The Bicycle Casino
7301 Eastern Avenue
Bell Gardens, CA 90201
(562) 806-4646
website



Jan 14th-20th; daily satellites at 7p


The deeper, the better

In the last year or so, we’ve seen the introduction of deep stack tournaments as rooms try to get a competitive edge by offering players more play for their money. The Venetian was one of the first to offer deep stack events—Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza—and they’ve proven popular with guys who are looking for more from a tournament than two rounds of posting and folding followed by a desperate short stack push with A6o.

This January, a couple of LA casinos have followed suit. The Hustler reworked Larry Flynt’s Challenge cup series (Jan 3rd-Jan 20th) link to include several deep stack events and the Bicycle Casino is introducing a new tournament series, Mo’s Deepstack. Mo’s series starts Jan 14th and runs through Jan 20th. The final event is a 2-day $1600 buy-in with 10,000 start chips. I like the Hustler’s tournament room (trip report) and respect everything Flynt has done to protect my right to satire, but I think the Bike events look pretty interesting.


Mo’s Deepstack

Let’s take a closer look at Mo’s Deepstack series. First, it’s a manageable, week-long series that finishes up a couple of days before the LAPC kicks off. Second, I haven’t seen the structure but it looks like the preliminary events have the same buy-in as a couple early LAPC events but with 2x the chips. Ok, that can’t be too bad. Third, the events start at 4:15p so there’s a good shot you can final table an event and still get home at a decent hour. Finally, the whole series isn’t a bankroll buster—the buy-ins are $335, $545 and $1,600 (final event) and the satellites $40-160.

You can see the schedule of events on the Bike site below.

Mo's Deepstack schedule

Or you can download a copy of the flier (note the stacks).

Mo's Deepstack flier

Again, I haven't seen the blind structures, but I'm told it will look something like this:

$335 buy-in; 5000 chips; 40 min rounds; 25/50 etc.
$545 buy-in; 7000 chips; 50 min rounds; 25/50 etc.
$1,600 buy-in; 10000 chips; 60 min rounds; 25/50 etc.

I'll post the actual structures when I get them, so check back or post me, if you're interested.


The Bike

If you haven’t played there, the Bike’s a great place for tournament and cash game action. The casino is the second largest card room in Southern California with 160+ tables (ergo: the 2nd largest on the planet) and its Legends of Poker event is one of the original World Poker Tour events. Past winners of the LoP include Brunson and Harrington and all the top pros have played the Bike at some point. In fact, when Stu Ungar was alive, he considered the Bike his home away from Vegas. If the penultimate NL poker player/degenerate liked the Bike, that’s a solid endorsement, right?

The Bike’s easy to get to from pretty much anywhere in Southern California. It’s located a couple of blocks or so from the 710 freeway, Florence exit, as seen in the Google image below.





The folks at the Bike keep their property competitive with anything you’d find in Las Vegas—it’s modern, well-lit and spotless. As you come up on the property, you’re greeted by palm trees and neon signage…








I usually pay the two bucks to valet park, but if you’re cheap, there’s plenty of self-parking as you can see from the Google image above. As you enter the casino from the valet entrance, you face a reception desk where there’s always 1-2 staffers that will help you find what you’re looking for. Note: the reception staff are great; ask for tournament info, game info, whatever. If they know the answer, they’ll tell you; if they don’t they’ll point you to someone who does.





The main poker area is to the left of the reception area with a large automated brush desk…





The Bike spreads over 120 tables of poker, so there’s plenty of action...








If you’re curious about the games spread, check out our listing here. Game info is listed on the right of the page and is updated frequently.

As for the style of play, I find the NL action at the Bike somewhat nittier than that of other local rooms. The 5/10 NL game is uncapped and tends to draw some better players. That said there’s a lot of weak tight players set mining and with an adjustment toward a looser, more aggressive style of play, the games are beatable. Three bet and raise more, and if you get resistance, fold. Simple stuff.

Need more validation? Here’s a quote from Mr. Ungar…circa 1990…BEFORE the poker boom…

"There are a lot more people to take money from here than there are in Las Vegas," Stu Ungar said last week between poker games at the Bicycle Club. "The city is becoming a nice place to gamble because there's a constant flow of people and money. There's more money to take out of here than there is in Las Vegas."

