Las Vegas Weekly

July 16, 2009 · 8:28 AM

Photo Gallery: Steve Schirripa to award $1 million on Face the Ace

By Robin Leach

A contestant, Steve Schirripa and Gavin Smith on the set of NBC's new primetime game show Face the Ace.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

On The Sopranos, he played part of da family that took da money, but on his new NBC series, actor Steve Schirripa is giving it away! Our hometown hero who still books comedy entertainment at the Riviera has been picked to host the new one-hour Saturday night show Face the Ace.

It’s the first time a poker series will air in primetime. Face the Ace kicks off Aug. 1, and it’s all filmed here at Cin City Studios. Current TV schedules have the show set to run through at least Jan. 2.

I walked the set with Steve as he told me about the show: “It’s deceptively simple! A player gets to choose a poker pro hidden behind one of three smoked-glass doors. If they beat the pro in the head-to-head match, they go on to play another pro. If they beat him, there’s a mystery fourth player waiting, and if they beat him, they walk with $1 million. They have to play the entire amount to move on and lose it all if they don’t beat the pro. The first match is for $20,000, the second match is for $200,000, and the third and final match is for the $1 million.

The first three pros for the debut were Howard Lederer, Gavin Smith and Erick Lindgren. To date, 30 contestants have qualified through the Full Tilt co-producers, and then in November, another 30 will head to Las Vegas for a second set of episodes. Among the “Aces” scheduled to appear are Full Tilt pros Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow and Gus Hansen.

As our gallery of photos by contributing photographer Erik Kabik shows, it’s a stunning set complete with a glass-view safe of the $1-million, which I got to touch!

You can try the online qualifier at www.fulltiltpoker.net or www.facetheace.com, and then you could be eligible to play in the TV challenge. Here’s a teaser on YouTube:

Steve will pop up on TV screens over the next few days appearing with Kathie Lee Gifford on the last hour of the Today show and on Conan O’Brien. He is continuing his appearances on ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager filmed in Burbank, Calif. He also told me that he’s not going to write any more of his Goomba book series because he’s in negotiations for one of them to be turned into a movie project.

Said Steve: “This is a great show. Can you imagine the excitement of the first $1 million winner? It will be a thrill to hand over that pot to a regular player who can beat the pro!”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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