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.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:54 PM
RED CROSS is a scam. What a waste of money. You could have donated it to real homeless people instead of corrupt organizations that spend that money on champagne and nice cars. Wow.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Hello Metro Guys,
Correction:
Chris Tan, thats me, came in 4th place. Kent came in 5th.
hehehe…. Thanks.
Chris Tan
August 21st, 2008 at 3:02 PM
Hi Chris,
Sorry about that! We got our info from pokerstars. We’ll adjust accordingly
See you at the metro!