Thank you, too.

Appreciate how well this event is being run. Well done.

Is there any idea if this will be a normal tournament series at turning stone? It’s nice to play multiple tournaments over a week and a half vs just firing 2-3 bullets at a weekend tournament (even though the structures are much much better for T stone run tournaments which I respect).

I have a few problems with how the series has been run but most of it is wsop problem.

1) def need 3-4 people registering players during prime hours. I played event #1 and the line took 30min to move when I got there before the tournament. I didn’t expect a big line like that. It’s annoying to get to the casino at 9:30 and half to wait in line prior to the start. I don’t think this was manned by tstone employees so this one is most likely on the wsopc crew.

2) the structure are atrocious. In the monster stack, my first table- the dealer didn’t start shuffling cards till 29:20 was on the clock. Shouldn’t the dealers be pitching cards right at the start? This again was not a tstone dealer. I found it kinda goofy that nobody else at my table
Seemed to care that cards weren’t pitched till 40-50 seconds rolled off the clock. If I’m paying $70 in juice- I expect play to start on time and cards to be dealt. Again this isn’t a turning stone problem and just a wsopc greed problem charging insane rake for a **** structure tourny that is going to get people out thinking they are playing in some prestigious wsop tourny even though the structures are just lol bad.

3) another wsopc problem. So I’m in line Saturday for the afternoon tourny. I see the $1700 mtt being played. One of the wsopc dealers is falling asleep after pitching hands. Come on wsopc- you guys are charging high rake for shitty poor structure mtts just due to the WSOP name. Your dealers shouldn’t be falling asleep during the main.

Frankie, your staff has done great. I’ve had a few turning stone dealers and I honestly prefer them over 80-90% of the wsopc staff. I’m sorry but some of the dealers from the wsopc staff have been super slow, trying to have longwinded conversations during play, aren’t pitching cards at the start of a tourny in a timely manner, etc.

I’m a big fan of the hall you have the tournaments in. Some people have been complaining about it being cold but I think it’s better to have a room that is too cold vs warm (like the tournies in the tstone poker room). The food offered in the concert hall also has been surprisingly good. Need more drink servers- charging $10 for a beer also is kinda lol bad. I don’t drink when I play but I don’t mind others boozing- $10/beer doesn’t encourage that.

Hi Jk, first one up to be negative, couldn't even wait til the Circuit was over to vent lol.

The majority of comments, from thousands of people to date, have been extremely positive about the entire WSOP experience. There were times when there were only 2 cashiers available for signups (our staff not WSOP) but we increased to 3 at critical times after Event 1 even if it meant pulling cage supervisors to handle the load when needed.(By the way, 20 to 30 mins is not a long wait in WSOP events, especially for the First event of the Series) There were very few lines after Event 1. To be honest, the plan was to go three cashiers from the get go but as most other people know, the country is still in a hiring abyss where no one wants to work... hence the lack of beverage servers as well. Also, believe it or not, people do get sick and have to miss shifts over a 12 day period.

The Event center will be the venue of choice moving forward as it is closer to numerous bathrooms, food availability and a smoking area. We definitely will look to make some changes as to more tables, beverage pricing and adding more water stations.

As you know, we have no control over structure. As far as the WSOP team, praises for their staff have greatly outweighed the bad thus far. In fact you are the first I've heard' of the tens of thousands that played here to talk about them in a negative way. I cannot comment on the WSOP staff from a dealing aspect as I did not play in any events. From a working standpoint I/we had a great working relationship with the supervisors and dealers and we assisted each other as needed in the poker room and Event Center.
You have no idea what it takes to put on an event like this. Its not easy traveling the country and dealing/supervising 12 to 16 hours a day which is what most of these folks did and do. I did 21 straight days myself at 10 to 14 hours a day, as did members of my staff and our Turning Stone team members. The WSOP staff did 13 straight days at 16 hours per day to make this first ever WSOP event in NY the TREMENDOUSLY HUGE SUCCESS that it was... to give give the impression that it wasn't is a joke. In fact, the event was successful not only for NY, but for players from 26 states and Canada that attended.

All in all, in comparison to some of the larger tournament debacles that have occurred around the country recently (some only one day events), I'm extremely happy with and proud of our first endeavor with the 12 day WSOP Circuit. After 42 years in the casino business and 22 years in poker, no one knows more than I what needs to be tweaked and what needs to be left alone at our events. The needed adjustments will be made moving forward just as we always do!

