The show airs the next two Saturdays, then once a month through January:
- August 1, 2009 - 9:00pm ET
- August 8, 2009 - 9:00pm ET
- September 12, 2009 - 2:00pm ET
- October 31, 2009 - 5:00pm ET
- November 14, 2009 - 3:00pm ET
- December 12, 2009 - 3:00pm ET
- January 2, 2010 - 2:30pm ET
The show is hosted by Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri on The Sopranos; model Megan Abrigo (pictured below; more pictures) is the hostess; and Ali Nejad is the tournament director.
See also NBC's press release.
Strategy commentary:
The players will be getting 4 to 1 on their money at each decision point (e.g. risking $40,000 to win $160,000 plus the return of the $40,000 they'd already earned = $200,000), making it a breakeven decision if they're 20% to win. In a single heads-up match with relatively short stacks (reportedly 50, 100, and 125 big blinds) the pros would only have a small edge against a competent opponent (e.g. one who understands heads-up hand values and knows to play longball [big pots] against a superior opponent). All that makes it seem like the amateurs would want to go for the full $1,000,000. On the other hand, most online qualifiers for TV shows have been terrible players, most people are risk averse (degenerate gamblers being the classic exception, willing to take bad bets for the chance of a big score), and money generally has declining marginal utility (the first million improves your life more than the next one). All those factors make the decisions complex, so it will be interesting to see what the players do.
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10 comments:
The outs at the top of the screen were a nice touch.
For the most part, the show met my expectations: I knew it would be a game show more than a poker show. The people and their interaction has come in for some criticism, however. The host has been roundly critiziced on the message boards (indeed, the show in general has been lambasted). I don't mind him so much, but I do hate how they stop the action when there's an all-in and have Ali reiterate what we can already see. Honestly, I find the show reasonably diverting, and more interesting than the WSOP... though that's hardly praise. The WSOP is a collection of highlights, and not a particularly good one, while this is a so-so game show.
Just create a show that showa "POKER". Hello!!!! That's why we tune in........
GLK Nowhere, upstate NY
Could only take about 10 minutes of the show before I couldn't stand it.
Wicked Chops Poker has some pretty detailed suggestions for improvement of the show.
More thoughts after watching the second episode:
- I was pretty bored with it.
- They do have the best opening segment in poker... but I've never understood why shows waste airtime with opening/closing segments.
- They actually cast this show, so how did Marcia Owens make it (it was unpleasant watching her)?
- They need to stop halting the show when there are all-ins.
- There needs to be less talk by Steve and Ali. The only value Steve adds is with the biographical material on players, so limit it to that. The only value Ali adds is with play-by-play, so limit it to that. I don't need Steve bringing pizza or Ali entering the field of view just to tell us the blinds went up.
- The above leaves more time for poker, which is what they should be showing more of. Poker, money, and some brief bio: those are the only things that make the show interesting.
- They don't make the blinds and stacks apparent enough, making it hard to follow.
- The graphics disappear when they show the board being dealt. Once the announcer was referring to a players outs, but when I looked up the graphic wasn't there.
Ratings have been miserable.
Three NBC affiliates refuse to air Face the Ace because of policies against gambling.
NBC filmed more episodes of Face the Ace. NBC executive Jon Miller promises "we’ve improved the show quite a bit," for example "the crowd was encouraged to rush the stage and gather around the poker table for “all-in” confrontations."
PokerNews.com did a comparison of Million Dollar Challenge and Face the Ace and concluded that Million Dollar Challenge is the better show, which I think is the consensus view.
Brandon McSmith's lawsuit claiming he came up with the idea for Face the Ace was dismissed according to Poker News Daily.
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