Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Ron “The Carolina Express” Stanley, 70, was one of the most feared players in the game. In fact, he even went toe-to-toe with the legendary Stu Ungar at the final table of the 1997 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. It was there that Stanley donned a tuxedo while playing in the intense Las Vegas heat on Fremont Street.
Stanley, who has been playing poker for a living for “at least 50 years,” was recently spotted at the 2022 WSOP and was kind enough to chat with PokerNews.
“My dad used to play poker and he’d take me to the games when I was a kid,” he said about how he learned poker in the first place. “I was watching and it got pretty interesting. He was pretty good at it and I picked it up from him. It’s in my blood I guess.”
While he hasn’t had any major tournament scores since before the Poker Boom, Stanley is still on the grind.
“I play poker 5-6 days a week at least, mostly cash games,” he said. “In Vegas, I mostly play at South Point, but I’ve been in South Carolina for six months playing a lot of home games.”
Action folded to Mo Arani in the small blind who shoved all in, covering the stack of Toby Lewis in the big blind and Lewis snap-called for his last roughly 1,600,000.
Toby Lewis:
Mo Arani:
The flop came , giving Lewis top pair but a flush draw for Arani. On the turn it was the end of the road for Lewis as Arani hit his flush and the completed the river sending Lewis to the rail in 5th place.
Francois Pirault jammed from the hijack and Mo Arani called on the button.
Francois Pirault:
Mo Arani:
Pirault's rail called for a queen. the flop came , the turn brought in a straight with the and the river was the to give him a double up as the camera crew that has been following him rushed to get the footage.
Cliff Josephy moved all in from early position for 2,025,000 and it folded to Johannes Straver who quickly called.
Cliff Josephy:
Johannes Straver:
The flop came , with no help to the jack-nine of Josephy until the turn came the giving Josephy a pair and some hope. The river came the , which at first looked great for Josephy, until the table realized Straver made a flush with his kings and Josephy was eliminated in 7th place.