Indeed.


Tournaments

The daily tournaments (Nooners, Nooner Nites) are held on the main poker floor to the LEFT of the reception area. But larger, special events are held in the tournament/ballroom down a corridor to the RIGHT of the reception desk as you enter the casino. The Bike’s tournament room is smaller and more intimate than other local rooms, but I like it. It’s kind of like playing in your rich friend’s den—bigger and nicer than your own apartment but small enough where you can get a drink without sending up a flare.

Here’s a look at the special events/tournament room...





And with some players even…





Service on 1!

Food at the Bike deserves special mention. I think their tableside food is tops in Los Angeles with the exception of Ocean’s 11, 90 miles to the south. If you play in the higher stakes area behind the reception desk, you eat for free and you don’t regret it at all. The other night, I played the 5/5 $300-500 max NL game. (Note: the table was one of the tightest I’ve played in a while—still beatable but as lakong found out, when a guy plays back at you at the Bike on a 3876 board, your pocket queens are no good. See above.) I had a great salad and grilled salmon and lakong had a steak; both entrees were comparable in quality to that from a decent restaurant.

I also think the Bike deli is AWESOME. Whenever I’m meeting someone at the Bike, I almost always eat there and I’m not really a deli kind-of-guy. Great sandwiches, good coffee, polite staff, fast and cheap. The deli’s directly to your left as you enter the property.


You girls know each other, right?

Any discussion of the Southern California poker usually spins into a Bike vs. Commerce debate. Like all great rivalries—Ali/Frazier, Sox/Yankees, UCLA/USC, Biggie/Tupac, Tommy Lee/Kid Rock—you’ve got rabid proponents of each. Me? I’m an Ali/Sox/Stanford/Tupac/Tommy Lee kind of guy. But, of course, everyone’s different. To me, the Commerce and the Bike are like Ginger and Mary Ann or, more fundamentally, blondes and brunettes. You can make a great case for either, but if you can enjoy both, you should!

If you’re interested, you can see a comparison of all the So Cal rooms below.

Comparison of LA card rooms


Anyway, that’s a quick look at the Bike. I’m probably going to head down and play a couple of the Deepstack events. If anyone’s heading down, holler!

Still digging,

Edmond

The Commerce Casino
6131 East Telegraph Road
Commerce, CA 90040
(323) 721-2100
website




The Los Angeles Poker Classic

Ok, you’re shaking off the holiday hangover and skimming over that list of resolutions. Let’s be honest, the only one you’ve got any shot of keeping is “Play more tournaments.” Well, there’s good news. You don’t have to travel to some god-forsaken part of the world to bang heads with MTT superstars like Bond18 or A_Junglen at the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Adanthar at the Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City or even Landlord79 at the World Poker Open in Tunica. No, in fact, some of the juiciest tournaments on the planet are right here in Southern California.

The Bike, the Hustler, Hollywood Park and Pechanga all have events during the first couple of weeks of January, but the must-play series you need to put on your calendar right now is the LA Poker Classic held at the Commerce Casino.





The LAPC is a six-week string of events running from January 24th until March 3rd. The $10,000 Championship event (starting February 23rd) is one of the premier events on the WPT calendar and usually sets the momentum for the coming poker year. That’s right, fellas…it's a World Poker Tour/Game Show Network televised event. Make no mistake, you’re playing for money AND glory at the LAPC.

In our, well ok…my opinion, the LAPC events feature the biggest and softest fields you’ll find within 20 minutes of a decent restaurant and warm weather beach. Last year’s prize pools totaled over $16 million and the competition is roughly equivalent to that you’d find in a home game circa 1995. Sure, there are some first-rate players, but for every guy who knows what he’s doing, there’s half a dozen C-list celebs, Asian crazies or dudes holding a voice recorder who don’t. Oh, and when they bust out…they head straight to the cash games to pay your 2008 rent. It’s beautiful.

Still not convinced? Consider this. Yours truly, easily the worst tournament player on this site, has cashed in LAPC events. And I deserved to. Are you hearing me? Book a flight, order sturdy money counter from Staples and get your butt over to the Commerce to PLAY THESE EVENTS. Your bankroll will thank you. Seriously.


