A new and exciting high-hand jackpot program in the Turning Stone Resort Casino poker room has players abuzz over the prospect of winning extra cash.

The jackpot, which started earlier this month, is the only one of its kind in New York State.

Thursdays are the days the new jackpot is in effect. The jackpot opened with $200 for each of 23 different high hands; every week a hand does not hit, Poker Room Director Frank Foti adds another $200 to the total for that hand.

This means that by early October some high hands could be carrying jackpots of more than $1,000. It also means that in addition to some of the other and ongoing promotions in the Turning Stone Resort Casino poker room, players who get quads, a straight flush to the 5, or any royal flush stand to take home some serious coin (in addition to the pots they undoubtedly will win).

“We wanted to do something fun, something that would get our players even more excited to come and play,” Frank said recently. “If you time it right, four-of-a-kind could net you a pretty big takedown.”

(High Hand promotions and the Bad Beat Jackpot are still in play, so conceivably a player who loses with quad 10s or better could stand to win both the progressive high-hand jackpot and the bad beat.)

As Frank explained, every time a player hits one of the progressive high-hand jackpots on a Thursday, the jackpot for that hand is reseeded at $200. He added there is no limit to the number of times a particular player can win progressive high hand jackpots on a given day or in a given month. The status of each high-hand jackpot appears on a big board that is visible from every seat in the room.

So far this year, the poker room at Turning Stone Resort Casino has given out an average of more than $100,000 per month for high hands alone.