UPDATED: 3/23/10
Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort is located in Chester, WV, just over the border from East Liverpool, Ohio. They have a full casino, poker room, hotel, horse racing, and concert arena.
Poker Room:
The poker room has 40 tables, and is very open and spacious. The room is only three year old, so everything is fairly new and clean.
The games that are spread daily are $1/$2 NLHE and $2/$4 Limit Hold'em. They might get a $2/$5 NL game in the evening. On weekends, they might get a $5/$10 NL, an uncapped $1/$2 PLO, and $3/$6 Omaha H/L with a full Kill.
The rake is 10% $5 max. They do have a Bad Beat Jackpot. Aces Full of Kings beaten by Quads is the qualifier, and you must use a pocket pair of the Full House and Quads. Their website has an updated current value of the BBJ. Only half of the BBJ drop goes to the Jackpot. The other half goes to various promotions they do. Check out their website for more information, as the promotions change from time to time
Even though there are 40 tables, the room is usually half full or less, and they don't even use the area where they used to hold the $2/$5 or larger games. The last time I was there on a Thursday night 8pm in February '10, and they had 2 $1/$2 tables, 4 tournament tables, and an interest list for $2/$4. Weekends are usually busier, especially in the evenings but I never get down there due to scheduling conflicts.
The dealers and staff were terrible when they first opened, but have improved over time. On the other hand, the players have not improved. The word I would use to describe the players at Mountaineer is passive. Some are tight & passive, and some are loose & passive, but most of them are passive. They do a lot of limping preflop, or calling standard raises. They bet small, and raise the minimum. I have heard stories about players playing wild, crazy aggressive, but I rarely sit at a table with them.
Tournaments at Mountaineer are actually decent. They have two daily tournaments, 12:15 & 7pm, for $55. It's a fast structure, but what do you expect for $55. On weekends, the tournaments are deeper, but more expensive.
Once a month they have a two-day tournament for $1000, and a 'Ladies Only' tournament.Mountaineer does offer comps for poker players, sort of. They have the 'Bravo' system which swipes your Players Card at the table, and tracks your hours of play. I haven't been able to get a straight answer as to how much a player can earn, but it seems to be in the neighborhood of $.10 - $.25 per hour.
Casino:
The Casino is in a separate building from the Poker Room. Although, upstairs from the poker is a small gaming area with slots, a few table for Blackjack and and a Craps table.
Mountaineer offers most of the usual table games except Pia Gow and Baccarat. Table minimums are between $5 and $10. They even offer $5 Blackjack all day long.
The Video Poker is terrible. They have only a few machines, and the pay tables are tight (under 95%). I can only assume that the slot machines are equally tight.
As with the Poker Room, the comps are terrible. They don't even offer a free room at the Hotel. Just a discount depending on how many points you've earned recently. I think the main reason for comps is to get free Fries with your overpriced hamburger. This is what happens when there is no nearby competition for this casino. With Pennsylvania getting full service casinos this summer, hopefully Mountaineer will start to give back to their customers.
The food options are not good. They have a few snack bars, one by the Poker Room, and another in the Casino. There is a regular sit-down restaurant, but it's overpriced for the quality. I believe they have a fancier restaurant, if you're into to those things, but I've never eaten at it.
They did have a Buffet in the Casino. It was the worst Buffet that I've ever been to. As of March '10, they relaunched the new Buffet, but I haven't been there yet.
5 comments:
Nice review of Mtn. The comps are only $.06 an hour. And I heard the BB jackpot is starting in January. Will start with quad 6's being beat and as the pot gets bigger the requirements will go lower.
Can't wait to read more!
One thing missing from your review is mention of Mountaineer's horse racing options. While Mountaineer is not in the same league as Saratoga or Keeneland, and doesn't offer many comps to the racetrack bettor, the year-round racing is fun to follow, and West Virginia Derby Day in August offers a full day of stakes races.
The omission of the Horse Racing was because I know absolutely nothing about it. Poker & Gambling I know; horses, not so much
UPDATE: Mountaineer now has a Bad Beat Jackpot.
The qualifier for the jackpot is Quad 6's get beat if the jackpot is under $70000. At $70000, it lowers to Quad 5's. The qualifier will continue to decrease every $10000. At $130000, it will be Aces full of Jacks where it will stay until it hits.
For Quads and Full Houses, you must have a pocket pair. For Straight Flushes, both hole card must be used.
The payout is the standard. 50% to the loser of the hand, 25% to the winner of the hand, and 25% gets split between players dealt in the hand.
One dollar is taken on the flop for the BBJ, regardless of pot size. Only Hold'em cash game that are raked qualify for the BBJ. Omaha and Time Collected game do not qualify.
Now that PA has slot machines and they let you play more for your money. At Mountaineer you keep putting in money and getting nothing. I will not be going to this casino anymore.
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