Nov 03, 2018 The Bicycle Hotel & Casino held the event as a part of its 2018 Big Poker Oktober series. It drew 524 total entries, creating a guarantee-smashing $642,140 prize pool that paid the top 72 finishers. Several recognizable pros cashed in the event, including Adam Geyer, Amnon Filippi, Jordan Cristos, Mohsin Charania, Joseph Serock, and James Collopy, who finished fifth for $29,640. LAST WEEKEND Big Poker Oktober Event #3 Update: 10/04/14 Saturday-3I with 5 tournaments & Friday-3H Results/Advancing Player List! The Mega Millions XI Saturday, 10/04/14. There’s still time to play in #MegaMillionsXI and qualify for Day 2 this Tues, 10/7 @ 6PM! Play today at The Bike! — Bicycle Casino (@BicycleCasino) October 4, 2014. Join the card player poker tour. The CPPT series is designed to be customizable according to each property’s needs and wants. The CPPT will work with each host casino to fully customize a tournament series, and if needed, supply all the necessary floor staffing.
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino is the Los Angeles area’s home for poker tournament action year round, but October is a particularly exciting month for players in 2016. The Bike is currently hosting it’s annual Big Poker Oktober tournament festival, a nine-tournament series that is highlighted by two huge and unique tournaments.
For the third year in a row The Bike has teamed up with the Card Player Poker Tour for a $1,100 no-limit hold’em main event as the marquee tournament of the Big Poker Oktober schedule. The tournament sports three starting days from Oct. 15-17 with each day’s play beginning at noon local time.
This year the event features a $400,000 guarantee and will once again make use of the unique Quantum Reload format pioneered by Bicycle Tournament Director Mo Fathipour that allows players to skip day 1 altogether and buy-in directly to day 2 for $4,300. Players who take advantage of this option will start with $120,000 in chips with blinds at 1,000-2,000 and an ante of 300.
In 2015 Oddie Dardon outlasted a field of 521 entries to win the title and the first-place prize of $155,535. Whether you buy-in directly, utilize the Quantum Reload or even win your way in through one of the many $200 mega satellites running on Oct. 9-13, you could be the next player to hoist the CPPT main event trophy!
Big Poker Oktober is also playing host to the 2016 SoCal Poker Championship, an unprecedentedly huge tournament $3,000,000 guaranteed $350 buy-in event that will feature 64 day 1 starting flights hosted at four of southern California’s best casinos: The Bike, Gardens Casino, the Hustler Casino and the Commerce Hotel & Casino. The eventual champion of this huge event is guaranteed a $500,000 payday as well as C-Class Mercedez Benz.
The starting flights for the SCPC will kick off at noon and 5:30 each day from Oct. 1-8. Players who advance to day 4 will combine to create one field and play to a champion on Dec. 14-15 at the Bike. The SCPC final table will rotate from casino to casino every year.
Each starting flight allows for a single re-entry and players can play in as many flights as they’d like, even at other properties. The final ten percent of each starting field will earn at least $600. The final eight percent takes home $700, and the final six percent get $800 along with a ticket to day 2.
Furthermore, the casinos have thrown in an extra incentive to play with a $100,000 freeroll scheduled Dec. 13 for the top 50 point earners throughout the tournament’s duration. 888 poker first deposit promotion code. Players earn points every time they register for a day 1 starting flight, and additional points for advancing to day 2.
Because the SCPC is a Quantum Tournament event, players can also skip day 1 altogether and buy-in directly to day 2 for $4,500. Those players will be given an average stack of 210,000 when the blinds are at 1,500-3,000 with a 500 ante.
The final 33 percent of each day 2 field will make a minimum of $800. That’s in addition to any cash and bonuses they earn for day 1. The final six percent of the day 2 field advances to the championship tournament at The Bicycle Hotel & Casino. The remaining 36 players will utilize the Action Clock by Protection Poker until a winner is determined.
Click the image below for a close look at the full schedule of events:
| The Bicycle Hotel & Casino | |
|---|---|
| Address | 888 Bicycle Casino Drive Bell Gardens, California 90201 |
| Opening date | November 30, 1984 |
| Casino type | Land |
| Previous names | The Bicycle Casino |
| Renovated in | 2015 (Hotel Addition) |
| Website | www.thebike.com |
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino is a pokercardroom in California.[1]
Founded by George Hardie Sr. in 1984, located in Bell Gardens, California, The Bicycle Casino offers a selection of poker games and Asian games, with a wide range of limits. The casino features games including: Blackjack, Texas Hold 'Em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha hold 'em, Mexican Poker, Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker and Baccarat (card game).
