Show me a poker room this size that has a Two Plus Two ambassador who is as responsive and accessible as Frankie. Not a post goes by without him reading it and responding to it sincerely and in a timely manner. As players we may have disagreements with him, that is only natural. But to say he is disingenuous is out of line. Frankie is anything but. Go meet him in person in the poker room and you'll see it's the same deal: you'll find him responsive and accessible.

I think his effort to review the tapes and to reply with the details in his post warrants a thank you, rather than him being chastised.

Frankie, if you guys are comfortable running $100 $5k gtd mtts, why not throw in a bigger buy in, like a $500 $25k? Maybe once a month?

It's not an issue with covid since it would get a similar turnout to the ones you are already running. Comes down to risk with the guarantee. With people starving for live poker and all major competitors in the area still closed, there's no way it wouldn't hit , it would probably at least double the guarantee. A one day bigger buy in mtt on say a Saturday or Sunday would be a big hit.

I know you won't admit, but the mtt scene at TS was dying the few years before covid. Shrinking buy ins, guarantees and number of people traveling for the events. Some of this may have been intentional. But this would help put TS back on the map a bit and get people coming back.

Hi Boss, we have considered larger events but here is the sticking point. Right now we only open our tournaments with 12 tables 7 handed and filter alternates in after the original 84 seats are sold. keep in mind we have to sanitize rails and chairs in between guests entering and leaving the tournament so Covid protocols do play a roll. We could certainly and easily make the $5K guarantee a $10K guarantee (average prize pool has been around ($12K) but we know that we can only put 140 to 150 guests through the tournament during the entry time (2hours). If more people than that show up to play, and they would with a bigger guarantee, they will only be disappointed and upset they did not get in after traveling here to play. Why would I knowingly do that to our guests. It wouldn't be fair to them.

The same holds true for a larger event, its not about risk, I have no doubt at all we could do a $25K for even a $250 buy-in and hit that number easily...minus vig, it would only need to draw 112 guests. But based on our current seating system, which was put in place due to Covid, if 250 to 400 guests show up (which again they will for a larger Guarantee) and we can only seat 150 its not going to be a positive experience for those turned away.

On the MTT point, its not a question of admitting to anything. I have addressed this issue many times on this thread...staffing, hotel rooms, saturation etc...The days of $100K to $250K events dwindled due to the increased amount of events held on the East Coast that did not exist prior to more poker rooms (about 10) opening up in New York and neighboring states during those 3 years you mentioned. Prior to that, we drew guests from over 30+ states to our events. Once guests had the option of playing in similar events more often and closer to home they took advantage of that opportunity. You can only play in so many events in a week, month or year.

As far as dying???...we held a $25K/$250 buy-in to $75K/$300 buy-in tournament at least once a month every month and drew anywhere from 250 to 500 guests for the events over the past 3 years prior to Covid. Our guests who attended these events let us know they really enjoyed the tournaments and price point. Until then, many had felt priced out when events were $500 to $1,000 buy-ins. It all comes down to what the majority of our guests want and what they enjoy attending.

All that said, no one looks more forward to the time where we can increase the Guarantees and number of events that we hold than I do. Once the Covid smoke clears, I'm sure we will look to bigger events with our tournaments just as we have gone bigger with our promotions.

Thanks for listening!!! As always, if you or anyone would like to further discuss my points and/or response, please feel free to visit me in the poker room or call the office 315 361 7629.

Always a pleasure Boss, hope to see you soon!...Frankie

Thank you for the kind words B!!!

Thanks frankie.

My point and assumption regarding issues with covid and safety, is that if you made it a $500 $25k the turnout would be very similar to the $5ks, so no different then what you are already running.

I appreciate the response.

I feel the $500+ mtt scene isn’t popular in CNY.

I think a good idea would be to run a shootout tournament that had a few day 1s- like say Thursday to Saturday you ran day 1s. Run single table mtts Thursday and Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday evening. Have players come back to day 2 on Sunday- for example have top 2 of each table advance.

Make it a $300 with a 50 gtn and $50 of juice. Seems good to me. Probably not ideal though as who knows how many players it would get even though I’m sure you could easily keep day 2 smaller with this type of event and you can run tables due to demand and not have to worry about turning customers off.

you clearly didn't review the tape and then respond with that statement in good faith. Not possible. I took notes and was clear about which table and time and what card.....100% not the red 9 of spades and on the face of the card not the back.

I expected a concise brief apology followed by what you'll do to prevent this in the future etc

Chizler,
If you are going to re-post my response, please post my ENTIRE response and not just one part of it. Original Post #1964 on 1/20/21 at 3:03pm for those who want to check the validity. In addition, I never said the spot was on the back, I said the card had a red back, there are 2 decks on the table, 1 red back and 1 blue back. As always feel free to stop by or call anytime to discuss further. Thank you!

So...Chizler62...are you really concerned about this situation or just a rabble-rouser? I suspect the latter. Your OP was on January 19th. Frankie promptly replied on January 20th. It took you another six weeks to declare you're "extremely" disappointed. Again Frankie replies the next day and offers to meet, and gives you his phone number so you can personally discuss it. Do you take him up on it? No. Instead you wait another seven weeks to claim you're still not happy, and the situation is so serious that YOU TOOK NOTES! Once again, Frankie is there with a prompt reply.

If you really gave a damn about this you would have called him. Give it up.

