Another year, another series of competitive satellite tournaments that will eventually send Turning Stone Resort Casino poker players to the Main Event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas in 2023.

This year’s satellite tournament schedule begins August 5. Buy-in for that event is $175 per person.

Guests in each of the satellite tournaments will compete for $1,400 seats in our local Main Event, which will be held in October. From that tournament—with its $1,400 buy-in—we’ll reward winners with $10,000 seats for the 53rd WSOP Main Event at Bally’s Las Vegas, plus $3,000 in travel expenses apiece.

According to Poker Director Frank Foti, hosting WSOP satellites is a really big deal.

Frank said this is the second year Turning Stone is home to tournaments to feed guests to the WSOP Main Event. Foti added that our satellites present a golden opportunity for local players to get to the biggest tournament in the poker world for no more than the initial $175 buy-in.

“We have the longest active poker room in New York State, and we enjoy providing these opportunities to our guests,” Frank said. “To see Turning Stone offering this—it’s a highlight of my career.”

Last year, Turning Stone paved the way for 12 winners to attend the WSOP Main Event. In addition, Turning Stone awarded another 14 winners’ Gold Rings during our WSOP Circuit event in spring. These players were invited to participate in the “Tournament of Champions” in Las Vegas as well.

The WSOP Satellite isn’t the only big poker event happening at Turning Stone this month; we’re also sponsoring the return of the beloved Empire State Hold ‘Em Championships August 12-14.

Buy-in for this tournament is $460 per seat. The event marks the return of an annual tournament we stopped after 2019 due to the Covid pandemic. This year we’re hosting the tournament with a $100,000 guarantee, which means we guarantee the total prize pool will be $100,000 or more.

As Frank noted, guests are excited to welcome this tournament back, as well.

“This is a favorite tournament among those guests who play here frequently,” he said. “It’s good to have it back.”