I do appreciate your positive comments about the Turning Stone staff and our Tournament structures. I will pass them along to the team. Thank You!

As always should you care to discuss further, I'm always available by phone 315 361 7629 or in person in the poker room!

I guess negative but I’m more so bashing wsop circuit. They rake $70 for $400 tournies. They should have cards dealt at 30:00 in level 1 and not 29:20.

I wasn’t trying to be negative toward turning stone w/ this post if it came off that way. I thought turning stone did great as a whole to facilitate the event. I do think the WSOP circuit should receive some flack. I have played around the US (vegas, ac, Philly, pa, etc). I just think it comes off poorly when their staff is falling asleep at the table + they can’t start dealing hands on time. Yea a lot of players say they had a great time. A lot of the player pool at tstone also is playing their first tournament live and have no idea what poker is like outside of upstate ny. It just comes off as a money grab by the WSOP. They have tournaments all around the US with structures that suck. The Venetian deepstacks have a better structure and you would think WSOP would try to stay on par with the best structures as the WSOP is supposedly prestigious (massive joke with that thought).

Btw any info on when next tournament series is that turning stone will run? I would assume may per prior year history (may 2019).

Frankie your crew did a great job with wsopc. I’m more so bashing the WSOP crew. Think they need to be better if they are going to rake $35 on $140mtts and $70 on 400s.

So...you don't like the structure, the rake or the dealers. If you hate it that much, I'm not sure why you even play. One dealer was a bit late dealing...big deal. You lose more time than that during a dealer change. Another guy closed his eyes for a little relief. They worked 15-16 hour days for 12 days straight. Have you ever dozed off at work? I know I have. It happens. I don't know you, but you honestly sound like someone who is always looking for something to complain about. Maybe you should only play online where there's no wait, no dealers and a smaller rake.

Here's my experience: I played 8 events, and with only a couple of exceptions I found the dealers to be competent, friendly and appreciative. Many of them would thank us for playing as they pushed from the table. The longest line I stood in was about 20 minutes. One way I avoided any line at all was to buy-in the evening before. I did that several times with no wait whatsoever. I don't find the structure all that bad. Are there other tournaments with a more player-friendly structure? Sure...but I wouldn't refer to it as "horrendous". The rake is the rake. Prices are going up everywhere. What makes you think poker tournaments are immune?

I personally had a great time and I'm sure based on the tremendous success of this one, the WSOPC will be back...hopefully more than once a year. I used to play this regular March WSOPC stop in Atlantic City, and the turnout as well as the whole experience at Turning Stone was head and shoulders above those previous stops. Well done Frankie!

Fair enough, but for those reading this that were not here , it casts a negative tone over what was a great event at Turning Stone.

Thank you for the support and insight Anton! I'm glad you had an enjoyable experience because we enjoyed bringing the WSOP to everyone!!!

Played the main and agree with basically all of this.

When they do this and you lose the first hand, you'll complain you got cold-decked, right?

That MASSIVE 40 seconds will make or break a whole tournament. When they get to H2H, your table needs to play 2 for 1.

Do you genuinely believe this?

There is a significant percentage of people that use the pandemic as an excuse not to work!!. True. Why is this so hard for you to believe?

I didn't even play the series, and have only played at Turning Stone a couple of times, but follow the Turning Stone Threads because I'm Canadian. Anyway, anytime I read a Turning Stone thread, you are always obviously painfully unaware of what it takes to organize/coordinate a group of people to do anything. This becomes even more difficult considering the lack of staff available due to the pandemic!!

Thanks to all for the insight...and yes Champ11, I do believe that there is a hiring issue! We experience it everyday in the workforce.

All this being said, I want to thank all of the poker players who came out to take part in the very first WSOP event to be held in the state of New York. I hope you had as much fun playing in it as we had bringing it to you and having you here!!! Thank you!

Stayed at Turning Stone for 8 days and can say for the most part it was a very well run series. Overall WSOP staff and dealers were excellent, the structures were great (especially the monster stack and the $600+ buyins), and every guarantee was smashed.

Could some things have been better? Sure. But this was the first huge series that Turning Stone has put on (to my knowledge). I’ve heard rumors that there’s already talks to bring WSOP back in the fall, and if that’s the case I will definitely be returning for that full week as well.

Bottom line, series was definitely a success. Well done Frankie!

