Yeah, for Aces full of Kings you need to have an ace in your hand (hole cards must be either AA or AK). It's common knowledge among regulars and I believe is clearly stated.

TS can't even support a single 1k+ buyin event per year now? That's pretty sad.

Wow.. just saw the main is a $570 .... WTF?????

With bad turnouts lately and now this.... TS poker is dead

No reason they couldn't have kept it a 1k and just lowered the guarantee to 200k

Sad indeed

I checked their Twitter and website, where are the details for the next main event?

It's on Bravo.

I beg to differ(boss716, BillyBizzle) we have never been more alive as we are currently the busiest of the area poker rooms. Our promos and BBJ are a big part of that. There are 3 new rooms in the area and its a new world for everyone. All or most of the properties will be planning events in August along with Seneca, Foxwoods and the Sands. Some overlapping each other. Instead of 1 or 2 events in August as in years past there will now be 5 or 6...that's just growth and business.

Other properties have already lowered their Main Event buy ins to the $250 mark thus thinning the fields of available attendees for events and keeping even more people local. To say we have had bad turnouts is way, way off base. We have not had bad turnouts any where or at anytime for major events...all guarantees are met and more. The BBJ, although it has been very good for the room, has also eroded weekly tournament play not only here but in the area as well because players are currently opting for the Cash incentive play events here at TS while they are available(a shot at $350K will make you play cash in lieu of tournaments!) That's not to say the BIG buy ins wont be back at some time. With more options available in the area and the impact the BBJ has had on Tournament Play this year we are looking to see how things unfold as time moves forward. If anything, we are just getting started!

Your position here is that lower buyin tournaments that are more local are going to keep more people local, so the solution is to drop your buyin as well, and that will help you draw bigger fields? I'm unsure if that tracks, logically.
Then why are you dropping the buy-in and guarantee for your normal August 1k?
What is the connection or relevance between weekly tournament play and the big events you host on a yearly basis?
Your first sentence is that your strategy for dealing with other rooms dropping tournament buyins and guarantees is to do the same. Let's be honest here-the only way that bigger tournaments will come back to TS is if online poker is legalized in New York, and that you have zero current interest in running bigger buyin tournaments.
No, this is wrong. You are not getting started. You are ending things. Pre-Black Friday, TS was the location where kids who had played online would literally travel to in order to play in your various festivals over the course of the year. Ever since Black Friday, you've casually eroded buyins, guarantees, and the result has been that your tournaments have declined over time. For example:
2013: $1650 buyin, 426 entries, $619,830 prizepool
2014: $1100 buyin, 476 entries, $461,720 prizepool
2015: $1100 buyin, 430 entries, $430,000 prizepool
2016: $1140 buyin, 285 entries, $287,850 prizepool

You've clearly made a decision that your poker-room is almost completely cash-game only, and that tournament players are generally irrelevant. This is well within your rights, but those of us who only play tournaments and who refuse to drive 2 hours each way for a tournament that's under $500 will cease being customers. Shrug.

Good post. TS glory days are over, the fact that they took the only big, 1k+ buy in event they hold per year and reduced it to a $570 100k proves that. Very disappointing.

Seneca continues to hold multiple 1k events per year with growing fields that go well over the guarantee. If TS can't do this it's not because of a lack of demand in the area.

Gentlemen, I have sent both of you a pm with my number. I would like to continue this conversation in further detail but unfortunately I do not have the resources to sit at the computer to continue the conversation in this forum. Please reach out as I value your opinions and concerns. Thank you both!

Excuse me but one last note. Just to be perfectly clear, there has never been any decision made for this room to be strictly a cash room. It has never even been a thought. Tournament players are not irrelevant to Turning Stone, never have been, never will be. That is the posters opinion and not a fact. I get thousands of emails from guests with suggestions for Tournaments and Buy-ins every day. To be honest, the large majority of guests...Tournament Players if you will... are not asking for $1K plus buy-ins. If anything, guests are requesting more buy-in friendly events. The Tournaments listed in the other posts that reference the 2013 thru 2016 Empire State show that although the Buy-ins remained $1K and over and the guarantee was $200K last year attendance dipped each year but spiked in the year it was lowered. (2014) Since 2013, a lot has changed in poker and changes will continue to come. Many rooms across the country don't and won't even offer guarantees for their Tournaments anymore and many more are following suit. We are not following anyone, we never do. Right or wrong we make our decisions based on our data, our guests and our information, not on what other properties do. This will be my final post on this subject, anyone who would like to continue the conversation please feel free to contact me in the poker room as I value and welcome all interaction with our guests. The number is on our website and on Bravo Poker. Thank you!

Saw on the 1-pager for the ESHC that Main Event Flight C was on Sunday, but the Main Event Day 2 was on Saturday. Presumably those are flipped and Day 2 is Sunday? Will this be only a 2-day event?

lol what are you talking about man? Answer the post in the thread and defend your positions.

Hi Champ read above posts, I already did answer in the thread. That was for any further discussion. Thank you!

Hi Poon, yes we should have it corrected by now. Flights on Thurs, Fri and Sat. Day 2 on Sunday. hope to see you then!

My friends and I are going to Turning Stone this week for our first casino experience and I have a few questions.

1. If we already made a room reservation, is there any way for us to get the poker rate?
2. The website says that the Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 PM tournament uses a modified structure. What is the structure?
3. For the $65 bounty tournament it says that players will need to purchase a $25 bounty chip. Is this cost in addition to the $65 entrance fee?
4. How do we get Turning Stone IDs since it says that they are needed for all tournaments?

Go to a TS rewards booth and present your license to obtain one. There's one near the elevators across the emerald restaurant

Hi Sam,
Sorry for the delay, I was back home in Jersey for a few days and just returned. Yes, simply call back and give the front desk your reservation confirmation number and ask the receptionist if there are any Poker rate rooms available for your stay dates. If available, they will be more than happy to change the booking.
The $25 is in addition to the $65 and Carl has provided an excellent description as to how to get a card(thanks Carl!). As far as the modified structure, its pretty much a Turbo Structure to shorten the time of play due to the 8:30PM start time. Hope to see you soon!

Which of the Saturday tournaments would be best for a first-time tournament player? I've played casino tournaments (not at Turning Stone though) before but my friend hasn't. He mainly plays cash (1/2NL) and small backroom tournaments ($20 buy-in with 30ish players). We're coming up August 5th.

Frankie, I know I have brought this up before but is there any chance of TS going back to single day tournaments with a guarantee? A 6 flight $250 tournament with a guarantee of 50k seems pretty crazy to me. You guys could hit that guarantee in one day if it was advertised like that

Updated the above table with this year's info. The buyin being halved and adding an extra day 1 still wasn't enough to counteract the guarantee being halved and resulted in a smaller number of players than the year before.

Yes I do agree. If there is one tourney I always wanted to play at TS it was the Empire State series in august. Now that rivers is close , it makes it harder for me to go out there, but this would have been one.

Please make it larger next year please!! It will hit!

anybody know what the numbers were for the $570? and what are realistic expectations for the $250?

Look up 2 posts.

oops, haha my bad, glanced right over the fact that 2017 was on there