Poker rooms in St. Louis. MO

razcat2004 · #1 04-28-2006, 03:00 PM

Im an Atlantic City player who is going to St. Louis next month on business. Being the poker player that I am I found a few diffrent poker rooms in the area.
(1) Harrah's St. Louis
(2) Ameristar - St. Charles (riverboat I believe).

Which poker room should I go to?
Anyone know what the competion/atomosphere is at these rooms? Do they have 1/2 or 2/5 NL live games?

flafishy · #2 04-28-2006, 03:15 PM

I was just there over the weekend. Both have 1/2 NL games. Harrah's also has 2/4.

Both are nice, pleasant, friendly rooms. The difference is that Ameristar attracts mostly 3/6 limit players and usually has one or two NL tables going. Harrah's is just the opposite, mostly NL with one or two 3/6 limit.

I play limit, and the limit games at both places are loose and juicy. Can't tell you about the NL competition.

WillyT · #3 04-29-2006, 03:17 PM

Ameristar will be better for slightly higher stakes limit. They usually have a couple of 20/40 limit games going. Note that you cannot buy in for 1000 in MO though. You can only buy in for 500 in a 2 hour stretch, but it's set up in a slightly weird way. If you get there at 1:55 you can buy in for 500 and the go back in ten minutes 2:05 and buy 500 more. If you arrive at 2:05 you can buy in for 500 but will have to wait until 4:00 to buy more chips.

good luck,
WT

magoo · #4 04-29-2006, 04:29 PM

Pay PARTICULAR ATTENTION to this, it can be a major hassle, should you get stuck.

[ QUOTE ]
Note that you cannot buy in for 1000 in MO though. You can only buy in for 500 in a 2 hour stretch, but it's set up in a slightly weird way. If you get there at 1:55 you can buy in for 500 and the go back in ten minutes 2:05 and buy 500 more. If you arrive at 2:05 you can buy in for 500 but will have to wait until 4:00 to buy more chips.

good luck,
WT

[/ QUOTE ]

LeftyRuggiero · #5 04-30-2006, 01:04 PM

I saw in this latest issue of Card Player that Pinnicle has bought the President and Casino Queen was building a new casino on land. Anyone know if Pinnicle has any plans to rebuild a new casino there? Also is there a chance that the Queen will put in a card room?

Jimmy The Fish · #6 05-03-2006, 11:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I saw in this latest issue of Card Player that Pinnicle has bought the President and Casino Queen was building a new casino on land. Anyone know if Pinnicle has any plans to rebuild a new casino there? Also is there a chance that the Queen will put in a card room?

[/ QUOTE ]

Pinnacle is planning a large casino/hotel complex in downtown STL. It will replace the President. From what I've read, it will be significantly larger than the Prez, although not quite in the Aharrahstar range.

The Queen has announced plans for a boat-in-a-moat to replace their current facility, but they've yet to break ground. I'm pretty sure that Illinois law limits the number of "gaming positions" that any casino can have, which is the reason why poker rooms in the state are so scarce -- each seat in a poker room comes at the expense of a slot machine. The Queen doesn't have to deal with Missouri's loss limits, which would help in arranging deep-stack games; but 99% of area gamblers aren't affected by the $500 limit, so it's a small advantage at best.

I think that the Queen will do whatever Pinnacle doesn't. If Pinnacle builds a poker room into their new boat, the Queen won't bother; but if Pinnacle doesn't, the Queen will. The Queen's survival will depend on exploiting market niches that Pinnacle leaves open.

archcity · #7 08-05-2006, 07:31 PM

I thought Illinois had very strick laws against poker and that is why the Queen does not have games. For example no buy-in bar games are not allowed in Illinois.

The reason mentioned above also makes sense, they have very limited space on the boat.

AKQJ10 · #8 08-05-2006, 08:43 PM

Empress Joliet and Hollywood Aurora both have poker, I believe. Nothing to do with STL (metro Chicago, actually) but data points about Illinois poker legislation.

ChicagoJoe · #9 08-05-2006, 10:58 PM

In Illinois casinos are only allowed to run a limited amount of table games. The casinos have been trying to get the state to increase the table games but our governor will nothing to do with any increases in gambling

Now there will are only two poker rooms in operation in Illinois Hollywood in Aurora with six tables & Harrah’s in Metropolis with three tables. Empress closed there poker room about two months ago.

Biggle10 · #10 08-07-2006, 12:10 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I saw in this latest issue of Card Player that Pinnicle has bought the President and Casino Queen was building a new casino on land. Anyone know if Pinnicle has any plans to rebuild a new casino there? Also is there a chance that the Queen will put in a card room?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't find it now, but I vaguely recall reading that a new casino would be opening in Lemay. I hope this is true, because I'm lazy and hate driving from south county to Ameristar/harrah's.