In online poker’s version of Iron Chef, Face the Ace will premier on NBC on August 1st. The show will air in the 9:00pm to 10:00pm ET time slot and is hosted by The Sopranos’ Steve Schirripa. It features pros from Full Tilt Poker.
In a conference call earlier this week, Schirripa noted that Face the Ace is the “first of its kind to air in primetime on a broadcast network.” At stake is a chance to win $1 million on national television and the series contains a total of seven episodes. To start Face the Ace, four pros will be stationed behind glass doors, hidden from view by a contestant, who will select one to play in a game of Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em. If a contestant defeats the “ace,” they’ll receive $40,000 for their efforts. They can then elect to keep the $40,000 and walk away or face a second pro for a chance at $200,000. If they win once again, each contestant can take the money or play one last heads-up match for $1 million. If a contestant loses to an “ace” at any time, they’ll forfeit their winnings in a unique all-or-nothing proposition.
Each match that a pro wins means $10,000 will be donated to the charity of their choice. The pros who will participate in NBC’s Face the Ace include some of Full Tilt Poker’s top names: Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship victor Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, and Gavin Smith.
The show is co-hosted by Ali Nejad and Megan Abrigo, who holds case number six on the hit NBC game show Deal or No Deal, is Face the Ace’s hostess. Nejad gave his take on the caliber of contestants that viewers can expect to see: “The qualification process online is difficult. For these guys to have gotten that far – they’re either the luckiest guys we know or they’re good.” Schirripa added, “Personally, I thought some were pretty good. They didn’t seem intimidated and, if they were, they hid it pretty well.”
The show airs on August 1st and August 8th at 9:00pm ET. Then, it airs once per month through January, 2010:
August 1st, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
August 8th, 2009 – 9:00pm ET
September 12th, 2009 – 2:00pm ET
October 31st, 2009 – 3:30pm ET
November 14th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
December 12th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
January 2nd, 2010 – 2:30pm ET
Three of the seven episodes have already been filmed, with Schirripa describing the first two primetime broadcasts as opportunities to “test the waters.” When viewers tune in, they’ll witness high-stakes poker and life-changing money on the line. Nejad described what makes Face the Ace resoundingly successful: “There’s no safety net here like there is in other game shows. If you don’t win your match, you lose everything you’ve won. The pressure is really on and this isn’t a cakewalk.”
Face the Ace is not NBC’s first venture into the poker world. The massive U.S. network airs Poker After Dark weekly and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship once per year. Meanwhile, qualification for Face the Ace continues on Full Tilt Poker. The site, which serves as a presenting sponsor of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net, is holding Round Two Face the Ace qualifiers tonight at 21:15 ET and August 2nd at 21:15 ET. The next Face the Ace Final Qualifier takes place on August 3rd at 21:15 ET. The two former tournaments have a buy-in of 100 Full Tilt Points, while the Final Qualifier boasts a price tag of 2,500.
We’ll have full details of the inaugural Face the Ace episode right here on Poker News Daily.
