Ameristar Poker Room St Louis
With 20x odds on craps, $10,000 limits on blackjack, and the most generous comps in town, Ameristar Casino Resort Spa St. Charles is bringing the greatness back to table games. Enjoy Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Three Card Poker, and Pai Gow Poker, to name a few, as well as the latest specialty games in St. Ameristar Casino St. Charles: Beautiful casino - Very nice poker room - See 534 traveler reviews, 72 candid photos, and great deals for Saint Charles, MO, at Tripadvisor. A schedule of Ameristar St. Charles poker tournaments, including time, buy-in, blind structure, and more. You also can find Ameristar St. Charles phone number, address, and website info.
- Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Galleria
- Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Seating Chart
- Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Union Station
- Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Mo
- Ameristar Poker Room St Louis
St. Louis is a wonderful Midwestern city. Those not from the area might not appreciate what a great place it is, from its famous breweries (Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser, is based here) to great sports teams including the Cardinals and Rams. This city also has the massive Mississippi River, the famous Arch (gateway to the West), a great music scene, a very reasonable cost of living, and terrific food – especially steaks and Italian cuisine.
It's also home to three poker rooms: the Ameristar (in nearby St. Charles, Missouri), Harrah's, and The President.
I visited all three of them during a recent trip to Missouri. The Ameristar in St. Charles was my first.
The casino itself is a large resort/destination casino, like those in Tunica or Atlantic City. Officially it is a boat – but it sure doesn't resemble one in any way other than in legal definition. It doesn't have a hotel but it has nearby ones that serve that purposea hotel is supposed to be ready for occupancy at the end of this year. The casino also spreads all of the games one would expect to find in a casino: roulette, blackjack, craps, Let It Ride, and pai gow, and has a full array of slots and video poker machines. There are also some great restaurants, regular shows, and huge-screen TVs for viewing sporting events and other entertainment.
The poker room itself is about average size with 19 tables. Game selection during the week when I visited was fairly limited. There was one $10/20 Omaha8 game; three $1/2 no-limit games and two $3/6 limit games. I was told they also regularly spread a $1/1 no-limit game with a $40 minimum and $100 maximum. There is never any stud but I was told that they sometimes spread the mixed game of HORSE – though it wasn't going when I was there on a Tuesday night.
Players here can play the overs in the limit game for $6/12 stakes. No one was doing that when I was there – which was a good thing because I didn't have to risk any more money at limit hold'em – not my best poker game.
They did have a tournament going when I arrived. It went off at 7:00 PM, cost $50 and had $30 re-buys for the first hour. There were 65 players to start and nearly all of them were still in it when I arrived at 8:15 PM.
The room hosts three tournaments each weekday at 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM and one more on Saturday afternoon. Check the poker room before planning to play as tournament schedules change regularly.
I found the room very friendly and the players about average. There are a number of excellent restaurants on the casino property, including a high-end steak house: Port 47 (steaks in the $30 and $40 range); a high end seafood restaurant, Pearls Oyster Bar; and a very nice, reasonably priced 1950s style diner, where I had my dinner. I enjoyed a late-night sirloin steak dinner special for just $10.99. It was excellent.
A couple of things peculiar to Missouri that you need to know before playing at the Ameristar or any other room. First of all, there is a stop-loss law that limits player losses (at least on paper) to no more than $500 every two hours. Nice of them to look out for us, but it's really a silly law. They do not allow players to buy in for more than $500 at any one time during a two-hour period. You must use a players club card so they can track all of your buy-ins. Of course smart players immediately recognize that they don't make you report what you have won and what you might be carrying home in chips at the end of the shift. So you could stash as much money you wanted and bring it back – and lose it all in one session if you want. You're only limited by what you can buy in at one time. Or you could buy in for $500 at the last minute of a two-hour period and then, at the stroke of the next hour, one minute later, buy in for another $500. Still, it's something to pay attention to – especially if you play $10/20 Omaha. You don't want to be caught short.
Dealers did not keep their tips when I visited during the last week in October. However, state law was to change in November, allowing them to keep tips. The house was set to implement this new rule shortly – so if you're visiting it's likely they have changed their policy and you can now tip the dealers directly.
I played $3/6 limit hold'em for about two hours. The players at my table took it easy on me and I managed to leave the game up $50 or so. That's more than four big bets an hour. Not bad for what admittedly is not my best game!
As mentioned, there was no hotel on the premises when I visited. But that is set to change as of the end of this year, when a huge casino hotel is set to open. Make sure, if your plans take you to this casino, to check and see if the hotel is open. With the beautiful restaurants, the 19-table poker room, the dozens of other table games, and the entertainment, this would be a nice place to spend a weekend.
Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Galleria
Tags
Live casino poker
'It's still sinking in...' Kevin Garosshen told HPT Tournament Director Jeremy Smith after taking down the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Hollywood St. Louis $1,650 Main Event for $131,184 and a $3,500 Championship Package. Garosshen bested Brent Cunningham in heads-up action after a lengthy final table, and the Las Vegas, Nevada native said about his victory, 'I didn't come in with a top stack, and there were a lot of solid players at the final table. I just ran pretty hot, picked my spots pretty well, and it worked out.'
Garosshen, who now boasts over $430,000 in career tournament earnings according to Hendon Mob, was able to overcome a tough final table that included a pair of WSOP Bracelet winners in Kyle Cartwright and Brett Apter. 'Once Brett got out, he was the best player with four left. Once I won the flip versus him, it was steadily uphill from there. It would've been really tough if Kyle or Brett made heads-up, because they're some of the best.'
'Potter', as he was affectionately called by guest commentator Jerod Smith throughout the HPT's Twitch stream, thanked his friends and family after his victory in just his second-ever HPT Main Event, and added, 'It still feels kinda crazy!'
Lucas Tae was the first player to exit the final table, finding himself on the wrong end of a flip. Tae's jacks couldn't hold against the Big Slick of chip leader Austin McCormick, who continued his dominating run that started with two tables remaining on Day 2. His fellow St. Charles, Missouri native Neil Patel left next, his ace-five bested by the ace-eight of Kyle Cartwright. Cartwright had a hand in the next bustout as well, as Brian Reeder got his last ten or so big blinds in preflop with pocket sixes. Cartwright was waiting in the big blind with pocket queens, however, and Reeder exited in seventh.
McCormick's hot run finally came to an end in sixth, after a pivotal hand that changed the entire dynamic of the final table. McCormick attempt to run a three-barrel bluff against the start of the day short stack Laura Hoppe, but Hoppe called down with top pair, top kicker, sending her soaring into the chip lead and leaving McCormick as one of the shorter stacks. He managed to find a few ladders up the pay chart, before jamming jack-nine into Cartwright's ace-king preflop. McCormick found no help on the board to end his second HPT St. Louis final table two spots shy of his fourth-place showing last August.
Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Seating Chart
From there, the chip lead bounced back and forth between the quintet for a few hours, with Cartwright, Brent Cunningham and Brett Apter all spending time as the short stack, while Kevin Garosshen and Hoppe stayed near the top of the counts. After the dinner break, Garosshen, Hoppe and Apter all held over 35 big blinds, while Cartwright and Cunningham were down to under fourteen big blinds. The two short stacks found themselves battling soon after play resumed, and Cartwright's ten-nine couldn't overcome Cunningham's ace-eight in a blind versus blind confrontation. Cartwright, who won a WSOP Bracelet in 2014 in a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event, lost his last crumbs shortly after to finish in fifth-place, leaving him with $28,233 to take home to Tennessee.
The other WSOP Bracelet winner at the table would be the next to exit, as the 2019 WSOP $1,500 Shootout Bracelet winner fell victim to Hoppe. Apter flopped top pair with ace-king, but Hoppe's ace-ten flopped top two, and Apter put all but around half a big blind of his stack in on the river. Hoppe called with the best hand, and although Apter managed to spin his stack back up to around seven big blinds, he fell in a flip to Garosshen to exit in fourth.
Hoppe's magical day would be the next to end, however, as Cunningham spiked a three-outer to take a chunk of chips from Hoppe. A few hands later, Hoppe tried to bluff Garosshen on a coordinated board, but Garossen made the call with second pair to leave Hoppe short. She got her last five big blinds in with ace-eight, but Cunningham was waiting with kings and sent Hoppe, a NASA Engineer, home short of heads-up action.
Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Union Station
Heads-up action was a short-lived affair, as Garosshen steadily ground Cunningham down to around fifteen big blinds. Cunningham tried to steal over a Garosshen button open. Garosshen held ace-ten and called, and Cunningham couldn't hit with his ten-deuce to send the Colorado food truck operator home a little over $80,000 richer.
Ameristar Poker Room St Louis Mo
When asked what his plans for the money where, Garosshen beamed and said, 'I'm definitely going to fire a lot more events now; maybe fire some more HPT stuff. It's definitely gone well!'
Ameristar Poker Room St Louis
That concludes our coverage of the HPT St. Louis Main Event. The HPT's next stop is a Mini Series in Toledo, Ohio from March 5th through the 15th.