Turning Stone Poker Blog
Owned and operated by the Oneida Indian Nation, Turning Stone Resort & Casino has served the people of Central New York since 1993. Here, you will find more than just a casino, but arguably one of the most luxurious resorts in the nation.
So if you’d rather have a complete vacation in favor of a casual trip to the casino, this is the place for you. Not only has Turning Stone received many awards throughout its near-three decade existence; it has also become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state.
Turning Stone Details In order to help stem the spread of Covid-19 to its community, Turning Stone has adopted the same public health metric that has guided New York State to restrict access to guests that come from a state that has experienced a 7-day rolling average of positive tests in excess of 10%, or positive cases exceeding 10 per. Turning Stone: Open. Daily Sit-N-Gos. Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Casino: Open. Deep Stack Poker & Card Room: Open. 1-4 tournaments every day in December. Mansfield Gemini Poker Club: Open. Masks and temperature checks required. Shark Tank Poker Club: Open. The Bad Beat Jackpot should reach $25,000 by or on Sunday, December 13, in time for the Poker Room to hold its $25,000 Bad Beat Jackpot Promo! Starting at 10:00am we will reduce the qualifier hand to beat every hour to win the BBJ (minimum qualifier reduction hand at 8:00pm and beyond is Ace's Full of Ten's with one card required).
- We’ve got a wide range of free online video poker games for you including Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better! Join Turning Stone Online Casino today!
- We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.
That said, you are looking at a proven venue that will serve New Yorkers and tourists for the next 30 years. And you can place a safe bet that it will only continue to grow.
Let’s explore this New York gambling spot.
Turning Stone Resort Casino Overview
As hinted in the intro, you are getting more than just your average casino. With the 125,000 square feet of Las Vegas style gaming, you will find golf amenities, an RV Park, an arcade, and spas.
Sure, you got your traditional gambling layout that includes slot machines, casino table games, Bingo, Keno, and a plethora of dining and entertainment options.
Sound exciting?
Awesome.
Read on for an in-depth look at everything you will find in the State of New York’s hottest tourist attraction. At least the hottest outside of New York City.
Turning Stone Resort Casino Gaming
Gaming at Turning Stone Resort Casino includes the widest selection of slot and table games around. So many games, you can get a kick out of playing the slots and tables alone for an entire week and you will still have to find things to do.
Impressive, right?
You will discover your favorite real money slot games but don’t surprise yourself if you find a few new state-of-the-art themes to pair with them. Overall, you have over 2,000 slots to choose from and it won’t take long for you to discover why Turning Stone Resort Casino won the #1 Best Overall Gaming Resort in 2020.
Do you wish to test your skill against the best poker players in the area?
Head over to the poker room and immerse yourself in this 32-seat poker room. You won’t gain just the ultimate poker playing experience.
You will also indulge yourself in watching your favorite sporting events on one of the ultra high-definition televisions, charging your phone at the table, and taking advantage of free WiFi. Yeah, as you can see Turning Stone Resort will give you so much more than the basic poker playing experience.
Here, you will literally get the royal treatment even if you don’t take home the grand prize at a tournament.
Are you a sports bettor?
Head over to The Lounge with Caesars Sports, the area’s ultimate sportsbook that will provide you the ultimate fan experience. Yeah, it’s time to ditch that den you built for a few years and replace it with a day at The Lounge.
Here, you will find a 500 square foot, curved LED screen that you will see from as far away as the casino’s main entrance. Take advantage of the luxury seating, enjoy award-winning food, beer, cocktails, and check out the luxury VIP areas complete with their own screens.
And with a name like Caesars attached to the sportsbook, you know you’re about to get the best, even if you’ve tried all the rest.
At this casino, you will also find Bingo and Keno. So if you are an avid player of the classics, this casino has what you are looking for.
If you haven’t yet experienced so many options regarding casino gaming, prepare to have your mind blown away. And if you have, it’s likely that you haven’t seen such state-of-the-art gaming hospitality anywhere else in America.
Turning Stone Resort Casino Dining
Dining at Turning Stone Resort is every bit as diverse as the gaming. Here, you will find options that range from upscale dining to convenient, grab and go options. How many options are we talking about? 13. Yeah, it may take you a week just to see through to them all.
