14 Feb Shawn Benitez Sets Bar Sky High For Last Two PPT Main Event Flights
Friday Frenzy at the Metro Card Club with just one option on the 2026 Philippine Poker Tournament menu, the 5M GTD Main Event. The double flight day packed the house with 239 sign-ups for Day 1C and another 165 for the evening’s Day 1D (Turbo). Combined with the earlier flights, the cumulative turnout has now increased to 883 entries with 118 players guaranteed a spot at Day 2 and a share of the prize pool.
Here are the results of the four completed flights:
Day 1A: 321 entries, 45 advanced
Day 1B: 158 entries, 23 advanced
Day 1C: 239 entries, 26 advanced
Day 1D: 165 entries, 24 advanced
Can Anyone Catch Shawn Benitez?
Photo: Shawn Benitez
There was no shortage of big names that turned up for Day 1C with Moses Saquing, Alexis Lim, Edilberto Gopez, and Lemmor Patulot among those that were seen in action. However, rising above the 26 survivors list was a fairly newcomer to the local live tournament scene, Shawn Benitez, with just a few cashes under his belt. Benitez bagged an uber-massive 653,000 (81 bb) stack, equivalent to a staggering 26 starting stacks. With two flights yet to complete, it will be a tall order for the chasers.
Photo: Edmon Rebadulla
At Day 1D’s turbo flight, a total of 165 saddled up and by the time the bubble burst, Edmon Rebadulla stole the show with a hefty 560,000 (70 bb) stack. He just edged Metro Team Pro Czardy Rivera who bagged up 537,000 (67 bb). Benitez, Rebadulla, and Rivera have now taken over the top three spots in the Day 2 leaderboard.
Also among the flight’s 24 survivors was the defending champion Rene Mar David with 175,000 (21 bb). He is currently the only PPT champion that has advanced to Day 2. Other notables finding success were David Erquiaga (139,000), Vamerdino Magsakay (60,000), and near bottom of the rung was the newly minted PPT Pre-Event champion, Anthony Castro, with a 50,000 (6 bb) stack.
Day 1C Survivors – 26 Players
Bagging time: Level 18 blinds 4,000-8,000 big blind ante 8,000
Average stack: 28 big blinds
| 1 | Shawn Philip Benitez | 653,000 |
| 2 | Gian Carlo Castro | 423,000 |
| 3 | Luke Pangan | 367,000 |
| 4 | Rowell R Ama | 331,000 |
| 5 | Badrudin Ampatuan | 310,000 |
| 6 | Jeremiah Maraig | 272,000 |
| 7 | Raymond Tiu | 268,000 |
| 8 | Marvin Cerbito | 262,000 |
| 9 | Peter John Steiner | 239,000 |
| 10 | Karen Talamayan | 228,000 |
| 11 | Richard Nakila | 220,000 |
| 12 | Cesar Aquino Jr | 200,000 |
| 13 | Xiang Rong | 185,000 |
| 14 | Alvin Jeff Sembrano | 183,000 |
| 15 | Qi Xia | 160,000 |
| 16 | Joshua Figuerres | 155,000 |
| 17 | Jenard Ivan Clado | 147,000 |
| 18 | Christina Ni Jin | 139,000 |
| 19 | John Jay Magadan | 139,000 |
| 20 | Marciel Cerbito | 134,000 |
| 21 | Jung Gi Hong | 106,000 |
| 22 | Don Juan Dela Serna | 104,000 |
| 23 | Alvir Inocentes | 104,000 |
| 24 | Euryd Rivera | 91,000 |
| 25 | Stanley Pestano Jarata | 88,000 |
| 26 | Rhenzo Montemayor | 77,000 |
Day 1D Survivors – 24 Players
Bagging time: Level 18 blinds 4,000-8,000 big blind ante 8,000
Average stack: 21 big blinds
| 1 | Edmon Rebadulla | 560,000 |
| 2 | Czardy Earldale Rivera | 537,000 |
| 3 | Muhammad Darmawan | 337,000 |
| 4 | Jeffrey B. Calonge | 279,000 |
| 5 | Alekhine Karl Isidro | 264,000 |
| 6 | William L. Sarmiento | 256,000 |
| 7 | Bonifacio D. Mondalo | 227,000 |
| 8 | Benjamin T. Ebarle | 180,000 |
| 9 | Rene Mar David | 175,000 |
| 10 | John A. Calamiong | 166,000 |
| 11 | Dave Jansen Erquiaga | 139,000 |
| 12 | Peejay Aratea | 138,000 |
| 13 | Denasto Quibuyen | 128,000 |
| 14 | Benigno Jojo Ledina | 103,000 |
| 15 | Jonald O. Garcia | 102,000 |
| 16 | Danilo III Cruz Hosena | 85,000 |
| 17 | Jester Reyes Intia | 65,000 |
| 18 | Ruzzel De Leon Jose | 63,000 |
| 19 | Jeoffrey L. Sibal | 61,000 |
| 20 | Vamerdino Magsakay | 60,000 |
