i see 5 on the interest list for 5/T nl
get the game going and ill show up and buy in to cover the table!

I am assuming that PNIA will be returning to TS this August? Any clue as to what the dates will be? I checked their website directly and the schedule seems to stop after August 15th (the end of the Seminole Hard Rock event). I'm planning a couple other trips in August and wanted to book a couple poker rooms during the PNIA series before they sell out, which I'm sure they will once the schedule comes out officially. Thanks in advance!

Hello SAHM,
The Empire State Poker Championship Tournament series will definitely be held in August. As an aside, this event IS and HAS ALWAYS BEEN a Turning Stone Resort and Casino event. PNIA has never had any input concerning our tournament structures, buy-ins, prize pool or payouts. All events pertaining to the tournaments during the Empire State event were under the direction of Turning Stone Resort and Casino. While we have enjoyed our working relationship with PNIA the past few years, we have decided not to renew our agreement with PNIA.
Our Empire State event will take place this year in August as always here in the Event Center at Turning Stone. Please stay tuned to our website, Bravo Poker and Twitter for full details, schedules and structures. Thank you for your interest and we hope to see you here in August!

Frankie,

Nice to see you kept the buy in and guarantee at 1100 and 250k for the ESPC main after dropping PNIA, why the switch to 50 min levels on day two though?

Shouldn't a 1100 buy in and your biggest tourney of the year have a better structure then the 600 buy in tourneys you run 4+ times a year?

I'd rather 50 min levels and a 2 day tourney than 60 min levels and a 3 day tourney, especially if it's not televised.

Glad it doesn't conflict with Florida this year and will be playing it.

Agreed 100%

And I am very critical already on 40 min levels. 50 is solid because of the 2 day structure. Can't complain about that.

Hi Boss, a very valid question. As you can see by the two posts under your original post, one of the suggestions we received from a majority of our guests in the past was to shorten the levels. We settled on 50 mins as 40 was too short and 60 was too long. We value the input and suggestions of our guests and will always try to accommodate when possible. The 50 minute levels last year were well received so we kept them in place for this event. Hope to see you here in August!!!

Any plans for 2-1 sattys for this??

Hi Carl, please check the website or Bravo for information regarding the Warm Up for the Empire State Championship. All information was posted yesterday!!!
See you soon!

Thinking of coming next mon or tues for 2 days/1 night of 2/5. Will poker rate be avail for mon or tues night ?

What is rake at 2/5 ?

Does TS have fireworks on 4th ?

Hi Steve, you can call in advance and book a room at the poker rate. Poker rates are always available unless the hotel is completely booked (must register 4 hrs live play). The fact that it is Fourth of July will diminish the amount of available rooms so call as soon as you can. rake is 10% of the first $50, max of $5.00 plus $1.00 BBJ.
There are no Fireworks scheduled at the property for the Fourth of July. Enjoy the Holiday!!!

Last night (Wednesday), I checked Bravo and saw (4) 1/2 games running, but one of them had it's own line and had an "H" next to it. What was this? I assumed it wasn't a private game or a dealer's game because in the past those have been marked as such. I was actually just hoping some kind of deep or uncapped 1/2 game got going.

Hi Sahm, we do have a 1/2 NL that has a higher buy in but the H last night was simply a code error that flashed on. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm thinking of coming to TS for 1st time for ESPC Series. Are there special rates for participants in this series? I 90% play tourneys, so the 4 hr cash/day is tough for me to reach.

Hi jt, yes we do have tournament rates for the series. When you call to book a room tell the person you would like to book a "tournament rate" room. Hope to see you here!

poker rate and tourney rate the same?

Why no $200-300 mtts for Empire State series with a decent gtn like 50k? Think turning stone would get better turnout compared to 550. The structures are pretty ideal with the 30-40-50 min level times I must admit though for the 550s. That's prolly the ideal structure turning stone should run allowing play late.

I too am disappointed that there is not a 200-300 50k guarantee for this series. I do like this structure though.

Yes, the rate is the same for both!

Gentlemen, valid questions!. We already hold 4 to 5 50K events with $250 buy-ins through out the year here at Turning Stone. The August Empire State series is traditionally our premier event of the year and the 2 weekend span in the Summer gives us the chance to hold a larger and highly requested Guaranteed event. The 100K and 250K are very well established and we usually more than double the guarantees showing the interest level for both events has proven to be very high. Adding a third event would/could dilute the fields of the other 2 events. We always strive to appeal to Poker interests across the board and we feel that under our present yearly schedule we achieve that goal. That is not to say the schedule will never change, just saying that we currently have a diverse mix of events, guarantees and buy-ins throughout the year that appeals to many players from many areas which presently meets the needs and requests of our guests. Hope to see you here!!!

Frankie,

Any chance of getting non-holdem daily tournaments again? Long time ago there used to be Stud 2x a week around noon time or so that was a lot of fun to play. I know Hold'em pays the bills though and # of people is a concern.

I think when I used to play the stud daily it was usually around 3-4 tables of regs tbh.

Hi Snipers, I would be happy to hold Stud Tournaments. The problem at this time is, as you stated, there is not enough interest in Stud to get ONE game going on a regular basis let alone a tournament. We tried offering various games Stud, PLO etc as a feature game complete with Food voucher...no go. With all that goes into and thatis required to hold a tournament, its very hard to justify having a tournament or replacing an existing tournament for a game that has very little to no daily interest. That being said, anyone wishing to play any non Hold-em game are always welcome here at Turning Stone and we will be more than happy to spread any game there is interest in! Thanks!

Congrats, Frank. You finally figured out what it would take to get every seat in the room filled.

Thank you sir! lol Not only filled but deep lists throughout! It was a pretty epic day.

Should do it every day imo