Bicycle Casino

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Bicycle Casino
Address 7301 Eastern Ave.
Bell Gardens, CA 90201
Casino type Land
Website http://www.thebike.com/

The Bicycle Casino is the world's second largest poker cardroom.[citation needed]

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.[1]

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.

Contents

[edit] Live at the Bike

The Bicycle Casino was the first brick and mortar casino to broadcast live poker games over the Internet. Live at The Bike[2] 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.

[edit] In popular media

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.

[edit] References

  1. ^ GLENN F. BUNTING and TINA GRIEGO - Miami Trial Gives Startling New Portrait of Sam Gilbert. Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1990
  2. ^ http://www.liveatthebike.com/

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 33°57′59″N 118°09′58″W / 33.966312°N 118.166148°W / 33.966312; -118.166148

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