Turning Stone Rant

naphinfitos · #1 04-22-2005, 08:28 PM

Recently I took half a week off from school and hopped a train out to Turning Stone Casino in central New York. Having been there 5 times in the last year I was pretty confident I could make a substantial amount of money playing $100 max and staying in the Tower hotel there. How wrong I was.

First of all, TS changed their format for collecting rake. It used to be that every pot larger than $10 was raked 3$, but now you have to pay the dealer at the table 5$ every half hour. 5 bbs/hr is a rediculous amount to be giving straight to the house, especially since the best way to play there is very tight/agressive. All in all I funded the house with over $200 in rake in the 2 days I was there. And 10 hrs a day is not even playing that much.

The second factor that disturbed me was the amount of crap that I had to take for wearing a Red Sox jacket. Nobody had ever voiced any negative sentiment towards me for being a Sox fan before they won the series, so I guess the sudden change comes from Yankee fans now resenting us Sox fans just like we did for so long while you owned us.

Now obviously the casino can't control what other players say at the table about sports, but a majority of the crap that was said to me came from casino employees. Dealers, poker room operators, the front check-in desk. Not cool.

ALso the comps for poker players are a joke. If I play for 4 hrs, I'm entitled to a 5$ meal comp (which actually costs 2$ to get) and 25$ discounted toward a night in the hotel there. There is no difference between playing for 4 hrs and 14 hrs in what comps you receive, which is rediculous. They make a record of when you start playing in the room, and can pinpoint exactly how much money you pay to them in rake. The bottom line is that TS doesn't mind treating pokerplayers like second-class-citizens.

Anyways I'm not going back for a long time. When I can confidently beat the 20-40 limit game there I guess I'll make a return trip, but barring some rediculous hours played there, it has now become very hard to cover expenses and make a little profit on the side. It is no longer fun because the dealers are mostly jackasses (there are a few good ones), and with such a pathetic comp program there is absolutely no incentive for me to return anytime soon.

tylerdurden · #2 04-22-2005, 08:37 PM

Poker players ARE second classs citizens. Poker comps suck everywhere. Get over it.

naphinfitos · #3 04-22-2005, 08:41 PM

I love the way that my 4 pronged attack on TS was simplified down to just being about comps. I don't really care about comps that much. It's the entire situation that sucks.

Photoc · #4 04-22-2005, 09:44 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The second factor that disturbed me was the amount of crap that I had to take for wearing a Red Sox jacket. Nobody had ever voiced any negative sentiment towards me for being a Sox fan before they won the series, so I guess the sudden change comes from Yankee fans now resenting us Sox fans just like we did for so long while you owned us.

[/ QUOTE ]

Guess you never had Yankees plates and drove in the Boston area like I did when I lived out that way. Constant horn beeps, middle fingers and so on. Try going to the city some time, fights all the time.

I think its funny that fans dont know how to be fans instead of ASSHOLES towards other fans.

naphinfitos · #5 04-22-2005, 10:11 PM

I guess what I meant was that Sox fans have always hated Yankee fans because the Yankees have enjoyed much more success than we have. As soon as the sides have changed (even if only for 1 season) Yankee fans were just as quick to hate me because of who I root for.

tylerdurden · #6 04-22-2005, 10:17 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I love the way that my 4 pronged attack on TS was simplified down to just being about comps. I don't really care about comps that much. It's the entire situation that sucks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Four pronged? You also complained about the rake and obnoxious yankee fans.

The rake is tied to the comp situation. How much in comps do you think you should get for your measly $200 in rake??? They have to make SOME money off of poker players.

The obnoxious yankee fan point isn't even worth mentioning. You're in New York wearing Red Sox gear, wtf did you expect?

So really your four-pronged attack is two complaints, and one of them is pointless.

toots · #7 04-23-2005, 12:15 AM

A five dollar meal comp after four hours of play?

Second class, yes, but a heck of a deal compared to Foxwoods. There, you get a half a dollar in comp points for every hour of play.

Play all day and you'll be doing well to have enough points to buy a burger.

Beerfund · #8 04-23-2005, 12:29 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I guess what I meant was that Sox fans have always hated Yankee fans because the Yankees have enjoyed much more success than we have. As soon as the sides have changed (even if only for 1 season) Yankee fans were just as quick to hate me because of who I root for.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im pretty sure Yankee fans have always hated you. And the rest of your post is lame. Of course they dont give a shyt about poker players, they contribute nothing compared to the rest of the casino.

Freakin noobs

naphinfitos · #9 04-23-2005, 12:33 PM

People are focusing on the comp portion of my complaint. That really doesn't bother me that much. What I wanted to hear input on was the massive increase in rake (5 bbs/hr).

Voltron87 · #10 04-23-2005, 01:18 PM

5$ a half hour for a NL table is not a bad deal. I's not good, but it's not like they are raping you.

You can't think of time charges in terms of BB per hour. Does it cost the casino more to spread a 5 10 NL game than a 1/2?