Take the Money and Run: Eric Hicks Hopes His Crystal Luck Continues at Gardens

By Sean Chaffin

Eric Hicks (pictured) isn’t a geologist, gemologist, or jewelry maker. But he does have some big purple geode crystals hanging from a chain around his neck. He’s counting on them to continue bringing him good luck as he battles it out late in Day 3 at the WPT Gardens Poker Festival.

Some believe crystals have healing powers with mystical energy. Ancient Egyptians believed certain crystals could help with fertility and others could help preserve safe passage to the next world after death. It’s believed amethyst was worn by Egyptian soldiers to provide courage in battle.

Hicks isn’t sure what type of crystals his are but knows they seem to be giving him some courage and plenty of mojo.

“I just call it my amulet,” he says. “I bought this right off a guy’s neck. I was at a Rastafarian concert in Vegas right before a World Series of Poker event. He was selling amulets and I wanted the one he was wearing.”

“It brought me a lot of luck and the last time I wore it I final tabled a World Series event, the same night I got it.”

That was a ninth-place finish in 2018 in the $5,000 Turbo event for $30,881. Could an even better run be in store for Hicks and his amulet at the Gardens? He was among the chip leaders with 15 players remaining.

Hicks has $316,224 in live tournament winnings but doesn’t get out to play too much poker as much as you would expect. He owns and operates LunaCycle, which sells electric bikes, scooters, and parts for others who want to build their own ebikes. 

“I love fast electric bikes,” he says.

The company is based in El Segundo, California, and his motorized bicycles get over 50 mph. The LunaCycle website notes that the company is an “enabler of the electric revolution.”

After last year’s WSOP, Hicks played on a few episodes of Live at the Bike. He usually only plays two or three tournaments a year including some at the WSOP. 

While the first-place money would be nice, as well as the prestige of adding his name to the WPT Champions Cup, Hicks is extremely motivated by one added perk for winning the Gardens Poker Festival. The property is awarding the winner a 2019 BMW X1, worth an extra $40,000.

“Do you know if you get to drive off in the car if you win it?” he says. “That would be amazing. I would just love to throw the cash in the back of the car and drive it off. That makes me really excited. I’d get security to help me out and hope the thing’s fast enough. I consider myself a good driver and would just get out on the freeway and jet.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.