But anyway, you now know that you don’t need to leave the resort for anything. You have everything you need right here.
It starts at T’s Steakhouse, featuring an upscale atmosphere with panoramic views of the countryside, a penthouse bar, and skyview balcony.
Oh, and you will find the finest steaks and seasonings at this location. The food is great, and so is the view at what Casino Player Magazine touts as the Most Romantic Restaurant in New York.
You will find both old-world and new-world Italian-inspired cuisine at Pino Bianco Restaurant whose ingredients come straight from Northern Italy. And once you finish your entree, head over to the adjacent Bar Pino and finish off with your favorite cocktail.
Craving Chinese and Thai cuisine? Peace Blossom Restaurant is where it’s cooking. Indulge in the freshest ingredients around coupled with unique flavors, sweet, and spicy blends. The finest chefs in the area prep these meals, so brace yourself for the best.
Upstate Tavern features local brews that use only the finest ingredients. Come in and you will discover the best comfort foods in the venue featuring a New York State flair. If you are craving fresh and rich, this is the spot you need to visit.
Tin Rooster BBQ offers a country-like atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else. Whether you’re in the mood for smoked brisket, fried chicken, burgers, or sandwiches, Tin Rooster BBQ has it cooking.
If you had a long day playing casino games, Emerald Restaurant is where your next dining experience should be. Featuring a casual and relaxed atmosphere, unwind and indulge in your favorite comfort foods as you sit back and enjoy the evening.
Dining at the Lounge provides the ultimate dining experience for the sports fan. So if that’s you, you are in sheer luck. Even if your sports bet isn’t a winner, the strong probability exists that you will satisfy your craving.
Variety, Taste, and Quality define The Food Hall at Turning Stone. It’s your local, glorified fast-food option that ranges from quick-serve burgers to fresh Mexican and Asian cuisine. Whatever you’re in the mood for, The Food Hall at Turning Stone will get it to you fast.
The sushi lover in you will fall head over heels for Sushi Sushi. Featuring the greatest selection of sushi in the area, you may find a few new satisfying flavors at this top-end location.
If you’re playing Bingo, chances are you will stumble upon the Delta Cafe. Like The Food Hall, it’s a higher-end fast-food location that ranges from salads to sandwiches to even pizza. It’s the great pick-me-up when you’re looking for something between games.
And finally, you can treat yourself to the richest desserts in the area at Opals Confectionery. But if you are looking for something bright and early, they also serve breakfast sandwiches and other convenient staples to start your day.
Turning Stone Resort Casino Entertainment and Promotions
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Sign up for a TS Rewards Card and you will become part of the greatest promotion in the area. Just sign up, start playing, and you will find yourself on your way to earning exciting awards that include outstanding benefits and opportunities as you level up in tier points.
With the rewards card, you can also take advantage of the many promotions at Turning Stone Resort Casino. Click the aforementioned link and you will discover one of the dozens of promotions taking place at Turning Stone Resort Casino. They have something going on every month and season, so check in often.
Looking for the latest and greatest forms of live entertainment? Check the event calendar at Turning Stone Resort Casino and see who’s invading the area when you book your stay at the venue. Catch world-class talent at the Event Center or head over to The Showroom for a more intimate experience.
Turning Stone Resort Casino Accommodations and Attractions
Accommodations at Turning Stone Resort Casino offer just as much variety as the gaming and tables. Here, you can lodge in 6 different locations that include The Lodge, The Tower, The Hotel, The Inn, Sandstone Hollow Inn, and The Villages RV Park.
So whether you’re taking a casino road trip or you are looking for economy or luxury, the options here at Turning Stone Resort Casino will provide you with a special stay you won’t find anywhere else.
Oh, and if you would like to experience the top-notch attractions in the area, you need not venture too far. You have seven hot attractions right on the site, so whether it’s fitness, sports, or recreation you are craving, take a day or two off from the casino and spoil yourself.
Head into the Tower Fitness Club for a hard workout or to enjoy the state-of-the-art amenities to complete your wellness experience.