The Schedule and Structures

Here’s the schedule with the number of entrants and approximate prize pools in the comparable 2007 event.

LAPC 2008 events

As you can see from the chart, almost every event had a pretty good turnout in 2007. Good god, man, even the stud events had over 100 entrants! Prize money for the series totaled almost $16.5 million. It’s easily the richest series of poker events in California. Note: if you click on the event name link, you can see the structure for that event.

The majority of events are NL freezeouts with buy-ins of $330, $545, $1065, $2595 and $10,000. There are also limit, 7-card stud, Omaha hi/lo, 7-card stud hi/lo events and several special NL event—a 6-handed Turbo (20 min level) event that promises to be chaotic, a Shoot-out event, a couple of re-buy events and our favorite, a Tag Team event held on Valentine’s Day.

Now lakong would probably prefer to spend his $545 on third row seats to see Barry Manilow at the Staples Center, but, to me, I think the Tag Team NL event is the better play. What, you’re going to spend $500 on some overpriced, prix fixe dinner and an outfit she’ll wear once? I say drag her to the final table and create memories to cherish for a lifetime. Trust me, nothing say romance like a nice his and her stack of hundreds.

The series culminates in a $10K multi-day, WPT-televised event which has drawn increasing numbers in each of the last five years. When Gus Hansen won the event in 2003 (WPT Season 1), there were only 136 entrants. Last year, there were almost 6 times as many entrants (791) with $2 million guaranteed to the winner and $1 million to the runner-up. No word yet on what the first and second prizes will look like, but the paycheck will definitely put you ahead of budget for 2008. Past winners include Ferguson (pre-TV), Hansen, Esfandiari, Mizrachi et al. And anybody who is anybody has made the final table…Bloch, Pham, Stupak, Vinh, Gazes, Schoenfeld, Benyamine, Forrest, Lindgren, Tran, etc.

Most daily events start at 3:30p but note that the Championship event starts at 12:30p. All events will be held in the tournament room on the 2nd floor up the wide staircase by the valet entrance.


Satellites

For those of us short-stackers, there are single table satellites for tournament chips running continuously starting January 7, 2026 at 11a. You can see the range of buy-ins and structure here.

Single table satellites


In addition, starting January 24th, there are super satellites every night (except Jan 31st and Feb 22nd) with a $220 buy-in and multiple re-buys starting at 7p. You can see the structure for those little free-for-alls here.

Nightly satellites


Finally, January 31 (Thursday) and February 22 (Friday) are Special Super Sat Days with satellites at 11:30a and 6:30p. Note: the evening events typically draw a bigger field. You can see the structure for those satellites here.

Super Satellite structures


Away game for you? No problem!

We realized not everyone’s as good with staying focused around beautiful weather, hot women and free money as we are, so here are a few tips to make your LAPC trip a bit less stressful.


Getting there

The Commerce Casino is roughly equidistant from Los Angeles airport (23 miles), Burbank airport (22 miles) and Long Beach airport (20 miles). The John Wayne/Orange Count airport is more of a hike (31 miles) and San Diego airport’s at least a 2-hour run without traffic, with traffic…forget it.

If you have a choice, consider Burbank and Long Beach as alternatives to LAX. Burbank to Commerce is almost a straight shot down the 5 freeway, and Southwest flies to/from Burbank airport. Similarly, the Commerce is a quick drive up the 710N from Long Beach airport and JetBlue flies into Long Beach.

If you’re driving…use the Google map feature here. Just give yourself time around rush hour. The Commerce is directly off the 5 freeway, a major N/S thoroughfare in LA. It can be easy to get there off-peak, but during rush hour, it’s tough sledding.


Where to stay

The Commerce has a nice hotel on its property, the Crowne Plaza. Unfortunately, the 200 rooms are usually sold out during the LAPC so your best bet is to try one of the other local hotels.

For quality of service, your first choice should be the Wyndham Gardens aka the Doubletree Hotel Commerce, located at the Citadel Shops, a huge outlet mall up the street. The hotel is within walking distance (couple of minutes) of the Commerce. Further away but within 10 minutes or so of the casino, you’ll find

Ramada Inn – Commerce

Ramada Inn – South El Monte

Norwalk Marriott - Norwalk

Best Western – Montebello Plaza

Any of these hotels are decent for sleeping and showering, but you should manage your expectations. There’s not much else to do in any of these areas.

