Edilberto Gopez Is The Player To Catch At 2025 MWAM Main Event

Friday at the Metro Card Club saw players pour in for a shot at qualifying to the next round of the Metro Walk To A Million – MWAM Main Event. With 310 entries, already in the books, another 217 turned up for Day 1C and 114 more for Day 1D. This has now bumped up the cumulative tally to 641 entries. Here are the highlights.

Edilberto Gopez Takes Charge Of MWAM Main Event

2024 RVS Cup champion Edilberto Gopez Jr slashed through Day 1C knocking out players in his path to amass 586,000 and rightfully claim the top spot in the Day 2 qualifiers list. Gopez has now set the bar very high for the last two flights. Also racking up a healthy stack was second ranked Michael Bueza of 414,000, which was just enough to overtake Day 1A chip leader Jhun Aballa.

Well known poker industry figure Lloyd Fontillas also ploughed through the big field to bag up the third largest of the flight. Other notables finding success were Edwin Dela Cruz who just finished runner-up at the BluffMasters, Christopher Chua, Junnie Pamplona, Jun Mondalo, and Alexis Lim. 

Day 1C Survivors – 31 players

The evening’s Day 1D Turbo flight drew a mix of early casualties looking for redemption and fresh evening warriors. Of the 16 players who advanced, it was Moses Saquing who topped the counts with 294,000 in chips. Known for his deep runs and clutch finishes at Metro majors, Saquing is definitely a player to keep a close eye on heading into Day 2.

Day 1D Survivors – 16 Players

Day 1A and Day 1B Survivors – 44 Players

Heading into the ITM round, 91 players have already secured a piece of the ₱5 Million (~USD 88,600) prize pool. Weekend warriors and fence-sitters have only two flights left to qualify. At the time of publishing, Day 1E was underway with over 200 entries at Level 7. Registration closes at the end of Level 10. The final flight – Day 1F gets rolling at 7pm.

Looking back, last year, the MWAM Main Event absolutely crushed its guarantee, rising to nearly ₱6.7 Million.  Jamie Zaragoza shipped it, turning his lowly buy-in into a huge ₱1,230,000 (~$20,970) payday and becoming the first millionaire in this event’s history. However as of yet, Zaragoza has not been spotted, and none of the other past MWAM champions have qualified to Day 2. This may be an opening for a new champion to seize the title.

MWAM Main Event Structure

A BOLDER METRO

Opened back in 2007, the Metro’s has set the gold standard for poker in the Philippines, regarded as the country’s most popular card room.  This year, the Metro has taken things to an entirely new level. It kicked off the season with a major tie-up with the Asian Poker Tour for APT Manila Classic.

This August, the excitement reaches new heights as the Metro plays host and co–creator of the Philippine Poker Millions, the first ever nationwide unification of poker rooms across the country. The event features a bold ₱50 Million guarantee with buy-ins at ₱27,500 and ₱55,000.

At the ongoing MWAM, seats to the PPM have already been awarded to numerous players with more to be given out before the festival wraps up. So make sure to join the action to secure your spot.

MWAM Festival Schedule