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Hand #2 Action folded to Olivier Doremus who moved all in and he took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #3 Charles Nguyen opened for 34,000 and that took the blinds and antes.
Hand #4 Marcin Sobczak opened for 31,000, Kevin Chiem moved all in from the small blind and John Taylor folded the big blind. After a brief pause Sobczak folded his hand.
The overwhelming majority of poker dealers harbor dreams of turning the tables one day, moving from the box to the battleground and mixing it up against the players they pitch cards to for a living. In 2010 Corey Emery did just that, making the journey from his home turf at the Player’s Club Casino in Ventura, California to Sin City to compete in his first World Series of Poker.
And he’s glad he did, after a deep run and 33rd place finish in the Main Event left him with 255,242 white chip tokes to take home. According to Emery, he’s come back every year since, and while his Main Event exploits have been understandably difficult to replicate, he has made the Casino Employee’s event his new stomping grounds.
Emery emerged as the chip leader after Day 1 of the WSOP’s debut event yesterday, and after a long day on the felt here today, he’s managed to turn the trick yet again. With 500,000 chips on the dot entering the official final table, Emery is the leader by about 110,000 – with his good friend and fellow Player’s Club Casino dealer John Taylor trailing close behind. We caught up with Emery as he made his way to a well-deserved dinner break to learn a little more about the man who very well may become the first gold bracelet winner of the young summer.
PokerNews: Is this your first WSOP event or do you come and play the Casino Employee’s event regularly?
Emery: This is my second casino event, but I’ve played other events before.
PokerNews: What brought you to the Rio to take a shot this summer, have you been playing well lately, or just here on a lark?
Well, I’ve been coming out here for a while, and I did pretty well in 2010, so I’ve always come for these events since then. Nothing better than the World Series, right?
PokerNews: Truer words have never been spoken… tell me about your poker experience aside from dealing, do you prefer tournaments back home or cash?
I play cash mostly, at home and at the Player’s Casino. I started when I was 16, right around 11 years ago when Moneymaker won. Started playing with basketball teammates and it just went from there.
PokerNews: How about the key hands from yesterday that put you in position to make the first WSOP final table of the summer?
Well, the last hand of the night I turned a straight and a guy called my all-in shove with second pair. So, that kind of put sixty thousand up there for me.
PokerNews: That hand propelled you to the chip lead entering Day 2, so how have things gone today? Has the structure allowed you to use those chips effectively?
I mean, it’s probably short right now, like you know, average stack is like twenty-five bigs, twenty bigs. So there’s going to be a lot of gambling.
PokerNews: Having just arrived at the pinnacle every poker player hopes to reach in their career, is there anybody at home you’d like to share a little celebration with?
Yeah, I’d like to say hi to my fiancé Stephanie, definitely.
Hand #5
Kevin Chiem opened on the button for 20,000 and John Taylor made the call from the small blind. The flop was the 
and Taylor checked. Chiem bet 27,000, Taylor raised and Chiem quickly announced "all in" and it was a snap-call from Taylor.
They had both flopped top pair, but Taylor had the best of it with the 
, as Chiem flipped over 
. The turn was the 
and the river 
was also of no help to Chiem and he is the first casualty of the final table.
Hand #6
David Luttbeg raised to 26,000 and all players but Marcin Sobczak in the big blind folded. On the 
flop, Sobczak check-folded when Luttbeg made it 47,000 to go.
Hand #7
Brian Wong raised to 70,000 and that scared off all opponents. He raked in the blinds and ante.
Hand #8
Charles Nguyen raised to 20,000 from the small blind and one seat over, Roland Reparejo made the call. On the 
flop, Nguyen continued for 40,000 and Reparejo called. Both then checked the turn before Nguyen check-folded the 
river after his opponent had bet big.
Hand #9 Charles Nguyen opened for 30,000 on the button, the small blind folded and Corey Emery from the big blind made it 70,000. Nguyen called and they saw a flop of 
.
Emery led out for 102,000 and Nguyen made the call. They both checked the turn 
and the river 
. “Ace high.” Emery said but when Nguyen tabled his own 
that was the winner as Emery mucked.
Hand #10
Corey Emery recovers some of the losses and took down the big blind and antes with a raise to 26,000 out of the small blind.
Hand #11
Charles Nguyen raised to 25,000 and got himself the blinds and antes after all players behind him folded.
Hand #12
Corey Emery raised to 26,000 and John Taylor called out of the big blind. On the 
flop, Taylor check-called 26,000 and then folded the turn after Emery fired 44,000.
Hand #13
Charles Nguyen opened to 35,000 from early position and Marcin Sobczak called from the blind. The flop was 
and Sobczak checked. Nguyen bet 50,000 and Sobczak folded.
Hand #14
David Luttbeg raised to 27,000 from middle position and Brian Wong three-bet all in and it folded back around to Luttbeg, who also folded.
Hand #15
David Luttbeg opened to 28,000 from middle position and Olivier Doremus pushed all in. The action folded back to Luttbeg who asked for a count. It was 88,000 and Luttbeg thought for a moment before making the call. Doremus turned over 
and he was racing for his tournament life against the 
of Luttbet.
The flop was huge for Doremus, as it came down 
. The board ran out and Doremus found the double up.
Level: 18
Blinds: 6,000/12,000
Ante: 2,000
Hand #16 John Taylor raised to 41,000 and Charles Nguyen made the call. Two players to the flop of 
. Checked to Taylor who bet 81,000 and that took it down.
Hand #17 David Luttbeg moved all in under the gun and the rest of the table folded.
Hand #18 John Taylor opened for 37,000 and took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #19 David Luttbeg was all in from the small blind and Brian Wong surrendered his big blind
Seems like Luttbeg is looking to accumulate some chips here, do or die.
