In the early hours of Sunday morning, Derek Gomez captured the second RIU trophy of the series and the first in a mixed event. Gomez came out on top of the 145-entry field to earn $3,100 and his first career RIU trophy after a heads-up chop with Nick Kiley in the $125 six-max HORSE.

“It’s Run It Up gold. It’s kind of a big deal,” said Gomez after his victory. “And it gets me into the Platinum Pass freeroll, which is also a big deal.”

Gomez, like every other winner at the Peppermill Resort and Hotel, will qualify to be a part of the PokerStars Platinum Pass freeroll event at the end of the series. After just missing out on an off-the-felt opportunity to pick up one of these Platinum Passes worth $30,000, it’s a goal of Gomez’s to leave Reno with one of them.

“I finished top five in the Vlogger in Paradise challenge and I missed out on that chance,” said Gomez. “So I want to get as many chances here as I can. That is a big goal of mine, so now I have two opportunities in this series. It’s a big deal for me.”

Gomez eats, sleeps and breathes poker. He lives in Las Vegas, works as a poker dealer part-time and puts in as many hours on the felt as he can. His hard work showed up in his results too. He’s got over $400,000 in live tournament earnings and two final table appearances in World Series of Poker events, including a six-figure score from a runner-up finish in 2015.

Both of his big WSOP scores were in no-limit hold’em, but his first RIU title comes in a mixed game format. While he’s got more earnings in no-limit hold’em, he’s more than competent in the limit games thanks to his poker upbringing in Southern California.

“It was one of the first things I picked up,” said Gomez about mixed games. “I played limit hold’em in Southern California, and in home games, we would always play HORSE and all the other games. That was like in ’04. I’ve had a lot of experience playing it live and it’s always fun to mix it up.”

Results:

1st: Derek Gomez – $3,100
2nd: Nick Kiley – $2,535
3rd: Jaime Staples – $1,550
4th: Kristin Kane – $1,085
5th: Jim Brundige – $780
6th: Rami Abdella – $575
7th: Laird Valory – $445
8th: Daniel Sullivan – $355
9th: Daniel Hernandez – $290
10th: Nathan Maug – $290
11th: Brett Gordon – $265
12th: King Sze – $265
13th: Joseph Ross – $240
14th: Michael Clark – $240
15th: Tom Cage – $225
16th: Jason Roberts – $225
17th: Nick Polypuros – $205
18th: Noel Ernam – $205
19th: John Muntern – $205
20th: Travis Cochrankilman – $205
21st: Nathan Van Fevv – $195
22nd: Christian Gonzalez – $195
23rd: Kevin Barrett – $195
24th: Timothy Guilford – $195