Bicycle Casino
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bicycle Casino is the world's second largest poker cardroom.
Located in Bell Gardens, California, the casino offers a wide variety of poker games and limits, as well as pai gow poker and panguingue and California blackjack.
For several years during the 1990s, after being seized due 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.
The Bicycle Casino was the first brick and mortar casino to broadcast live poker games over the Internet. This Live at The Bike program continues to run five nights a week, and is accessible via the casino's website. The program was first broadcast in February of 2005. Besides a group of regular commentators that has included Shirley Rosario, the show sometimes features guest commentary from professional players like Barry Greenstein and Kenna James. A sign in back of the hosts is signed by any notable player who provides guest commentary in the booth.
Live at the Bike became a subscription service in mid-2006. Viewers that wish to watch the three-hour program pay a fee of $14.95 per month. This also gives subscribers access to archives of every show. Now, only the first half-hour of the show is free.
The current regular hosts are Bart Hanson and Dave Tuchman. The duo has the longest tenure as the show's main analysts. The show runs from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific time and airs Monday-through-Friday.
The games that are broadcast vary in size, but are mostly no-limit Texas hold 'em games. Wednesday and Friday games usually are the bigger stakes games. Small window hole cams are used to show players hole cards and the graphics are similar to mainstream televised poker events.
