Los Angeles’ iconic Bicycle Casino is preparing for a massive upgrade in time for December’s WSOP Circuit event.
The ‘Bike’ will become a full resort on December 1, 2015, and rebranded as the Bicycle Hotel-Casino. Bigger suites and entertainment facilities form part of the improvements.
Once open, the Bicycle will boast a new hotel with seven stories and around 30 suites. The largest ‘Presidential Suite’ includes living room space and a hot tub.
Also incorporated is a fitness center and swimming pool with cabanas. Convention space measuring 15,000 square feet completes the refurb.
In a statement last month, the casino stated that, “the Bicycle Hotel & Casino will bring unprecedented sophistication and style to the Los Angeles hospitality/gaming sector and cater to the full spectrum of card-cutting enthusiasts, national and international guests and premier poker tours.”
Designed by Lee & Sakahara Architects and Hager Design, the new hotel floor will feature a design based on, fittingly, the wheel of a bicycle.
“With the addition of the hotel property, The Bicycle Hotel & Casino is now a full-service, multi-sensory gaming and resort destination for Los Angeles and all of Southern California,” added CEO, Hashem Minaiy.
“Our vision was to design and build a sophisticated and luxurious hotel property, an urban retreat which welcomes guests locally, nationally and internationally.”
WSOP-C Set To Christen New Bike
With impeccable timing, The Bike is launching its new hotel right as the World Series of Poker comes to town.
Just two days after the Bike’s swanky hotel opens, the cardroom will host the WSOP Circuit. Running from December 3-14, the WSOP-C event kicks off with a $300+65 No Limit Hold’em ‘Monster Stack’ tournament.
The Official Ring Event tourney carries a guaranteed prizepool of $75,000.
Also in the running schedule is a $200,000-guaranteed Hold’em tournament that also awards a WSOP ring to the winner. A High Roller tournament carrying a $3,000+250 buy-in closes the circuit event.
The Los Angeles stop comes off the back of a rare European foray for the WSOP-C in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, before moving on to Planet Hollywood in Vegas.
From November 26, the Circuit pushes on to North Carolina and Harrah’s Cherokee before settling down in California’s newest refurbed casino.
Organizers will be hoping for a similar turnout to the recent Louisiana stop on the Circuit. 1,376 runners sat down at the Horseshoe Hammond in October’s Main Event.
Ultimately, Krzysztof Stybaniewicz took down his second WSOP-C gold ring by bagging first place and a payout worth $356,043.
Online Poker Fails Again To Get Going In CA
The continuing growth of live poker in The Golden State is in stark contrast to the fortunes of its online poker hopes.
The 2015 legislative session closed in September with still no advance on regulation of online poker.
Campaigners have been working hard to make California the next state to ‘go legal’, especially with an established poker market and the potential to make serious money.
For now, however, California remains in a stalemate that poker players will be hoping gets resolved in 2016.
With PokerStars yet to launch in the US (they go live in New Jersey this year), and racetracks in CA holding out for a piece of the online pie themselves, it will be interesting to see how or if the state can push anything through soon.
