NBC and Full Tilt announced their joint effort to produce Face the Ace, a new concept for a poker show where players who qualify online get to play heads-up against three Full Tilt pros for a $1,000,000 prize.
This is how NBC described the show’s concept:
If selected to be a participant on the show, the contestant will have to choose between four smoked-glass doors, behind which are four top professional poker players, or the “Aces.” Once one is chosen, the contestant will play that pro in a heads-up No-Limit Texas Hold’em match. Should the contestant defeat the pro, they will have the opportunity to take the money they have won and leave or risk it all and choose another door and battle a different pro for a significantly larger sum of money.
Some of the poker pros rumored to stand at some point or another behind the doors are Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey (both of whom feature prominently in the show’s advertising,) Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Phil Gordon, Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, John Juanda, Mike Matusow, Patrik Antonius and Howard Lederer. The show will be hosted by Steve Schirripa, star of the popular series “The Sopranos.”
The best part of the Face the Ace promotion is that it’s completely free: the classification tournaments are all freerolls, which will progress as follows:
- Face the Ace – Round 1 Freerolls are available around the clock; the winner of each Round 1 Freeroll earns an entry to a Face the Ace – Round 2 Freeroll
- The winner of each Round 2 Freeroll advances to a Face the Ace – Final Qualifier tournament
- The next Face the Ace – Final Qualifier tournament takes place at 9:15 p.m. ET on Monday, July 6; the top ten finishers in each Final Qualifier win a free prize package, which includes a trip to Las Vegas and an audition for Face the Ace.
All winners will be flown to Vegas with one guest, and lodged at the iconic Golden Nugget for 5 days and 4 nights, where they will get $500 spending money and their chance to audition for NBC’s new poker show.
Filming is expected to start next week, and Face the Ace will premiere on NBC on Saturday, August 1st at 9:00 pm ET. Seven one-hour episodes of Face the Ace are currently booked, and they will show from the prime-time August 1st debut through January 2nd, 2010.
There is still time to catch a seat in the Face the Ace satellites and show Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen who’s boss. For more information visit www.face-the-ace.com