Turning Stone is also one of the top golf destinations in America. Featuring five courses including three championship-level layouts, you can spend another 5 days at the resort just to perfect your golf game. Familiar names like Tom Fazio, Rick Smith, and Robert Trent Jones Jr. took part in course design.
Not a golf fan?
Don’t worry, as the resort also features tennis and racquetball options. You will find five Decoturf tennis courts at the Sportsplex featuring both indoor and outdoor options. And if you need equipment, you will find everything you’re looking for at the pro shop.
Lace up those goggles and brace yourself for the finest cardio workout of your life at the racquetball court. This sport will surely increase the heart rate and it’s far more fun than a jaunt on the treadmill.
It can’t get any better than this if outdoor recreation is your thing.
And if you’d just like to kick back and relax at the pool, that is a solid option within itself. Turning Stone is home to three pools. Pools at The Lodge and The Hotel are open to all guests, and if you’re looking for an older demographic, you will find it at The Tower Club Fitness Pool.
Conclusion
You could spend two weeks at Turning Stone Resort Casino and you will still crave more. With so many games, dining options, and even on-site attractions, it’s impossible to tire at this hot vacation destination that also carries a casino.
Whether you’re into gaming or if you just want to have a good time, you will get everything you are looking for at Turning Stone.
Have you played here before and if so, let us know about your overall experience. We’d love to hear your stories.
I had an interesting trip recently -- kind of a trip back in time, in some ways.
It started with a call from the guys at Poker Royalty asking me if I wanted to be included in this new project, a poker show called 'Poker Night in America' that was designed to be a little more focused on personalities and characters than is the case with a lot of poker on TV today.
I was thrilled to accept. I'm a media hog, of course, but it sounded like a lot of fun. They'd be flying us out to Turning Stone Resort and Casino in New York on a private jet, and I'd be playing with a lot of guys like Mike Matusow, Greg Mueller, Will Failla, Gavin Smith, and others who were just fun to be around and play against.
We'd be flying out from Vegas on a private jet direct to New York which was great. On top of that we got free entry into the Empire State Poker Championships, a $1,500 re-entry event, and we were also going to play a cash game for the show which would be a $25/$50 with a $5K minimum buy-in. And like I say, the group playing in this game were all fun players and also mostly action players, so to speak, so it could also be a good spot perhaps to do well.
There were a lot of us flying out -- about 16 players, some staff, Nolan Dalla, and a few others. I've had a little bit of experience flying on private jets before -- humble brag -- and so I knew that it was a good strategy to get there early in order to get one of the forward-facing seats (which I prefer).
Unfortunately I got held up and was late getting there, but I got a good consolation prize by getting to lay on a couch in the back while everyone else took the seats and played open-face Chinese poker. I slept the whole flight, then when we arrived I got to hear everyone complain about how the worst player in the OFC game had won all of the money.
When I checked in, I knew I had been to Turning Stone but I couldn't remember when. So they looked me up and sure enough the last time I'd been there was May 2004.
In fact, that wasn't that long before the WSOP Main Event that year when I finished second and of course kind of had my introduction onto the poker scene. I realized afterward that there was kind of a 'time machine' theme for the whole trip which in a way was like going back to an earlier era, with the 'Poker Night in America' show also trying to recapture some of that magic of TV poker from those earlier days.
We had a terrific meal at an Italian restaurant with some great red wine and finally turned in for the night. The next day was the re-entry tournament, and while I'd brought money in case I needed to fire a second bullet, my goal was to make that first bullet last. As it turned out I was very fortunate and ended that day with one of the biggest stacks. That was Day 1a, and so the next day while Day 1b played out that's when I played the cash game for the show.
The cash game went well for me, too, and I actually ended up the biggest winner although only ended with about $25K to end the session. Since everyone thought I was a maniac, I played really tight and straightforward which turned out to be a good strategy. I also knew that since they were streaming our table live on a delay, my opponents would be able to look back on the breaks and see what I had, so there wasn't too much value in making a lot of moves.
The fact is, I wasn't really getting many good cards, anyway, but by the last two hours I'd nonetheless built up this very nitty image. If you think about it, that image had begun way back on the plane where I was snoozing rather than gambling it up with everyone else at open-face Chinese.
