Face the Ace

A new poker show is ready to debut on TV !
The company that produces NBC’s Poker After Dark will mix everyone’s favorite game with reality television when Face The Ace premieres this summer.

Poker Productions, the company responsible for the late night hit for NBC, is betting that poker fans nationwide will tune in to Face The Ace when the poker reality show debuts in August. Hosted by Steve Schirripa (”The Sopranos”), the show will center on contestants drawn from online qualifying tournaments who play heads-up no limit hold’em against poker pros.

Each contestant will start off by choosing one of four doors, behind each of which lies a pro player. If the contestant wins his match against the first pro, he’ll have to make a choice: take the money and run, or let it ride and play against another pro? Beating three pros in a row will be worth $1 million, but a loss means a trip home empty-handed.

NBC Universal TV executive VP Jerry Petry told Variety that the network had picked up an initial run of seven episodes, with the option of ordering more if the show succeeds in its Saturday afternoon time slot.

This isn’t the first time that poker and reality television have been mixed together. Fox Sports Net teamed with UltimateBet to start the trend with Best Damn Poker Show, where a field of contestants competed against one another on teams headed up by poker pros Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth.

What people don’t seem to understand is that there is much more than talent and knowledge that is required to be a great poker player. You have to be able to handle adversity without going off the deep end. You have to have the character to handle the pitfalls fo life. Also there is the ability to implement the things you do know. That is probably the biggest difference between good poker players and great poker players. Anyway, a freezeout between good poker players is usually a coin flip.

In addition to a different format - the players will play against pros, not other amateurs - Face The Ace will also have the benefit of being one of the big four television networks with its national audience. Poker fans will get their first taste of the show on Saturday, August 1, at 9 p.m. ET.