Appreciate the comments warped!!! thank you and glad you had a great time!!!

this is the third time I will post this

as first was deleted by a mod then the second one was deleted

I had to remove whom I was speaking about though as it was deemed a persona attack LOL

"the guy was giving an honest review and made efforts to make TS look well and took issues with other things
the fact you are caring more about people "who didnt come" feelings on the event just shows perhaps you were not paying attention enough to actually whats going on
the fact you gatekeep by your time in shows how little you are open to change using words like "i know best"
you sound like a dink and for that reason I will not attend TS anymore in the future
so there ya have it
you lost a potential player not from a reviewers review but from your OWN actions
I was interested after I read his review until I read your reply"

the reason why I left this site to begin with was over reaching and lame behavior
took one post after years to see nothing has changed

The poster you are referring to, is as always, entitled to their own opinion but not there own facts. And since most of his complaints were addressed by day 2, my response was to clarify the facts. And yes, since I am the person here observing what is going on and listening to those here, I would know the "BEST" way to respond to what needs to be addressed from the majority of our guests point of view...not just one. Especially when that one has had a history of "issues" with this property long before i was here.

The folks who may not have been able come to play this year are entitled to know just how awesome this event was should they want to make a choice to come next year.

As always, since I am the person you are referring to and obviously have an issue with, I'm available for discussion either in person or by phone...315 361 7629. I await your call or visit! Have a great day!

The tournaments were run very well and the series was an absolute success. The few gripes about rake are literally the same with every WSOP event even in Vegas, but in exchange for the slightly higher rake you get a whole week of tourneys with huge fields that smash the guarantees. Same with the structures. The literal only way to get a tourney with 2100 entries over in 2 days is to have a fast structure. Same with most of the weekday 1 day tourneys that paid out $20k+. The WSOP staff and dealers did a great job and like always the TS staff and dealers did too. Can't wait til the WSOP comes back.

Thank you Brian, Ill pass that along to the staff. For a first time event I thought we worked in synergy with the WSOP staff. Hopefully next year we can make it even better. Thank you for coming out!!!

well as a "guest" if I have any issues personally I dont want to hear the "majority of other guest"
umm wait what
That's about as awful of customer service you can offer really
I'm not saying everyone is entitled to X,Y,Z cuz they simply demanded it, asked for, or even wanted it
BUT in no way do I wanna hear when I have a suggestions, complaint, issue that because of the majority of other guest my X is deminished
I'm at a casino I wanna be valued as a guest also!
and if I am being reasonable I would expect that to be received in another way then being discredited under the guise of other guest were fine..well guess what I WAS NOT kinda thing

I came onto this thread cuz I used to give serious action there years back
I am currently looking for places to travel to and get back into action
Why would I travel to X place when I have so many options?
So yes I would expect casino's to compete for peoples action rather then turn away action
and IMO your stance on things seems a bit over the top

So if I am right/wrong doesnt really matter
I took the time to express why in a sea of options I would lean on not playing at this location
and guess what it's not from anything that poster said
I don't care what his past was or what his issue is..I have seen many over the years from poker/casino type people. I can't control them nor do I try
you seem to still need to explain that users past and IMO has not meaning into what my issue was and further highlights my exact reason for posting to begin with

The reaction stinks of " you said something about my work and now I am upset" and it seemed more like a I need to discredit this to protect the image of what I worked on
perhaps I am wrong
but that leads to toxic things I have found in the poker room from the top down.

all I wanted to let you know is don't be so sensitive to constructive criticism, sometimes readers/potential customers would rather see constructive criticism received by the powers that be then turned into why the criticism is wrong

You are wrong. And it does matter.

nail ---> head


Frankie does a better job of listening to criticism and answering questions in his room's thread than any other room rep for any other poker room in the world. He is always active here, and always responds. But that doesn't mean he has to take **** from customers who are saying silly things.

Keep up the great work, Frankie!!

Cheers, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

Unlike posters. I cannot remain anonymous. I'm not getting into a back and forth posting with someone I do not know. You can be a competitor or someone we removed from the room that is just venting. Like I stated, should you want to have a legitimate conversation and not remain anonymous, I await your call or in person visit. Have a great day!

Mr. Raymer, hope all is well and you are tearing up the felt wherever you are playing!. Great to hear from you my friend and thank you!

Hey Frankie. I wanted to ask you about the poker games during the week when the Boxing HOF is happening in mid-June. I will be going there for the event but would love to play poker as well while I am at Turning Stone, considering playing 1-2 to 5/5. What is the usually expected turnout during that weekend? Will you guys be running more tables?

I appreciate your response!
Ye