Hollywood casino and their poker room have remained open. All restaurants are carry out only.

Jan 10th - stopped by Hollywood today for first time in 10 months. Sunday afternoon at 1:30p. Had two $1/2 games going, with 1 name on list. Playing 7 handed I think. Plexiglass dividers. Also had 3 tables going for daily tourney (have 2x day). Guess it was 7 handed also but didn’t really count. Didn’t play, but looked like decent set up. About 1/2 the tables are gone from the room. Tourney tables out where WPT/HPS normally set up. Staff was same, didn’t recognize any players but I never really ran with the noon Sunday folks.

STL County made Hollywood stop giving out drinks because county restaurants were complaining. I think now you can get a water or soda in the grill but have to drink it there at least. Can't take a beverage into the poker room.

As such, I think more and more cash game players are going across to Ameristar St. Charles.

Ameristar is having a five day tourney series starting Feb 17. Same format as the one late last year.

They are allowing drinks again at Hollywood but no drinks are allowed after 11pm. They actually came and collected everyones drink at the table.

The Hollywood Friday Night tournament got over 70 people. Pretty easy crowd, but I did tilt someone who ranted/raved until he got knocked out. I donked him.

The Cash game I am unsure on and will play again but the dealer made a few mistake in favor of what seemed like friends/regulars. If I was not paying attention I would have lost chips due to it. Could have easily been mistakes as mistakes do happen but it left me with strong doubts.

hollywood - 8 handed cash games, $5 max rake, no 4hr food comp. Seemed to manage sanitation of the room very well.

FYI Hollywood is back to 10 handed, no dividers, masks not required.

What about Ameristar?

Is PLO actually running at Ameristar ever? I see it on bravo, but it's always "10 waiting". What nights are best, if so?

PLO doesn’t run on demand. It’s has a daily start time of 4:00 if I remember correctly. The names on the list are mostly regs who call the day of, usually in the morning, to get on the list. Personally I hate this about this game, but evidently the regs use to play PLO at Lumiere before they closed their room during the pandemic and got Ameristar to start it at a specific time for them. More importantly though, the PLO player pool in St Louis just isn’t big enough to run it on demand.

If you want to get in the game at the 4:00 start time I suggest you call first thing in the morning and verify where you are on the list. Otherwise call ahead to get on the list and wait for a seat after the start time. I am told that this game can sometimes run all night into the next morning, but that’s usually on the weekend of it happens.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I guess Im blind I cant find the structure sheet on Hollywood's website anymore. Anyone know if there is a big difference in the $150 Mini Mega and the $150 Double Stack? Thanks.

I asked about this recently, I believe the Mini Mega is with 30k chips but shorter blind levels than the Mega. Double stack is 20k chips obv. I'm 75% sure this is right haha.

Question for the group. Visiting town on a business trip and can get away for a little 1/2 or 2/5 on a Friday evening around dinner. Where will I find a game and not have to wait hours to play, what's the most robust action in St Louis? Thank you in advance.

Ameristar

Planning to be in town for the Ameristar Poker Open at the end of the month. Generally speaking which cash games are better? I see the Lumiere is reopened and has tables running. Opinions on the rooms at Ameristar, Lumiere, Hollywood?

Is an actual poker room open at Lumiere/Horseshoe, or is it just a fancy video poker spot?

Hollywood is significantly regaining numbers in their daily tourneys. Cash game numbers seem way below what it used to be and it's nothing but regs.

I have not played at Ameristar.

Bravo app shows 2 tables of 1/3 NL and a 1/2/5 PLO table running at Horseshoe right now. I’ll try to check out at least 2 of 3

My sorta educated guess is if it's cash you want, go to Ameristar. If you wanna play a tourney go to Hollywood. Other than the $60 offerings, most of them have ok structures.

Don’t bother with Hollywood unless you hate action. Their games are ten handed.

Thanks, do they nightly tourneys also play 10 handed??

I assume so. I haven’t played one there in a while.

They’re ten handed because it’s what the geriatric regulars demand. Pretty sure Ameristar is nine handed.

What are the numbers at Ameristar like? Today's 1pm $100 at Hollywood had 52 runners.

Also, Hollywood has cut back to only 3 nightly tourneys a week due to dealer shortage. So a 1 pm every day then a pm on Tue-Thu-Fri only.

I also hate 10 handed. I'm a fan of casinos standardizing 8-max tables but there's no way they'll incur that expense.

I swung by Horseshoe (formerly Lumiere) today for the first time since the change to update my player's card and check out the poker room.

There was just one table of 1-3 going, but it was mid-day Wed afternoon. I didn't sit down but did recognize several dealers/floor who have moved over here from Hollywood, so the staff is very competent. They say tourneys are being discussed.

There was a much more visible security presence inside and outside and the outside parking lot is secured better than it was previously. Much needed in that part of town obviously.

Other than that it seemed clean and the Horseshoe rebranding looks good. The gift shop already had Horseshoe STL logos on coffee mugs and shot glasses, and even decently-priced Cohiba cigars. I was in there maybe 20 minutes and quick hit a Buffalo slot for $100 so that made me feel even better about things.

Ameristars got the schedule up for the next APO starting the end of August. Its a pretty good series hopefully it will get a good turnout.

got a link? i only see a link to the April/May 2023 one on their website... maybe I'm missing it.....