I anxiously await your response no sooner than July 4th. (And I'll be taking notes)

+1

Awesome!

Covid numbers in NYS starting to look real good. Plus we saw how cases plummeted even without a vaccine last Summer. With a vaccine this year Covid going to be a non issue in a month or so, at least until the fall. And high risk people will be protected.

We are seeing large scale reopenings in the state with more to come. Time to start firing up some bigger MTTs Frankie!

Yea I agree with the above. Frankie, any news or plans to have a bigger mtt in the near future or are we still far away? I miss playing at the local casino against local people.

I’ve been to Vegas 3 times this year already. Trust me, I would rather take the 45 min drive to play a bigger tournament (I’m not interested in smaller low gtn events/ daily tournaments w/ quick structures). Just wondering if we have any hope for mtts returning to CNY? I see the cash game player #s have been very solid lately on the bravo app.

Hello to all. I understand the desire and we are working on it. Please stay tuned for more info as we head further into summer! Thank you!

Any chance you can clean your chips?

Frankie, any hope for a solid tournament in November (Thanksgiving weekend)? Like when I say that, is it possible turning stone runs a big tournament if things go well or are tournies way off (a tournament with over 100 players, solid structure, decent guarantee- aka not 10-20 min levels where limited to 80-100 players)? Just wondering.

JK, We do have plans to hold larger events...as to the timing, that still remains to be the issue. Could be as early as late summer or as far off as November. I know that doesn't sound like a complete answer but it is the best and most honest one I can give at this time.
Staffing levels are down across the country and its difficult to plan larger events when the needed increased staffing levels are not there. Hope that helps!

Thanks for responding Frankie. I understand its hard to give a solid answer regarding where things are now especially with staffing concerns. Thanks for replying- your answer is a good one!

Btw def looking to check out turning stone soon for some cash. Also I can't wait for the return of tournaments. I check 2+2 and bravo weekly for news haha. Miss me some $250- 50-100ks at turning stone.

Thanks JK and I hear ya, I miss them as well! Cash games and promos have been very good since we reopened, look forward to seeing you!

Looking on Bravo there's a bunch more bigger games than pre pandemic. That's great to see. Anyone have any insight on how tough they are?

All of their competition is still shut down... seneca, del Lago, rivers. One poker room open in the entire state of NY lol.

I doubt we ever see a $500 mtt at TS again but if they ran a $500/$100K or $1000/$200K right now they would probably double the guarantee, easily.

This. If they can sort out the issue of not having enough dealers, TS could establish themselves as being back at the front of the tourney scene in NY again. Whoever is first is going to get a huge field.

Hmm I think you are dreaming if you think turning stone would run a $1k. I don’t blame them but the player pool in upstate ny is not demanding a 1k. Think it would be pretty risky to run a 1k/ 200k for them if they don’t know they will hit the number for the gtn. Look at the Hendon mob #s for $500 tournies there and they aren’t smashing gtns.

A $300-75k in nov 2019 beat the gtn by 3k. The $500 in Nov 2018 beat a 100k by 8k. Also sure it would be cool if they ran a $500-100k but they can’t even staff more than 15-16 cash games right now due to a shortage of dealers (I assume).

I was there Friday night to play cash. Action was solid for times we are in now. Maybe I’m wrong but seems like from what I saw on Saturday (bravo)... do they have enough dealers to run over 15-16 tables? I saw quite long wait lists. Maybe just call ins but seems like they could be capped. I’ve heard they have been getting a lot of runners for the Tuesday tournies (150-160 players) which isn’t bad. Agree with former player here- chips need to be cleaned. As always also- I wish the $1/2 game would be a 300 max buy in game but yea i understand some players don’t like it that are regulars at tstone.

I’m just hoping we get bigger tournaments there sometime in the coming months. I’ll play any mtt with a buyin $200 or more honestly and don’t really care about what the guarantee is (aka if you lower the # of a $250-50k to say 20-40k.... I could care less). I kinda wish they would just run 1 day tournies with smaller fields and run a 1 day tourny on say a Friday/Saturday/Sunday with much lower gtns vs what they offer now. Call me crazy but I would rather play 3 single tournies at a 250 buy in vs trying to fire multiple bullets to drive back for a day 2 on a Sunday where I might get lucky and bink a bigger score.

I’m probably in the minority here but I think it would be cool if they ran a $250- 15 or 20k gtn on Friday/Saturday/Sunday vs a $250-50k. The bad players are still going to be there and firing multiple bullets when they shouldn’t. I know a one day tourny is going to require a worse off structure but that is fine with me.

I’ve been to the Venetian 3 times this year so far in Vegas. The $400/600 1 day tournaments they have run.... have had solid structures that could be completed in one day. If staffing concerns exist, just cap the tourny at a number where you can’t go over said amount due to staffing concerns. Just my thoughts.

I stay away from most tourneys because they're all multiple entries these days. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.

A $1000 $200K would absolutely smash the guarantee right now. Without a doubt. As far as me dreaming if I think they would run one, I said in the previous post I doubt we ever see one again. They made it clear pre covid they are done with mtts over $250.

Not sure if you are new to the area or new to poker, but 5 years ago TS was running multiple $500s and a $1K/$400k every single year, before they started phasing them out.

They are the only room open in NY, they would get players from all over the state. If they ran a tournament big enough, they could get players from all around the northeast.

There is definitely demand, especially right now.