| 21 | Jack Daniel Cortez | 59,000 |
| 22 | Anthony B. Castro | 50,000 |
| 23 | Rodrick Daquer Privado | 49,000 |
| 24 | David T. Chan | 41,000 |
Day 1A and Day 1B Results
Day 1A Survivors – 45 Players
Bagging time: Level 17 blinds 3,000-6,000 big blind ante 6,000
Average stack: 29 big blinds
| 1 | Romel Calderon | 393,000 |
| 2 | Japhet Percival Manalo | 375,000 |
| 3 | Mathias Olof Christensen | 347,000 |
| 4 | Riener Magbutay III | 327,000 |
| 5 | Renniel Galvez | 317,000 |
| 6 | Kirk Lloyd Lim | 301,000 |
| 7 | Sky Rox Victorino | 282,000 |
| 8 | Federick Cruz | 252,000 |
| 9 | Aaron James Cruz | 248,000 |
| 10 | Benjamin Mangaliman | 247,000 |
| 11 | Christian Lortie Cloutier | 241,000 |
| 12 | Renato Villanueva Jr | 241,000 |
| 13 | William Ysmael | 240,000 |
| 14 | Nicholas John Woodward | 234,000 |
| 15 | Cassidy Battikha | 228,000 |
| 16 | Mark Angelo Vergara | 227,000 |
| 17 | Johnson Tan | 219,000 |
| 18 | Danilo Ola | 205,000 |
| 19 | Eugenio Bestil Jr | 197,000 |
| 20 | Gyeong Tae Yoo | 197,000 |
| 21 | Michael Francis Ollano | 196,000 |
| 22 | Marlon Laxamana | 192,000 |
| 23 | Louie Jhon Princesa | 188,000 |
| 24 | Jansen Tiu | 177,000 |
| 25 | Paul Gordon Wilson | 174,000 |
| 26 | Jose Padilla | 141,000 |
| 27 | Arvin Ulang | 137,000 |
| 28 | Minsu Kim | 130,000 |
| 29 | Michael Justin Malanowski | 121,000 |
| 30 | Renato Pacia | 121,000 |
| 31 | Dean David Fornea | 114,000 |
| 32 | Lester Edoc | 110,000 |
| 33 | Romeo Silvano | 102,000 |
| 34 | Manuel Geronimo | 101,000 |
| 35 | Justine Talaroc | 101,000 |
| 36 | Kent Del Rosario | 87,000 |
| 37 | Benhur Ybarsabal | 80,000 |
| 38 | Rodolf Ramo | 79,000 |
| 39 | Michael Calunsod | 75,000 |
| 40 | Henri Jasper Santos | 62,000 |
| 41 | Bea Garcia | 59,000 |
| 42 | Jhun Aballa | 47,000 |
| 43 | Crisal Basco | 44,000 |
| 44 | Marc-Antoine Gagne | 42,000 |
| 45 | Glenn Marvin Lee | 28,000 |
Day 1B Survivors – 23 Players
Bagging time: Level 17 blinds 3,000-6,000 big blind ante 6,000
Average stack: 28 big blinds
| 1 | Audrix Angelo Vidal | 327,000 |
| 2 | Peter C. Baterina | 319,000 |
| 3 | Justin Jerome Go Geronimo | 301,000 |
| 4 | Wenwu Zhou | 267,000 |
| 5 | Marc Rivera | 253,000 |
| 6 | John Ray Clores | 234,000 |
| 7 | Michael Zeus Segismundo. | 217,000 |
| 8 | Jose Colada | 216,000 |
| 9 | John Niko Costiniano | 183,000 |
| 10 | Christopher Chua | 165,000 |
| 11 | Jun G. Amsic | 163,000 |
| 12 | Joseph Sia | 134,000 |
| 13 | Kier M. Canale | 132,000 |
| 14 | Dave Cristoferson C. Aguila | 129,000 |
| 15 | Alan Tanco Reyes | 122,000 |
| 16 | Rafael Gabriel | 120,000 |
| 17 | Aj A. Acdal | 118,000 |
| 18 | Czar Ian Marcos | 114,000 |
| 19 | Mariano Siy | 106,000 |
| 20 | Claude Henoud | 104,000 |
| 21 | Sandeep Kumar Mirchandani | 84,000 |
| 22 | Raymundo Gomez Jr | 74,000 |
| 23 | Francisco Cruz III | 66,000 |
New Record In Sight?
Only two flights remain and with a total 883 cumulative entries in the bag, the ₱5M GTD will be crushed. The only question is, how high? Will the 2024 record of ₱6,518,016 be surpassed? It certainly has every potential to do so.
With Day 1E already underway and cards in the air at 1pm today, Saturday, February 14, there is still time to enter. Registration closes at the end of Level 10 at 6:30pm.
For evening warriors, Day 1D kicks off at 7pm with registration closing at 10:50pm. This is a turbo flight with blinds increasing every 20 minutes.
Buy-in is just ₱6,000 (~US$ 100). Players receive a 25,000 starting stack which is 250 times the opening blinds. Each flight plays down to ITM of 14% of the field. Registration closes at the end of Level 10.
- For players that want to attempt for multiple stacks, only the largest stack advances to Day 2.
- Day 2 and Final Day blinds increase every 40 minutes.
- PPT structure is Big Blind Ante then changes to Regular Ante at the final table.
2026 PPT Schedule
No Comments