst themselves have won millions and millions of pesos in tournament winnings.
After a grueling final table that lasted several hours, Ronnel Sto.Tomas emerged the winner after outlasting Ronald Singson in their heads up match. Here is the list of winners for the final table and their corresponding prizes.
- Ronnel Sto. Tomas - 4ft x 6ft Ivan Acuna Acrylic Painting
- Ronald Singson - El Nido Vacation Package with Airfare
- Rafael Escano - club noah weekend package
- Kent Del Rosario - Discovery Shores Vacation Package with airfare for 2
- Christopher Tan - Fridays resort bora w/ airfare for 2
- John Estrada - Sony Ericson Phone + Uratex Mattress queen-size mattress worth P20k
- Sunshine Samson - Sony Ericson Latest Model Phone + Mandarin Hotel Weekend Package
- Joseph Gatchalian - Sony ericson latest cellphone model & urban spa treatment
- Craig Heron - Uratex Queen-size mattress and urban spa Treatment
- Nick Galan - Discovery Shores Weekend Package
The biggest winner of the night was of course the Philippine National Red Cross and Assumption Charities, who got at least P500,000 each from the big hearted poker community. Congratulations to everyone who worked hard on the event, making it a huge success! Bigger and better event like this are sure to follow!
See you at The Metro!
Posted by The Metro on August 11, 2008 under News & Updates. 3 Comments.
The Metro Hosts The 1st Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament
Tournament Prizes (in no particular order)
- 40″ by 60″ painting by Gus Albor (valued around php 100,000)
- Discovery Shores, Boracay Vacation Packages with airfare
- Discovery Shores, Boracay Package without airfare
- Friday’s Resort, Boracay Vacation Package
- Boracay Tropics, Boracay Vacation Package
- Pearl Farm, Davao Vacation Package
- Amorita Resort Bohol Vacation Package
- Hotel Elizabeth GC , Baguio
- Mactan ShangriLa Resort Hotel GC
- Club Noah Resort, Palawan Vacation Package
- Makati Shangri-La Hotel Weekend Package
- Mandarin Oriental Hotel Weekend Package
- Mandarin Oriental Spa Treatments
- Crown Plaza Hotel Weekend Package
- Tides Resort Boracay Vacation Package
- Sony Ericsson phones (2 units)
- TV - Still getting details
- Uratex mattresses - worth 30k each ( 2 units)
- Swatch watches ( 4 pieces)
- 20k of betting chips in Heritage Hotel Casino
- Mizuno golf putters ( 2 pieces)
- Urban Spa Treatments ( 10 packages)
- National Bookstore GC ( worth 20K)
- Bench GC (worth 20k)
- Crossings GC ( worth 10k)
- Assorted dining GC from 10 restaurants
- Rayban shades ( 6 pairs)
- HP Laptop ( still for confirmation)
- PAL trip to HK (still for confirmation)
- Store Specialist, Inc GC (worth 10k)
- Raffle prizes for non-winners, raffle for each round for the losers and door prizes.
Raffle / door prizes for non-winners:
- Emphasis Salon (worth 10k)
- Philippe’s Salon (worth 5K)
- Nivea products for baby, ladies and men
- Adidas GC
- Nike GC
- Ferrari apparel
- Duty Free GC
- Embassy GC
- Twinings Tea packages
- Nokia phone
- Samsung phone
- Coke Light 6-packs
- American Standard toilet accessories (worth 10k)
- Timex watches
- Mizuno GCs (worth 1k)
- Big & Small GC (worth 10k)
- Religioso Shop GC (worth 5k)
- House of Laurel GC (worth 10k)
- Firma Shop GC (worth 5k)
- Haagen Daz Ice Cream GC
And lots, lots more!!!! Will add double by next week!
Please note: This is all for charity so no cash prize but more than 50 fabulous prizes worth over 500k in total.
Posted by The Metro on July 19, 2008 under News & Updates, Special Events. 11 Comments.
Derick Hernandez Eliminated On Day 3 of WSOP 2008
One day shy of making it in the money, Derick had a very big chip stack and could have cruised into day 4. The poker gods decided otherwise, and in a table that had only one bigger stack, Derick got Pocket Kings. After some aggressive betting pre-flop, on the flop, and on the turn, on the river with a board of 
, Alberto Font moved all in against Frederick Hernandez. Font had Hernandez covered. Hernandez made the call and showed 
and Font showed 
. After the hand, Font moved up to 773,000 in chips and became the new chip leader.
Although we did not have any of our local guys cash this year, they still had a strong showing making it to day 3 in a field of over 6,800 other hopefuls.
Congratulations to Neil and Derick for representing the country and showing the world how good our poker players really are!
Posted by The Metro on July 14, 2008 under News & Updates. 3 Comments.
Derick Hernandez Makes Day 3, Busts Out Phil Gordon
WSOP Day 3: Our Philippine and METRO contingent to the WSOP 2008 got down to the last player after Neil Arce busted out due to a bad run of unavoidable hands. Derick Hernandez, Metro player and local poker professional, cruised through day 2 and will start day 3 with 282,000 in chips, not far from the top chip leaders.
It was a roller coaster ride for Neil Arce, who at one point had over 200,000 in chips. A bad run with big pots crippled him to 80,000 just 6 hands after getting up to 200k. The blinds eventually caught up and he was forced to make a move and pushed with K-J and did not hit. He finished a day shy of being in the money, but again a strong showing for him.
Derick Hernandez, on the other hand, showed excellent form and skill when he slowly but surely amassed a good stack of chips, even with uber-pros like Phil Gordon at his table. The highlight of his tournament so far was when, On a flop of 
, Phil Gordon bet 40,000 into an 84,000 pot. Derick thinks for several minutes before announcing all in. Gordon only had 41,000 behind, and he then tanks for several minutes. He then got up from the table and said, “Well, I don’t have it, but I don’t think he has it either.” Gordon called.
Gordon: 
Hernandez: 
Gordon then started calling for a ten. The turn falls the 
, and Gordon continued to call out for a ten as the 
hits the river.
After the hand, Derick moved up to a formidable 282,000 in chips.
Go Derick! Go Philippines! Go Metro!
Posted by The Metro on July 11, 2008 under News & Updates. 1 Comment.
METRO Champion Neil Arce Makes Day 2 of WSOP Main Event
Representing The Metro Card Club and more importantly, the Philippines, current FPT Champion Neil Arce showed his winning form by making it to day 2 of the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. Neil Cashed in last year’s WSOP, winning $51,000 making 222nd place in a 6,500 player field. Also making it to day 2 is Derick Hernandez, another METRO player and local poker veteran who made the APPT final table last year.
The 2008 World Series is being contested by 6,844 players, all fighting for the lion’s share of the $64,333,600 prize pool. Of those players who started, 666 will walk away with at least $21,230. The last person standing will take home the coveted WSOP Champions Bracelet and a cool $9,119,517 in cash.
Neil goes into day 2 with a stack of 95,900 while Derick is right behind him with 87,000. The Average stack is Somewhere around 30,000.
Let’s root for our countrymen and fellow Metro Players to make it deep into this contest and represent the Philippines in the poker world once again!
Go Philippines! Go Metro!
Posted by The Metro on July 8, 2008 under News & Updates. No Comments.