During the latter part of the session I was able to play off that image pretty successfully, including getting away with some bluffs to win some pots. There were two hands in particular where I made a crazy all-in raise on the river in hands where there was a possible flush on board. I bluffed on both. One player folded a set and the other folded a straight. I only had pocket fours!
After we were done, I tweeted excitedly to tell everyone to watch the stream, because they were about to see I'd turned into an animal and made some wild plays. Unfortunately the stream had been taken down because they were having problems with it, but I'm hoping maybe the footage they shot for the TV show might include some of those hands near the end. I was pretty proud of my play, and I think it would show pretty well how it is possible to play off of your image.
Then it was back to the tournament the next day, and I was in a really good mindset for that after winning in the cash game. My confidence was high, I felt like the king of the world... I mean these guys had no chance!
Turning Stone Poker Blog 2019
The day began and I was making moves, playing aggressively, and really controlling the table. In fact, I was getting away with things you can't normally get away with these days, because players in a lot of cases know how to react to aggression. In a way it was another 'time machine' moment where I'd gone back to 2004 and an earlier time when people played differently than is the case today.
Everything was going great. I was third in chips with about 400,000 when the average was about 150,000 or so. Then the chip leader got moved to my table -- he had about 700,000 -- and he was a young guy with some attitude and I just knew we were going to butt heads. We were the two alpha males, you could say, and we'd both climbed into the ring and probably only one of us was going to make it out.
We made some moves against each other -- some three-betting back and forth -- then a hand came up where I had ace-king under the gun and raised, and he three-bet me again. It was a spot where it seemed best just to call, and the flop came [K][x][x] with two hearts (I had the K♥). I checked, he bet, and I called. The turn was like a [5] and I checked again, and when he bet big I just called again, which once more seemed like the safer play. I was thinking either I'd let him bluff off a lot of chips or if he had me beat I could keep the pot small.
Then the river brought the A♥, giving me top two pair but also completing the flush. Now he hadn't been three-betting without having real hands -- at least the ones he'd shown down -- and so I didn't feel like he made a flush (I didn't think he had, say, Q♥J♥). His most likely holding to me seemed like [K][Q], which meant if I checked he'd just check back. I also thought my hand felt pretty disguised and so it was a good spot to lead into him, and since my remaining stack was a little less than the size of the pot, I went all in.
I could tell he was surprised, as his face just looked like 'That's the weirdest move ever.' And he didn't act right away, either. So I was thinking mission accomplished. He was clearly confused, and chances were good I was best and he was might even pay me off out of curiosity.
Then, still obviously puzzled, he says 'I have a flush... but I don't know what to do with it.'
Then I was the one who was a little confused, because it seemed to me like if he had a flush it was the easiest call ever. Was he lying? Was he just trying to get a reaction from me, like perhaps trying to see if I had made a flush?
The longer he thought, the more confident I was about my hand, and when he finally did call I proudly turned over my hand. Then he showed his... 8♥7♥!
I was stunned -- at his preflop three-bet, and his hitting that great flop and then perfect river, and everything. But I didn't complain. I just shook his hand and left. I had finished in 38th and still cashed, but was obviously disappointed not to get a win.
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I went back to the room still feeling down, but I discovered 'Breaking Bad' was coming on and they had AMC, which perked me up. Then I ordered my favorite comfort food from room service -- chili dogs and French fries with nacho cheese -- and soon I was thinking, you know, this isn't so bad.
We flew back the next day and again I slept during the flight and didn't play open-face Chinese. I did, however, take a piece of David 'ODB' Baker who played -- and who by most accounts had an edge against the others -- and so when I dozed off I thought this is great... I'm going to win even more money!
Then we arrived and I woke up and asked David how it went. 'Oh, we got buried,' he said. 'You owe $4,000.' I was like is this real?
I still made a good amount on the trip, though, and didn't have regrets. And now that I look back on it, I realize how much fun it was to return to Turning Stone and be reminded in several ways of how things were -- and were about to become -- when I had last been there.
David Williams is a member of Team PokerStars Pro