In a pot of 135,000 on a flop of , Fabrice Bigot checked from early position and Kitty Kuo checked back from the hijack.
The turn came the and Bigot led out for 100,000, which Kuo called. On the river Bigot took a moment before cutting out a bet of 350,000 and slid it forward. Kuo quickly folded and the pot was shipped to Bigot.
Action was picked up on the river with the board reading in a blind on blind battle as Adam Hendrix bet 70,000 into a pot of about 125,000 from the big blind.
Patrik Ciklamini was in the big and raised to 180,000. Hendrix then three-bet to 625,000. Ciklamini thought for a while before folding.
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.”
The action picked up when Adam Hendrix opened to 60,000 from the button and only Mike Watson made the call from the big blind.
The flop came and Watson check-called a bet of 50,000 from Hendrix. On the turn both players checked their option.
The river came the , Watson checked, and Hendrix slid out 175,000. Watson took a moment but ultimately made the fold and the pot was sent to Hendrix.
On the very next hand, Hendrix opened the action from the cutoff to 60,000 and only the big blind completed. The flop came and Hendrix bet 90,000 after being checked to and his opponent made the fold, sending two pots in a row to the Alaska native.
Daniel Smiljkovic opened the action from the hijack to 60,000. It folded to Nacho Barbero on the button who three-bet to 210,000 and the rest of the table got out of the way. Smiljkovic moved all in for 1,030,000 and Barbero quickly called, just barely covering his opponent.
Daniel Smiljkovic:
Nacho Barbero:
Barbero was in rough shape against the better kicker until the flop came , turning the tables on the hand. The turn came the and river , securing the win for Barbero and Smiljkovic was sent to the rail.