End the Year Merry at the Metro Christmas Special

For the third consecutive year, the Metro Card Club brings players the Metro Christmas Special, the club’s signature year-end tradition. Packaged with a juicy ₱5 Million Main Event guarantee, the series gives everyone one more chance at closing 2025 on a high note.

Metro Christmas Special: Through The Years

Looking back at the first MCS in 2023, Emmanuel Segismundo overcame the 336 field and a star-studded final table to be crowned the event’s inaugural champion. The win awarded him an early holiday bonus in the amount of ₱1,148,061 (~$37,500).

In the following year, young gun Rene Mar “Revo” David rose to the throne, outlasting a field of 580 runners to capture his first ever Metro title at the Metro Christmas Special 2024. David lodged a cool ₱1,000,000 into his pocket.

As the 2025 edition approaches, the question is: will one of these two champions unwrap a second Christmas crown or will a new name rise to the spotlight? We will soon find out!

The games are about to begin and the title is wide open.

2025 MCS Main Event: All You Need To Know

The 2025 Metro Christmas Special  features a ₱5,000,000 guarantee and while that’s a very generous offering, the Metro will be looking to crack its ₱5,800,000 event record prize pool set last year. The Main Event runs from December 10 to 15 with five starting flights scheduled at buy-in of ₱11,000.

• Day 1A: December 10, 2025
• Day 1B: December 11, 2025
• Day 1C: December 12, 2025
• Day 1D/1E: December 13, 2025
• Day 2: December 14, 2025
• Final Day: December 15, 2025

Players start with a 25,000 stack which is 250 times the opening blinds. The first four flights will see blinds increase every 30 minutes while Day 1E is a turbo with blinds increasing every 20 minutes. The turbo flight is the last chance for players to enter and is tailor-made for evening flyers and weekend warriors.

Structure and Other Important Info

For players looking to secure a seat at a fraction of the cost, there are two Main Event Satellites scheduled – December 1o and 12. These are milestone satellites with players automatically guaranteed a seat once 50K chips has been accumulated. Buy-in is ₱2,400. Players start with a 10,000 stack (200 times the opening blinds) with blinds climbing every 20 minutes.

MCS Pre-Event and Other Side Events

Before the Main Event gets on the felt, players can warm up their skills at the Metro Christmas Special Pre-Event 200K GTD and win the first side event trophy. This is a single day tournament running on December 9 with buy-in at ₱3,000.

As for structure, it is more on the turbo side. Once registration closes, blinds move up at a faster 20 minute pace until a champion emerges. If a deal is reached at any stage, the pace quickens even more, buzzing every ten minutes.

Other events in the 2025 MCS schedule are listed below:

• NLH Turbo: December 10 –  ₱3,500 buy-in
• Power Button: December 11 – ₱4,000 buy-in
• NLH After Dark Turbo: ₱3,500 buy-in
• Survivor Knockout 200K GTD: ₱3,000 buy-in
• The Closer 300K GTD: ₱4,000 buy-in

2025 Metro MVP and POY To Be Determined

The 2025 MCS also serves as the last window for players to boost their Metro Player of the Year points. Last year, Lester Edoc topped the leaderboard to be recognized as the Metro’s Most Valuable Player while the inaugural Metro POY title was awarded to Lemmor Patulot (pictured above).

Finishing 9th in the leaderboard rankings, Patulot earned a spot in the Top 10 TLB Final Table showdown, He went on to sweep it to win the first ever Metro POY title. His victory not only came with a cash prize, Patulot was also honored with a one-year contract as a Metro Team Pro.

As of November 23, Marlon Laxamana heads this year’s standings with 27,430.16 points. He has a significant lead over his nearest rival, Jun Amsic, who sits in second rank with 18,996.27 points. It will be a hot race to the finish as others still have plenty of chances to close the gap and steal the top spot.

Current Top 10 TLB Standings

Metro TLB Mechanics