If you want a hotel with more amenities or off-casino entertainment, consider staying near LAX or the beach communities (Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach). You can find good, inexpensive accommodations within a mile or so of the beach and other shopping, dining areas. Remember, too, if you’re looking for sun and women, it’s LA…head for the beach!

Wherever you’re staying, you can either drive in and park at the Commerce (valet’s $2, not including tip) or arrange a courtesy shuttle. If you need a ride, just call the casino and ask for the floor shift supervisor. If you give them some notice and tell them the game or event you’re playing, they’ll usually send a shuttle for you. Even better, if you’re staying with a group of other guys, coordinate to come in at the same time and the Commerce will definitely send a car to pick you up.


Miscellaneous stuff

A player card is required for entry into all the tournaments. You can get one at the tournament sign-up area on the 2nd floor or from Player Relations.

If you want to wire entry fees in, you can find the info here. Wire instructions


Past trip reports

If you’re curious about the Commerce NL games, you can read my recent trip report here. With pics!

Commerce NL tournament area and cash games


And here’s another tournament trip report and look at the tournament area. Again, with pics!

California State Poker Championships


All right, that's all I've got for now. Seriously, if you happen to like money, you NEED to play the LAPC events. Why grind in front of the computer all year like you did in 2007, when you can lock up a year's worth of earn by the end of Feb and spend the rest of the year chillin' on the beach?

See you in all but the Ladies event!

Edmond

A few weeks ago, I posted on a heads up match I had with a spider in a rented car. I'm happy to report that I've returned the car in question to Enterprise and picked up my new rig, a Lexus RX400 hybrid. It's a little soccer mom-ish but it's quiet, surprisingly quick and doesn't beat the crap out of the planet. Plus the folks at Lexus gave me a stupid good price...





Hope everyone had a good holiday!

Edmond

Cliff notes: Edmond plays the WBPT tournament at the Venetian. Busts out with A4o. Watches flight attendants play slots at the airport.


The event

Last week, I was chatting online with one of the folks that run The Poker Atlas and she mentioned the 4th Annual WPBT Holiday Classic at the Venetian on Saturday and suggested I play it. The last blogger tournament I entered was a complete embarrassment documented by Swami54 so the thought of any kind of redemption was compelling. I brushed aside the notion that she might be trying to pull more dead money into the prize pool and told her to put me on the list. Besides what better opportunity to display my superior tournament skills than before a hundred or so scribes committed to documenting hee-haw moves?

The tournament was organized by John "Falstaff" Hartness, a popular blogger. He knew many of the participants and somehow managed to convince 110 entrants to pass on the other big blood sport events in town this weekend--the Bellagio Five Diamond series, the Hatten/Mayweather fight and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Adanthar and SirWatts were over at the $5K Bellagio event, of course, but my skills and bankroll were better suited to this kiddie game down the street so I had a look around.

The overall tone of the event was social—lots of hugs, inside jokes and references to drunken binges. These writers knew each other or all went through rehab together at one point. Entrants included such blogging notables as Dr. Pauly (Tao of), Amy (Aimlessly Chasing), Change100, The Rooster, Miami Don et al.

Falstaff's blog characterizes him as a poker player/redneck, but on Saturday he was sporting a kilt. I thought it was a fine choice for the event, but, however bold, it a little out of character given the description. I know a lot of rednecks and I’m confident that none would be caught dead in a skirt, albeit a leather on, and never at a poker tournament. “Poker player/barbarian” might be a more accurate description of Falstaff, but in any event, he was well-qualified to host this event.


The Venetian

After socializing a little bit, I got a Venetian player card and paid my entry fee. On a whim, I asked the staffer taking my player card info if he wanted my email address. He declined, “Nah…don’t need it.” and continued typing. I think the Venetian folks are more savvy than most, but his reaction was indicative of the gap in thinking about most casino marketers. Five years from now, most marketing will be web-based and the guys who prepare for it will have the advantage. For now, though, I’ll be getting direct mail not spam from the Venetian.

