Andrew Moreno wins Thunder Valley Main Event

Tournament crusher makes experience count for seventh live title of career, taking down $200,000 in the process.

The Las Vegas based poker pro Andrew Moreno won the $2,700-entry Thunder Valley RunGood Million Dollar Main Event after a rollercoaster final day of action. Triumphing against the relative rookie Hamed Valizadegan, Moreno’s latest win prompted a fond family moment in the aftermath.

One of a number of RunGood Poker events to inspire huge turnouts, the latest major poker tournament victory of Andrew Moreno’s career after some soul-searching at the final table. Moreno took a large chip lead after eliminating Dan Stavila in ninth place and many might have expected the dominant tournament player, who won the Wynn Millions Summer Classic four years ago for $1.4 million, to crush. The opposite happened.

“I got raised all in on the river and ended up folding, and the gentleman windmilled the bluff in my face - the whole table was kind of in disbelief,” Moreno told reporters. “It felt like the whole table was laughing at me and I felt my blood pressure rise and my brain go a little foggy.”

Steel and Style Inspire Family Man’s Final Push

As Moreno’s wife Kristy Arnett Moreno told poker fans in an emotional Substack post afterwards, a previous version of Moreno might have wilted in that moment’s heat. In 2025, however, Moreno is a hardened competitor, and his elite mentality shrugged off the setback.

“I told myself, ‘OK, this is where you just get to show yourself how good you are’.”

Moreno showed just that, battling back to take down the event in California at the Thunder Valley casino for a payday of $200,080.

After Stephen Hesse, who came 39th in this year’s WSOP Main Event, fell in seventh place a compromise on payouts was discussed with three left. It was the less experienced Valizadegan who vetoed the deal and Moreno made him pay in the final duel, taking out Joshua Prager before ending a heads-up when his dominating hand of jack-seven beat Valizadegan’s ten-seven.

Bumping his lifetime live tournament earnings to over $5.6 million on The Hendon Mob, Moreno revealed the words of wisdom during the final table dinner break that propelled him to the win.

“My son [Miles] is three years old and I asked him if he had any advice for me,” Moreno said in the aftermath. “He said ‘You can do it, Daddy’.”

Even Moreno junior knows his stuff, as his famous Dad earned the seventh-highest result of his poker career with his seventh ranking title.

$2,700 RunGood Thunder Valley Million Dollar Main Event Final Table Results: