The setting

Bonifacio Mondalo – Kickoff Position
Richard Nakila – Small BlindBlind:1,000/2,000/2,000 ante
nakila lead in chips

The story

Richard Nakila was the lead contender to end Day 1B as the Chip leader. It was the last level and the Last few hands of the day.

*We believe it was the last hand for the day for their table

Bonifacio Mondalo was running hot on his table, getting two double-ups on the last level, While Richard Nakila came from a different table that was broken.

The clock was stopped and the last few hands were set before things finally wrapped up.

Richard Nakila had a great stack. He had more than 250 in chips and was likely to end the day as chip leader,

On the last hand of the day, Mondalo made his move. Raising from the cut-off position, he raises it to 4,000

Nakila on the Small Blind reraises it to 16,000. Mondalo tanks and calls.

The flop came out 3 – 3 – 5 with 2 diamonds.

Nakila, who was the first to act, bets 20,000

Mondalo took his time and flat calls

The turn was a seven, and once again Nakila fired a bet for 30,000. Mondalo calls

The River was a 6, 

Nakila opted to check. However, Mondalo fired a huge bet of 83,000.

Nakila tanks for a few minutes and calls.

Bonifacio shows 5-3
Nakila Shows Pocket 8

Bonifacio hits a full house on the flop while Nakila had an overpair.

We would avoid making our own opinion on this hand and let the reader judge and share their opinions.

But it was the hand that shifted the lead to Bonifacio, which was the last hand of the day.

Main event Day 1b

Entries: 86
Qualifiers: 30

Bonifacio Mondalo

Day 1B chip leader
429,000
MSE 2022 Champion

As the tournament finished early today. hopefully we can add more info later on.

Main event Day 1b

Level 10 – Blinds 800/1,600/1,600
Entries: 86

The Metro Angels and The Pros

The Metro Angels are always smiling ready to serve the players.

Meanwhile, Day 1B is on the last few levels and the APC Champion and Metro Team Pro, is on the felt trying to secure another trophy.

Junnie Pamplona who had a great run in WPT Cambodia this year has accumulated. a good stack and is heavily defending his blinds.  

Benjie Chok Manga, who in recent months has been running deep including the RVS Cup where he was part of the final table.

The champions of PH are definitely ready to win. although some of the big pros of PH are out of the country temporarily to pursue higher goals.

Main event Day 1b

Level 8 – Blinds 500/1,000/1,000
Entries: 84

The Loyals and the Pro

Joven Huerto, A Metro Team Pro and Marketing Consultant of the Metro is now playing Day 1B.

There have been some changes in the Metro and we hope more good changes will come.

Meanwhile Team Loyal is on the field.

Kenstop, Who ran deep in the heads-up and also the warm-up event at the pink Casino is now present on the field.

Aries Sigua is also playing and has slowly grown his record of wins. Doing great at the 14th anniversary of the Metro Card Club Davao and also the Main Event of the recently concluded tournament at the Pink Casino.

Main event Day 1b

Level 6 – Blinds 300/600/600
Entries: 65

Now at 65 entries. the question remains will it hit over 100 today?

Meanwhile, Jimmy “Yatz” Javier, Metro Team Pro, is now playing Day 1A. Yatz has a heart of a lion and has been doing his best to win a tournament. He had some deep runs this past few months but the bis score still eludes him.

Jose Colada is also playing Day 1B, The lockdown champion earn his monicker as the last champion of a live tournament before the lockdown began years ago. and He somehow won the same name tournament when finally Live tournaments returned.

Meanwhile, Cesar Corpus, one of the regular players of Manila and who is seen often with Lemmor, the magician of GG is also playing Day 1B.

Main event Day 1b

Level 4 – Blinds 200/300/300
Entries: 50

We have now passed the 50-player mark and so far it is only level 4.

More players in the Philippines prefer to enter late when the blinds are much higher. as the blinds for this Christmas, special is actually very good.

Marc Rivera (Metro Team Pro) is seen playing day 1B and we caught him looking like he is having a fun time at the table.

Monziar Jay Villariaza, who was a champion this year of an early tournament of the Metro is also seen playing day 1B. He recently also won at GG Poker.

Adrian Teh, Who almost won the players of the series during the RVS and a regular cash game of the Metro is playing like a boss on his table.

Main event Day 1b

Level 3 – Blinds 100/200/200
Entries: 30

Now at Level 3, the influx of players might make the next table go fast. Currently, there is already a line at the registration counter.

So the number will go up fast but how many and can they reach 100 today?

Lito Quijano (2026 RVS Champion), Jeremy Catalig who was in the top 3 of the last, and Alexis Lim, Metro Team Pro, are all playing Day 1B

Day 1b Ongoing

Entries: 9

Day 1B started on time, so far the number are not that many but players are starting to pour in

Main Event Day 1B

PHP 5,000,000 Guaranteed.
Buy-in: PHP 16,500

50,000 starting stack
40 minutes per Level

Day 1B wraps up at Level 11

Yesterday, only 49 players joined day 1A and only 17 Players Survived. Definitely a slow day but this is after all unknown territory for the Metro Card Club

However, it is a welcome change as the world slowly changes. Metro might be gearing up for the new world.

The Metro Card Club is the oldest poker room in Manila. A lot of the champions and heroes you recognize today might have started from the Metro. 

An example is the undisputed Mike Takayama, the one they call king in the Philippines.

The Metro Christmas special is different from the usual tournament of the Metro.

Metro used to have a format of big guarantees and low buy-ins. the Biggest was the yearly RVS Cup. but with the same format.

the Metro Christmas Special is more geared towards international events. a slightly higher buy-in. a bigger stack and longer minutes.

We do hope Filipinos support this event and more events like this happen in the Metro.