The Venetian is one of my favorite rooms in Las Vegas. It’s a large, elegant semi-enclosed space with 39 tables. The staff is friendly, wait-lists are automated, there’s a comfortable waiting area and the tables and chairs are in top-notch shape. There are about 26 or so flat screen TVs, 21 of which typically have sports running with the balance used to show wait-lists or tournament status. Here's a look at the room...




At 12:30p on Saturday, they had the following games running…

5 tables of 1/2 NL
2 tables of 2/5 NL
1 table of 25/50 NL
1 table 4/8

There was a list for 5/10 and 50/100; the 5/10 NL game got down later in the day.

The poker room is located directly across from the sportsbook (Patriots – 10.5, obv) and adjacent to the NoodleAsia restaurant (good food, slow service; try the moo shu chicken). In any event, it was a good choice for this event—nice room, plenty of space and a staff that seemed happy to have the added activity. I’d recommend the room to another group looking to have a private tournament in Las Vegas.


And they’re off!

At 3p, the 110 entrants were cut loose with 6000 chips, 25/50 blinds and 30-minute levels. I was seated at table 14, seat 3. On my left was Amy from Aimlessly Chasing fame and on my direct right was an Asian guy in a saber tooth lime tee-shirt. Amy’s a successful poker writer (Bluff, PokerNews, PokerPages et al.) and is now in the process of writing a book on Mike Matusow.

Over the course of our conversation/table time, I learned that Amy lives in Austin, TX (see also, nath), she has one of the few known photos of Andy Beal, recently performed a radio duet with Barbara Enright, is a tight player but will shove second pair top kicker to a button raiser and Matusow owns three cats. I’m just a sponge at the table, obv.

I also had one active player wearing Full Tilt garb two to my left. Within a few hands of the starting gun, he lost most of his stack when he played 52 from the small blind to a stiff MP raise and got it all in with turned trips against a turned boat.

After the hand, he complained about how “horribly he runs.” Yes, it’s amazing how poorly you can run when you play a 2-gap suited connector, 5-high, out-of-position. But as is often the case when someone “runs bad”, I stepped in to get him back on track.


Edmond helps a player in need

A few hands later, FT guy had doubled up but was still pretty short. With the blinds still at 25/50, he raised from EP to 150. There was one caller to me on the dealer button with 55. I called and we saw a flop. Pot was 500-ish.

Flop was AK5. Nothing wrong with that, obv.

The shorty/raiser checked and the caller behind bet 300. I begged the gods to please let one of these guys have a big ace and raised to 1000. Short-stack called (WTF?) and the other guy folded.

The turn blanked and shorty shoved all-in for 750. I called with bottom set, of course, and he flipped up a set of aces. Oh, nifty. The first hand I play is set over set confrontation with the guy I’ve pegged as an indiscriminate donkey. I’m now sitting with about 4000 chips. Excellent.

Shortly, thereafter, a player at my table was the first out from the tournament and was awarded a DVD of Gigli for his ill-timed semi-bluff, flush draw shove. Not sure if it was the full or wide-screen version.


It’s about giving back

We moved on to level 2 and with the blinds at 50/100, I was on the DB with 33. Three players limped to me, I called and the big blind (my set v set nemesis) checked his option. Call the pot 600.

The flop was K36. Cool. My nemesis (the BB here) bet out 400. Oh, really? It folded around to me and I re-raised to 1200. He shoved (uh oh…here we go again) and I called expecting a set of sixes or a 45 draw. My people reading skills need some work—he showed KTo drawing pretty much dead. Blank, blank and he was on fumes and again, beefing about how poorly he runs.


Overbetting, it’s what I do

A few hands later I had AJ in middle position and raised to 350. The DB called and we had an 8500 pot. The flop came AKJ and I opted to bet out 750. He folded before I could even get the chips out. Bah…I guess it’s better than seeing action from a flopped straight.

After an uneventful level, we took a 10-minute break and came back to 100/200/25 ante. I was comfortable with 8000 chips but it was gonna start sorting out here pretty quickly.

Still at 100/200/25, a EP guy raised UTG to 650. I called from the CO with 88.

Flop was JA5, two hearts. He checked to me. I bet 1200 and took the pot. What? Of course I hit that flop…

A couple of hands later, a short-stack limped to me with AKo. I raised to 650 expecting to see a shove but he folded. Can someone please have a hand?


