01 Jul Are You Ready? MWAM ₱5M Guaranteed About To Start; Earl Mendoza Wins BluffMasters
The 2025 Metro Walk To A Million festival opened its doors on June 25 and after six days of action heating up the Metro Card Club, the first key champion emerged, Earl Mendoza, at the BluffMasters Main Event. His victory and other completed event winners are at the bottom of the page. But first, the MWAM Main Event is here!
Metro Walk To A Million – MWAM Main Event ₱5M
From July 2 to 7, the annual Metro Walk To a Million – MWAM Main Event storms back to the felt, headlined by a ₱5 Million guaranteed prize pool. Now in its fifth year, this event has grown into one of the Metro’s most coveted titles as proven by the record breaking numbers generated on the past two years. Last year set the bar high with a hefty prize pool of ₱6,695,000 (~$114,150).
Looking back, previous champions are Mark Amparo, Jason Kyle Magbanua, and Oliver John Tapel. In 2024, Jamie Zaragoza shipped the ₱1,230,000 (~$20,970) top prize, becoming the first millionaire in this event’s history.
MWAM Main Event Structure
Earl Mendoza Wins BluffMasters
The MWAM kicked off running with the first ever BluffMasters Main Event ₱1.5M Guaranteed. A total of 571 turned up across five starters for a sweeter prize pool of ₱1,998,500. The money round opened with 82 players remaining led by Shawn Benitez who reached 25th place. Earl Mendoza also entered in the upper tier ranked fifth and proceeded to take it to the finish line to capture his first live win and a well deserved ₱307,560 payday (plus a seat worth ₱27,500 to the Philippine Poker Millions).
You can relive Mendoza’s glorious run via the Metro YouTube livestream:
Recapping the final stages, at three handed, Mendoza was up against two highly decorated players, Metro Team Pro William Ysmael and Edwin Dela Cruz “Hit D’Heat”. Mendoza proceeded to eliminate Ysmael when he pushed with trips jacks and Ysmael tank-called with second pair. This brought about heads up between Mendoza and Cruz. Both players were deep; Mendoza with 40 bigs and Cruz with 35 bigs.
On the first hand heads up, Mendoza shaved down nearly half of Cruz’s stack with {jd}{js} overpair against {10d}{9c} open-ended at the flop / top pair on the turn. Both checked the river on a board {8s}{7d}{4d}{10c}{ks}. The next hands saw Mendoza continue to dominate as he grinded down Cruz until the 12th hand landed. Mendoza eliminated Cruz with {ah}{kh} over {ks}{7c}.
- Buy-in: ₱3,800
- Guarantee: ₱1,500,000
- Entries: 571
- Prize Pool: ₱1,998,500
- ITM: 82
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Earl Mendoza | ₱307,560 |
| 2 | Edwin Dela Cruz | ₱172,000 |
| 3 | William Ysmael | ₱106,000 |
| 4 | Benhur Ybarsabal | ₱730,000 |
| 5 | Winifred Obedoza | ₱55,000 |
| 6 | Adam Ford | ₱43,000 |
| 7 | Rene Mar David | ₱37,000 |
| 8 | Stefan Greiner | ₱31,000 |
| 9 | Muhammad Darmawan | ₱25,000 |
*The top 9 players also received a seat worth ₱27,500 to the Philippine Poker Millions ₱50 Million guaranteed event.
Other Winners
Jose Gabriel Marcelino Wins Survivor Knockout
Marlon Laxamana Wins Bounty Event
Marlon Laxamana took down the Bounty Event and as part of his winnings, he won a seat worth ₱55,000 to the upcoming Philippine Poker Millions ₱55M Guaranteed.
Edmon Rebadulla Wins Deepstack Turbo
Edmon Rebadulla won the Deepstack Turbo and as part of his winnings, he won a seat worth ₱55,000 to the upcoming Philippine Poker Millions ₱55M Guaranteed.
Michael Piedragoza wins Power Button
Jepoy De Guzman Wins NLH Turbo
Metro Walk To A Million – 2025 MWAM Schedule
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