The Main Event
Day 1a Started
The Big Event at The Bicycle Casino
The Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
The Big Event at The Bicycle Casino
Buy-in
$4,750
Prize Pool
$1,921,327
Entries
417
Level
29
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Presenting . . . Day 1a of the Big Event
Welcome to The Big Event at the Bicycle Casino here in Bell Gardens, California. Today marks Day 1a of the $5,000 buy-in Main Event and is expected to draw quite the crowd. While the NBC National Heads-Up Championship is well underway in Vegas and will surely keep some of the top pros occupied, those who bust will have the opportunity to visit the Bike and take their shot at The Big Event title. One such player is none other than "Kid Poker" himself, Daniel Negreanu, who lost to Phil "The Unabomber" Laak in Round 1 of the NBC Heads-Up Championship.
Action is set to kickoff in about a half hour. In the meantime, we'll scour the room for the big name pros and let you know who'll be in action today. Check back then for all the latest and greatest updates from the Big Event at the Bicycle Casino.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal!
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The cards are in the air for The Big Event Main Event at the Bicycle Casino!
The plan today is to play eight levels, which is a change from the nine that were scheduled before.
Notable Players
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Players are still filtering in as Level 1 is well underway. Among those is action on Day 1a are:
Randall Flowers
Greg Debora
Bruce Buffer
Joseph Cheong
Adam Levy
Maria Ho
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Scott Seiver
Shannon Shorr
Vladimir Schemelev
Joe Serock
Tom McEvoy
Randy Lew
Tough Tables
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Plenty of players are still trickling into the tournament area, but we've spotted a few tough tables already in the room. Masa Kagawa, George Lind III, Joe Serock and Vladimir Schemelev are all seated together at the same table. On another table, we spotted Adam Levy, Joseph Cheong and Richard Toth all seated together. Across the room, Scott Seiver is joined by Darren Elias and Shawn Buchanan.
One More Tough Table
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
One more tough table to add to the list. Over at Table 7 we've spotted Maria Ho, Steven Brecher, and Shannon Shorr battling it out.
In a recent, and inconsequential hand, Brecher raised to 250 under the gun and received a call from the player in the cutoff. When the flop fell 
, Brecher continuation bet 350 and his opponent folded. It wasn't very exciting, but it qualifies as our first-reported hand of the day!
Late Reg Issues
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
It seems that if you show up to The Bike and late register for the event, you're most likely going to be seated at the same table with the players who register right around the same time as you. We spotted a group of Dan O'Brien, Mohsin Charania, Hiren Patel, Matt Marafioti, Blair Hinkle and Thayer Rasmussen all registering at the same time. They are all seated at the same table and brought it to the attention of the floor staff that this sort of thing should be avoided.
Another table where the same thing has happened includes late registrants Jonathan Aguiar, Steve O'Dwyer, Amnon Filippi, Taylor von Kriegenbergh and James Mackey.
Where's Allen Kessler when you need him?
Flowers Not Blooming
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Randall Flowers has been having trouble gaining traction here in the early going. Thus far he has lost with both pocket queens and kings, and in a recent hand he didn't fare much better. With around 750 in the pot and a board reading 
, Flowers bet 525 and received a call from his sole opponent on the button.
The dealer proceeded to burn and turn the 
, which both players checked, followed by the 
on the river. Flowers bet out sheepishly bet 200, the button raised to 700, and Flowers tossed in the call. The button showed 
for a straight and Flowers simply mucked, dropping to around 24,000 in the process.
Some More Late Reg Complaints
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Another issue seems to have come up with the process of getting tables started from late registration. The Bike is holding any new tables from dealing until there are eight players seated at the table. The newest table in the room containing Christin Harder, Ty Reiman and Thor Hansen has six players. They still need two more players in order to start dealing and that could take awhile. Even though two-thirds of the table is full, the requirement is eight players so they won't start dealing until two more arrive.
On another table, we've noticed that the couple of Bryn Kenney and Ana Marquez are seated on opposite sides of Justin Smith. These two both registered together a little bit after play started. Hmm...?