Financing to build the original Bicycle Club casino was provided by Sam Gilbert, who allegedly used money partially obtained from laundering drug money.[2] The casino is home to the Legends of Poker, a tournament series established in 1995 that now includes a stop on the World Poker Tour. Prior to the Legends, the casino's main tournament series was called the Diamond Jim Brady.[3]
Seizure and indictment[edit]
In 1987, Sam Gilbert was the subject of a federal investigation into money laundering and racketeering charges. https://satnin.netlify.app/basics-of-texas-hold-em-poker.html. According to the investigation, a scheme to launder the money received from smuggling marijuana was put together to finance the construction of the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California.[2][4] According to one criminal complaint,
| “ | '[Sam Gilbert] a wealthy Los Angeles businessman, was the first Gilbert to establish ties with the Kramer family when he befriended Benjamin Kramer's father, Jack Kramer, in 1978. At that time, Jack Kramer and Sam Gilbert came up with the idea of building a legal card club for the purposes of laundering Benjamin Kramer's dirty money. By 1983, Sam Gilbert was in contact with David Pierson, who was himself thinking of building a card club and was looking for legitimate investors. Pierson gave Sam Gilbert a prospectus, Sam liked what he saw, and Sam agreed to arrange the financing for the project in return for a sixty percent share of Pierson's ownership interest in the Club.'[5] | ” |
Gilbert was indicted in Miami 4 days after his death.[6] His son Michael also was indicted.
The U.S. Government seized the casino in April, 1990, after a jury found that $12 million of the $22 million used in its construction came from Florida drug smugglers.[7] The club's profits were frozen and placed in a special U.S. marshal account until the court held civil hearing to determine which partners knew that the club was built with drug money.
George Hardie and The Park Place Associates ownership were exonerated in 1990, and they regained their 35% stake.[8]
In July 1991 a Florida federal judge ruled that at least one of the partners, former Los Angeles Westside banker M. Dale Lyon, knew about the club's financing. Eight other partners in the LCP Associates, the partnership named for Lyon, Coyne and Pierson, agreed to forfeit portions of their interest in the club before the civil hearing began. LCP partners Julianne Coyne and former California Assemblyman David C. Pierson settled before the civil hearing. In 1991, they agreed to give up about half of their interest in LCP, which had a 65% stake in the casino.[7]
By the time it sold its share of the casino in 1996, the US government had made tens of millions of dollars in profit from its share of the casino. As a partner in the club, the government also contributed to political campaigns to defeat the proposal to build a rival card club in Orange County.[9]
2017 raid[edit]
The casino was again raided by federal authorities citing money laundering as a part of an ongoing investigation into some players using the casino to exchange “dirty money” for chips, then turn cashing those in for “clean money.”[10]
Live at the Bike[edit]
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino was the first brick and mortar casino to broadcast live poker games over the Internet in a program known as Live at the Bike.[citation needed] It ran five nights a week, and was accessible via the casino's website. https://satnin.netlify.app/wizard-of-odds-blackjack-charts.html. The show sometimes featured guest commentary from professional players like Barry Greenstein and Kenna James.
Live at the Bike became a subscription service in mid-2006. The live broadcast was canceled in March 2007, but returned in January 2011 on PokerNetcast.com.[citation needed]
Expansion[edit]
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino underwent a major hotel expansion in the Fall of 2015. The new seven-story, 117,907 square-foot complex now includes live entertainment, gaming, cocktail lounge, brewery, fitness center, sundeck with an outdoor bar, and a number of places to dine.[11]
In popular media[edit]
The Bicycle Casino was featured in an episode of the TV series Numb3rs dealing with the murder of a successful card-counter, who coincidentally was also heavily into bicycle home repair.[12]
See also[edit]
Bicycle Casino Poker
References[edit]
Bicycle Casino Big Poker Oktoberfest
- ^'The Bicycle Hotel & Casino'.
- ^ abGLENN F. BUNTING and TINA GRIEGO - Miami Trial Gives Startling New Portrait of Sam Gilbert. Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1990
- ^'Bicycle Casino Review - The Bike'.
- ^GLENN F. BUNTING. Investors Face High-Stakes Battle for Casino Profits. Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1990
- ^44 F3d 888 United States of America v. Michael Gilbert244 F.3d 888 (11th Cir. 2001)
- ^WILLIAM OVEREND and WILLIAM NOTTINGHAM - Sports Figure Is Indicted--4 Days After Death. Los Angeles Times, November 26, 1987
- ^ abGriego, Tina. Forfeiture Laws Give U.S. a Piece of a Casino : Narcotics: Government now owns about 30% of Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens, which was built to a large extent with smuggled drug money. Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1990
- ^Griego, Tina. Court Clears Casino Manager and Partners : George G. Hardie and his financial partners will regain ownership rights to the profitable Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens. Los Angeles Times, October 04, 1990
- ^U.S. to Sell Share of Bicycle Casino for $25 Million
- ^KTLA.com: Bicycle Hotel and Casino in Bell Gardens Raided by Federal Authorities
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-03-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^'Double Down'. 13 January 2006 – via IMDb.
External links[edit]
Coordinates: 33°57′59″N118°09′58″W / 33.966312°N 118.166148°W