Bicycle Casino
Encyclopedia
The Bicycle Casino is the world's second largest poker
cardroom
.
Founded by George Hardie Sr. in 1984, located in Bell Gardens, California
, the Bicycle Casino offers a wide variety of poker games and limits, as well as pai gow poker
, panguingue
and California blackjack
.
Financing to build the casino was provided by Sam Gilbert, who used money laundered from drug smuggling.
For several years during the 1990s, after being seized due to a tax lien
, the casino was owned by the United States government, providing millions of dollars of revenue to the government.
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.
casino to broadcast live poker games over the Internet
. Live at The Bike ran five nights a week, and was accessible via the casino's website. The show sometimes featured guest commentary from professional players like Barry Greenstein
and Kenna James
. A sign in back of the hosts was signed by any notable player who provides guest commentary in the booth.
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.
dealing with the murder of a successful card-counter, who coincidentally was also heavily into bicycle home repair.
33.966312°N 118.166148°W
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
cardroom
Cardroom
A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is generally synonymous, since the gambling games played in such establishments are typically, and sometimes exclusively, variations of poker such as Texas hold 'em.Such...
.
Founded by George Hardie Sr. in 1984, located in Bell Gardens, California
Bell Gardens, California
Bell Gardens is a city in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 42,072 at the 2010 census, down from 44,054 at the 2000 census.Bell Gardens is notable for being one of only five Los Angeles County cities to permit casino gambling...
, the Bicycle Casino offers a wide variety of poker games and limits, as well as pai gow poker
Pai gow poker
Pai Gow poker is an Americanized version of Pai Gow . The games of Pai Gow poker and Super Pan-9 were created by Sam Torosian and Fred Wolf.The game is played with a standard 52-card deck, plus a single joker...
, panguingue
Panguingue
Panguingue , Tagalog Pangginggí, also known as Pan, is a 19th century gambling card game probably of Philippine origin similar to rummy, first described in America in 1905. It used to be particularly popular in Las Vegas and other casinos in the American southwest...
and California blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
.
Financing to build the casino was provided by Sam Gilbert, who used money laundered from drug smuggling.
For several years during the 1990s, after being seized due to a tax lien
Tax lien
A tax lien is a lien imposed by law upon a property to secure the payment of taxes. A tax lien may be imposed for delinquent taxes owed on real property or personal property, or as a result of failure to pay income taxes or other taxes....
, the casino was owned by the United States government, providing millions of dollars of revenue to the government.
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
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that...
. Prior to the Legends, the casino's main tournament series was called the Diamond Jim Brady.
Live at the Bike
The Bicycle Casino was the first brick and mortarBrick and mortar
Brick and mortar in its most simplest usage is used to describe the physical presence of a building or other structure...
casino to broadcast live poker games over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Live at The Bike ran five nights a week, and was accessible via the casino's website. The show sometimes featured guest commentary from professional players like Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein is a professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his profit from tournament winnings to charities, primarily Children, Incorporated, earning him the nickname "the...
and Kenna James
Kenna James
Kenna James is an American professional poker player, television commentator and consultant who currently resides in Costa Mesa, California....
. A sign in back of the hosts was signed by any notable player who provides guest commentary in the booth.
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.
In popular media
The Bicycle Casino was featured in an episode of the TV series Numb3rsNUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
dealing with the murder of a successful card-counter, who coincidentally was also heavily into bicycle home repair.
External links
33.966312°N 118.166148°W