“DJ Mike” Manlapaz Crowned Newest RVS Cup Main Event Champion; Marvin Cerbito Wins POY

Running red-hot throughout the entire race, “DJ Mike” Manlapaz was destined to be the 2025 RVS Cup Philippine Poker Championship Main Event champion. After bagging the overall chip lead in the final entry flight, Manlapaz stayed in command on Day 2, closing as chip leader once again. He completed the hat trick on the final day, defeating Lance De Vera in just one stunning heads-up hand.

For his achievement, Manlapaz earned the largest ICM deal of ₱1,497,755 along with a seat worth ₱11,000 to the upcoming Metro Christmas Special. In a post-game interview with the champ, he shared with Metro commentator, Jester Intia, that it was his first-ever RVS Cup. 

“At the start of the year, in January, I talked to my wife and told her that I wanted to play the RVS Cup this year. I felt that I needed to play and that I will play my best to become the champion.” 

According to Manlapaz, his strategy throughout was just to play his hands as best as possible, focus on position play, and win or lose, he accepts the consequences. When asked about the winning hand where he shoved holding {9d}{4d} on a board {2s}{js}{4c} and got incredibly lucky on the turn {4s} to seize the title, the champ said,

“I’ve watched Lance and noticed that he c-bets alot. So I didn’t think he had anything which is why I pushed. And also, I wanted the game to end because I had to go, I still have to work.” 

Relive the final table race via the livestream. Just click here or the image. 

Final 18 Payouts

RVS CUP – BY THE NUMBERS

• Date: November 12-17, 2025
• Guarantee: ₱10,000,000 (~US$ 168,700)
• Buy-in: ₱15,000 (~US$ 250)
• Entries: 749
• Prize pool: ₱10,111,500 (~US$ 171,300)
• ITM: 106 players

Final Table – Recap

18 players returned to the Metro Card Club for the final day of the RVS Cup Main Event led by Manlapaz. One of the early bust outs was the 2o16 champion Anacleto Quijano in 17th place followed later by Renniel Galvez who missed the final table by one spot, falling in 10th place.

At the final table, Manlapaz tarted his run in the bottom half of the counts then claimed a sizable pot with a set to ascend into third position. He continued to grind and inched up one notch, just behind De Vera, after landing a flush on the flop with {10c}{8c} that got value off Sid Paitao. Paitao could not let go of a flopped top pair {qd}{10d} on a board that completed {2c}{qc}{7c}{5s}{as} to drop to 2 big blinds and soon fall in 9th place.

Justin Geronimo was ousted next in 8th place with hooks dominated by cowboys throughout the board while Marvin Cerbito (pictured below) was saved when his Ace-Queen found two queens on the board against Revo David‘s Ace-King. By this time, Manlapaz had squeaked into the top spot with the table still at seven players.

Short-stacked Bart Cerbito was given his walking papers in 7th place when his pocket tens were cracked by De Vera’s {qh}{10h} on a board {2s}{3h}{5h}{3d}{qc}. De Vera tried to bring the hatchet down on Monz Villariza but his pocket eights was far behind pocket nines to lose a chunk and in turn, send Villariza to the top of the counts.

Villariza’s rise however was short-lived as he dropped in rank then fell in 6th place to M.Cerbito when his {as}{jh} was unable to improve against {kd}{ks}. Again, a new chip leader emerged with M.Cerbito now in command. Manlapaz also dropped in rank and at one point downsized to just 7 big blinds.

Manlapaz’s road to recovery began when he doubled up through David with {ac}{jc} over {ad}{10h} then won two sizable pots against De Vera to return to a healthy second-position with 29 big blinds. Manlapaz proceeded to clean out the last RVS Cup champion in the field, Jeff Calma (pictured above) in 5th place to share the top spot with M.Cerbito.

The pots continued to swing Manlapaz’s way with a big blind special holding {6d}{5c} improving to a full house on a board {2d}{5s}{5d}{8d}[2c} to dust M.Cerbito’s {kd}{kc}. During the hand, M.Cerbito used four time-banks before making the big river call. Then Manlapaz eliminated David in 4th place with Ace-Jack dominating Ten-Nine throughout.

At three-handed, the chips moved fast around the felt with De Vera (pictured above) and M.Cerbito taking chunks off Manlapaz to send him back to earth and further to the shortest stack. Manlapaz recovered again with pocket kings standing firm against M.Cerbito’s missed open-ended. From there, M.Cerbito’s woes continued, falling in 3rd place to Manlapaz with pocket nines dominated by pocket jacks.

The final two players quickly struck an ICM deal, and left ten percent of the pot in the middle along with the trophy to battle for. In just one hand, Manlapaz sealed the victory with {9d}{4d} spiking a shocking trips on the board {2s}{js}{4c}{4s}{6s} to deny {jd}{10c} top pair.

Congratulations to “DJ Mike” Manlapaz, the newest RVS Cup champion!

Marvin Cerbito Wins Player of the Series

Marvin Cerbito delivered one of the festival’s standout performances at the 2025 RVS Cup, reaching multiple final tables — including 3rd place in the Main Event, a win in the Survivor Knockout, and 8th place in the Pre-Event. His consistent deep runs earned him the Player of the Series title! For his outstanding results, Cerbito received a 4-day, 3-night stay at The District Boracay, complete with airfare allowance.

Nikolas Rivera Takes Down  The Closer

The final side event of this year’s RVS Cup series was The Closer which drew a field of 154 entries at ₱4,000 each. This was more than enough to crush the 300K guarantee for a richer ₱554,400 prize pool. Emerging victorious was Nikolas Rivera for his first Metro title and the largest payout of Nikolas Rivera of ₱122,136. 

That wraps up the 2025 RVS Cup! Congratulations to all of the winners! Next up is the Metro Christmas Special which takes place from December 9 to 15 featuring at ₱5 Million Main Event guarantee! See you there!