My end game reveals itself yet again

I treaded water throughout the remainder of the level and had 9000 chips when the blinds spiked to 200/400/25. Within moments I managed to bleed off a quarter of my chips with the following hand.

Limped to me with 87 on the DB and unwilling to fold or raise like someone that’s read Bond18's tournament series, I called and saw an A75 flop with two other players. They both checked to me and I took this as an invitation to bet 1500 into a 2500-ish pot. Both quickly called. Ok, gross…done with this suited POS. Next card was a blank…check, check, check. Ok, please let me show down my eights. No such luck…one of the other players potted the river and I bailed.

After that shameful mess, I was down to 6000 chips and found myself in middle position with A7. I raised to 1200 and the player two to my left made the “Well, I guess this is where I go home” speech which, based on his breezy confidence moving his chips in, I translated “I have A8o+” and folded. Down to 4000 chips. Crap.

The blinds worked around to me…no spot to shove…J2 with a raise in front…53s UTG…now I was in the big blind. The table folded to the SB who’d given me a walk at least twice in the last level. No such luck now…he raised. I looked down at A4, shoved and he insta-called called with K9.

55/45…I’ll take it.

Q22KT. Ok, great…nice playing with you guys. I shook everyone’s hand and packed up my stuff. I briefly contemplated beating on a cash game but knew it would just culminate in a bad hangover and odd sports bets. I opted instead to head back to the airport and catch the 9p flight home.


Fleeing the scene

I’m pretty sure there’s nothing more depressing than waiting for a plane in the Las Vegas airport on a Saturday night after busting out of a tournament. The gate area was deserted except for four flight attendants playing slots and one-by-one some stragglers showed up to catch the flight. And as I was recapping the day on my laptop it occurred to me, what’s more depressing…playing airport slots on a Saturday night or observing and writing about it? I’m gonna go with the latter. Whatever, it’s material…

Edmond


Afterword: You can read a brief recap of the final table here...Tao of Poker

So I check my calendar late in the day and realize that I’m supposed to be at a concert/fundraiser at the Japanese consulate here in LA in a little over an hour. I contemplate blowing it off, but I know the host is expecting me so I resign myself to the gig. As it turns out, I didn’t have a suit on so I needed to jam home from my office, change and make it back across town, in traffic, by 6:30 or so.

Anyway, I make my way home, pull on a suit and head back out. Now my car came off lease a couple of weeks ago but I haven’t had a chance to find a new rig, so I’ve been rolling around in some rental car that Enterprise dropped off. Anyway, I’m moving along the 10 freeway and I flip down the visor to check my tie. Bam! A gigantic spider drops into my lap and scampers down my leg to the floor. Holy crap!

Ok, this was not some Little Miss Moffet spider…not some daddy long legs “I can run across the surface of water” whisper of a spider…no, in fact, this monster was just slightly smaller than a tarantula I once saw while hiking in Big Sur. Big brown body, furry legs…straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I have no idea where he came from or how the damn visor even stayed in place with this beast on top of it, but in any event, he was now milling around the floorboards.

I grew up in Maine and am not a city boy—I’ve had plenty of critters in between me and where I’m headed—but when you go to check your look and a spider the size of a small dog drops in your lap in a dark car at 60 mph, it’s unsettling. It’s like having the Starbucks girl tell you your coffee is ready and tossing a live snake at you instead of your nonfat latte. WTF!

I’m in traffic in the fast lane, so I turn on the interior lights, work my way over to the shoulder, pull over and jump out. I look back in and hunt the beast down. Ok, there he is staring at me from the console like Kong on the Empire State Building. Whatever, dude, I’m tight for time—I sweep the shaggy bastard out of my car with the rental agreement, collect my wits and head on to the consulate.

Later at the consulate, I’m sitting at a table with one of the artists for the evening, the head of a local bank, a newspaper rep and, as it turns out, some hitter from Lexus of Southern California. After a couple of speeches, a brief series of performances by three young pianists (all cute Asian girls, btw) and some pretty amazing sushi (it was the Japanese consulate after all), I recount my rental car/spider story to my tablemates. The Lexus guy was like “Uh, call me tomorrow and we’ll hook you up.” Ok, you know what, maybe I will. Did I mention my wife’s car is off-lease in two months’ as well?

It’s all about table draw and seat selection, boys!