In November 1984 The Bicycle Casino opened to great acclaim and has since become one of the largest and most exciting card casinos in California. More affectionately known as "The Bike," the card house will celebrate 25 years of excellence by unveiling its new state-of-the-art Event Center for its signature Legends of Poker™ ("Legends") deepstack tournament and World Poker Tour ("WPT") No-Limit Hold'em Championship Event.
“We’ve already had an amazing poker facility here for a long time,” said Bicycle Casino Director of Marketing, Kelley O’Hara, “but with this newly-expanded and luxurious Event Center, we now step to the head of the class for not only Southern California, but the country. This grand Event Center will be the future home of our Legends of Poker tournament, our WPT televised events, and numerous other first-class, large-scale poker tournaments and special events held here throughout the year.”
In December 2008, The Bike closed its legendary ballroom that had been the place where dreams came true, to begin the visionary expansion project that took seven months to complete. The new Event Center (the collaboration of Managing Partner, Haig Kelegian and CEO, Hashem Minaiy) is specifically tailored to accommodate the ever growing community of card players by providing a gaming experience that is intended to be both comfortable and rewarding. The festivities begin at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, with a red carpet Cocktail Party and Grand Opening Ceremony followed by a $100,000 Guarantee No-Limit Hold'em tournament ($340 buy-in for 11K in chips), beginning at 7pm. This prestigious tournament series will continue to run from July 28th – August 30th, with the 5-day WPT Championship event scheduled from August 22nd through August 26th (the final table will be televised on FSN).
The Legends of Poker is a world renowned poker tournament series and its main event WPT Championship is famous for making millionaires. In 2008 John Pham won upwards of $1.1M, in 2007 world renowned poker pro Dan Harrington won over $1.6M, in 2006 Joe Pelton won more than $1.5M, and many, many more. Back in the days of the tournament ballroom, The Bike could only accommodate up to 700 poker players. Now, with the larger more prestigious Event Center, The Bike can accommodate many more players; and, under the direction of the newly appointed tournament director Jay Siegel and expert guidance of Poker Operations management, Zaven Esmaili and Eveliene Dullaart, this years' Legends event is expected to reach record prize pools giving card players what they really want - exceptional return on investment.
This year, the new tournament staff has put together one great tournament series. There are four separate Guarantee events on tap, the largest set at $300K, and daily second chance tournaments boast a $10K guarantee (everyday at 7pm for a cost of $120 ) and entry into The Bike’s Sports Legends Challenge scheduled for mid-September 2009.
In addition to No-Limit Hold'em, there are Limit and Pot-Limit Hold'em, H.O.R.S.E., E.O. (Hi-Lo Stud and Omaha), and Pot-Limit and Hi-Lo Omaha, events scheduled and the LiPSTour will host a women's event on August 2nd. The wide variety of events and entry fees ranging from as little as $120 to as much as $10K, will ensure that poker players from all walks of life can find an event (or two) perfectly designed for their individual bankroll and particular style of play. Moreover, the annual Mariani/Buss Laker’s Youth Foundation Charity No-Limit Hold’em tournament will be held on August 20, 2009, where you can meet some of your favorite celebrities and basketball players and take part in helping the Foundation’s use of sports to promote education, teamwork and self-esteem among Los Angeles area youth.
The Bike is also unveiling its newly refurbished restaurant, formerly the Bicycle Grill, the Legends Grill is a casually stylish dinning room that will offer its patrons a relaxing place to discuss their lucky one-outers over a delicious meal and/or wash down bad-beats with cocktails. The Legends Grill nicely compliments the Jade Dragon Restaurant and Bicycle Deli, and offers an assortment of dishes to accommodate the diverse tastes of card players with both traditional and refreshingly original styles of cuisine.
The Bicycle Casino is located at 7301 Eastern Avenue, Bell Gardens, California, 90201. For more information, call the Bicycle Casino at (562) 806-4646. As always, the Bike offers on-line registration and accepts credit cards. Single table satellites begin at 11:00 a.m. daily.
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