Rookie trip to Houston Sports show, need advice, thanks

BAYOUBENGAL

Heading to my first real show in Houston. A few questions from a rookie please
About how many dealers will be there (GTSM has no info on this)?
I have some sports tickets, autographs and footballs that may or may not been real, how do I find out and if so submit to PSA?
Are there people there who can give me a good idea of value and what is real? If so how do I compensate them?
What is best day to go and how long do I need, I am not going to obtain any autographs
Thanks

dmurphy3mvp

I would wait until the TriStar show in Houston July 6-8. TriStar knows how to run a show and have been recruiting quality dealers to set up at their shows for 30 years. GTSM views their dealers as genertaing extra revenue to offset their expenses and nothing more. That's the reason why you can't find any information on how many dealers or which specific dealers will be there. Do some research online and read their reviews. Most will be about their autograph business, but you will find information here and there about the "card show" part of their events. I think you will find that making the commitment to make the trip to the show for anything other than the autographs will not be rewarded.

BAYOUBENGAL

Thanks Dmurphy, makes sense and again their website was scarce on details and it’s a 7 hour drive for me. I did see PSA was going NGC to be there and I was hoping for their advice. But I guess that can wait.

SDSportsFan

Thing is, if PSA is going to be there, and you have items that you want PSA to authenticate/grade, I would go. PSA doesn't get to Texas very often, so I would take the opportunity while it's there. PSA usually doesn't go to the Tri-Star shows.

I will be driving from San Antonio, as I have several items that I've been waiting to get graded, plus I have a San Diego Chargers HOFer football I need to get LaDainian Tomlinson to sign.

Steve

Stone193

I've been to the TriStar in Houston a couple of times - pretty good show - with more than enough vendors.

Some of the Pics from my last visit:

bounce

I live here and setup at the TriStar shows. I would not setup at GTSM again, they only really care about the autographs, they don’t promote the show that much.

I suspect there will be maybe 10-20 dealers there, some of those could probably help you out in terms of values etc. but I imagine you could that info in the right forum here, and figure out if it’s even worth paying for the authentication.

I agree that PSA doesn’t usually do the Houston show, BGS and JSA do. But 7 hours sounds like a long way to go if you aren’t getting any of the autographs.

It will take you less than an hour to see every dealer table at the GTSM show, I’d try and get some info on your items before making the trip. I’d probably pick Saturday if you decide to go. Sunday will be crazy with the Astros signing that day.

BAYOUBENGAL

Thank you Bounce and stone (great pics), great info and as a newbie in this it is very helpful. I have again found the GTSM site to be very limited in info. In the end, I need advice from an "expert" and am glad to pay fees to have the items certified etc. I am also very surprised to see how few PSA dealers are within 250 miles of my zip code. I do not care about any autographs so if I go I will try and avoid Sunday for sure.