St. Louis, MO

Does anyone have the skinny on casinos in the St.Louis area? Do they offer $1,$2 no limit in one or more places?

Avoid the river boat casinos (The President/Casino Queen) on the Mississippi downtown. The President offers 1-4-4-8 spread limit and occasionally 2/4 7CS. I'm not even sure what/if the Casino Queen has a poker room because the only time I went, I walked right out after I went in.

The casinos on the Missouri near St. Charles are much, much better. They are both about 20 minutes from downtown STL. The Ameristar always has 1/2 NL ($300 max buy-in) and 3/6 LHE. They typically also have 2/5 NL ($500 max buy-in) and 20/40 Omaha. They sometimes offer other LHE games like 5/10, 10/20, 20/40 but it depends on the day and on the demand. Harrah's only offers NL and LHE I think. Harrah's has either 1/2 NL or 2/5 NL. They might offer both, but I can't remember because it's been awhile since I've been there. I almost always play at Ameristar. Their poker room is a little bigger, although both places are nice.

What is the age for the casinos in that area?

Casino Queen has no poker room, so don't bother going there. Harrahs has a ton of $3/$6 limit tables, usually a few $2/$5 no limit tables running and a $6/$12 limit table if there is interest. I go to Harrahs a lot, personally I like their poker room better than Ameristar, though I have only played there one time and it was still nice.

All casinos in Missouri and Illinois are 21 to gamble AFAIK.

The information here is correct for the most part. I also highly advise against playing at the downtown riverboat casinos (Casino Queen and President Casino) as they are very dirty and unsafe. The Alton Belle Casino in Alton, IL to my knowledge does not host poker.

When visiting and gambling in Missouri, you must first be aware that Missouri is the only state in the country in which a buy-in limit is enforced. In Missouri, you are permitted a buy-in of no more than $500 every two hours on the even hours. This is very important if you are a high stakes gambler. $500 entry in a no-limit game may often not be enough. A simple way to evade this is to arrive at a time shortly before the beginning of an even hour. If you were to change $500 at 7:58pm, you would again be able to change another $500 at 8:01pm. In addition, if you are planning an extended stay, rather than cashing out, color up and keep your cheques and use them when you return, you are only restricted on your cash buy-in's, not when cheque changing your chips.

Illinois does not have a buy-in limit and high stakes gambling is much easier there. However, I urge you to "be careful" while being a high stakes gambler in East St. Louis. Just recently, an individual I am acquainted with was robbed and stabbed after winning $12,000+ and cashing out in cash alone. See this article for more information: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C751452A8F9CDE478625701A004A383A?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22Casino%22+AND+%22Queen%22

The St. Louis and St. Charles County Casinos are much nicer and offer a wider variety of all games and especially poker. Ameristar Casino in St. Charles has had a poker room for several years and currently offer the following games:

Texas Hold'em:
3-6, 5-10 w/kill, 6-12, 10-20, 15-30 w/kill, 20-40 and No-Limit.

Omaha H/L:
3-6 w/kill, 5-10 w/kill, 10-20 w/kill

Omaha High:
Pot Limit Only

Harrah's St. Louis is in Maryland Heights, Missouri (Riverport) just across the river from Ameristar. It opened a poker room last year and currently they only offer limit and no-limit hold-em. The games offered are similar to Ameristar depending on the day.

I have to reccommend if you want to play poker, play at Harrah's as the bad beat jackpot at Harrah's St. Louis is currently in excess of $275,000 and rapidly climbing, a bad beat jackpot has not yet been paid since Harrah's opened their poker room. To win their bad beat, you have to have a four of a kind or better beaten by a higher four of a kind or better. Both hole cards in both the winning and losing hands must be used to make their five card hand. 50% to the loser of the hand, 25% to the winner, 25% split amongst the remaining players at the table in which where dealt a hand in the current pot. It'd be a nice pay-day.

Hope this information helps.

Poker Forum

Poker Forum Index

Live Poker and Home Games

St. Louis, MO

Poker Forum Index

Live Poker and Home Games

St. Louis, MO