Wanna play poker on TV against top pros for $1 million? For free?

A new NBC poker show — “Face the Ace” — launches Saturday, Aug. 1, and you can win a chance to audition in Las Vegas to appear on the show by surviving a three-step qualifying freeroll sequence, already under way on FullTiltPoker.net.

Thirty winners online will earn an expenses-paid trip to the Golden Nugget to audition, plus $500 in spending money. Three final-round qualifying tournaments are set for May 25, June 8 and June 22. The top 10 finishers in each win the 5-day/4-night trip and the chance to audition.

If you’re selected for the show, you make a blind selection on air of the pro you’ll play by choosing Door #1, 2, 3 or 4. Pros lurking behind the doors will include the likes of Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, Eric Seidel, Allan Cunningham, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonious.

Easy pickins’, huh?

Winning that first match for $250K gets you the option of playing a second pro, double or nothing, for $500K. Win that match, and you can play a third pro for $1,000,000. Lose anytime along the way and you leave with nothing. Well, except for the $500 spending money and a handshake from Steven Schirripa of “The Sopranos” fame.

I’m headed over to Full Tilt to win my seat. I promise I’ll take the $250K and run if I win my first match!!! Wouldn’t you?

Get all the details here.

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Here are some highlights from Tuesday’s 2009 World Series of Poker Preview media conference call, with questions being answered by:

* Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Commissioner
* Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director
* Doug White, ESPN Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions
* Seth Palansky, WSOP Communications Director

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2009

– A $40K buy-in no-limit hold’em event on May 28, marking the WSOP’s 40th anniversary and kicking off this year’s lineup of 57 events. Because of the huge buy-in, the tournament is expected to draw a small but truly elite field and produce a star-studded final table.

– A Stimulus Special on May 30 with a (relatively cheap) $1,000 buy-in. Nearly 1,000 players already have pre-registered and it’s speculated the field will reach 5,000-plus. This event is likely to break some records.

– A Champion’s Invitational on May 31 featuring a first-ever battle of WSOP Main Event winners since the first contest in 1970. There are 27 living former world champs who qualify, but not all have committed to playing yet. No one asked if Russ Hamilton, the 1994 champ and main target in a ongoing huge online cheating investigation, would be competing. No bracelet is at stake, but the winner gets bragging rights, a red 1970 Corvette, and the new Binion Cup, presented by Jack Binion himself.

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE IN NOVEMBER

The $10,000 Main Event starts July 3 and plays down to the final nine on July 15. Like last year, play then will be suspended for nearly four months until Nov. 7. When only two are left, then play is halted until Nov. 10.

The gaps are designed to build interest and TV ratings, but also to give final tablists the chance to land sponsorship deals and other promotional opportunities.

WSOP TELEVISION LINEUP GETS FACE-LIFT

If you’re a no-limit hold’em fan, you’re in luck as far as the 2009 WSOP TV schedule is concerned. If you like watching other games, well…

ESPN stats show no-limit hold’em events draw the biggest audience, so this year’s lineup of coverage reflects that. Telecasts will begin July 28 with the $40K anniversary event, followed in subsequent weeks by the Champions Invitational, the Ante-Up for Africa Celebrity-Charity Event, and then 12 straight weeks (starting August 18) of Main Event coverage.

TOUGHER CODE OF CONDUCT

The Code of Player Conduct has been strengthened to help ensure a “civil, courteous and comfortable environment” in the wake of some isolated incidents last year — the most notable being those caught on TV involving Phil Hellmuth and Scotty Nguyen.

Much stronger rules enforcement by floor personnel is promised, to be helped by an electronic tracking system that will more easily allow for escalating penalties as warranted for multiple offenses.

MORE CHIPS, BETTER STRUCTURES

Players now will receive starting stacks equal to triple the tournament buy-in, with betting structures and levels stretched a bit — all designed to significantly increase the amount of play under reduced blinds pressure.

Some tournaments may last a couple levels longer than before, but 12-hour playing days still will be the norm.

The demise of re-buy events this year was announced previously. Officlals said the key reason for dropping re-buy tournaments was to avoid creating uneven playing conditions that give deep-pocketed players an advantage.

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Austin Hodges of Donahue, Iowa, fought to a ninth-place finish in the U.S. Army’s third annual Ultimate Texas Hold’em Worldwide Championship.

Hodges, 41, won a seat into the online final by topping a field of 66 players in a qualifying tournament held at the Rock Island Arsenal last month, one of 48 satellite events held at Army installations around the world.

Austin Hodges

Hodges, owner of a Bettendorf construction company (Interior Construction) that has handled several Arsenal Island building-improvement projects, said the shootout style of Saturday’s online final wasn’t his favorite form of competitive poker.

“The shootout format is alright, but I like straight elimination tournaments ten times better,” said Hodges, who plays in the Quad-Cities’ two casino card rooms but hadn’t played online poker for several years.

In the Army online shootout, the winner from each of five starting tables advanced to the final table, while the five second-place finishers competed separately in a consolation match.

Despite the format not being his favorite, Hodges made it to heads-up at his first table, just one notch away from making the final table. Then he got unlucky.

Staring at a chip deficit, he moved all-in after flopping middle pair (sixes), holding J-6 on a flop of Q-6-5. He was in the lead at that point in the hand, with his opponent holding 9-5 (bottom pair of fives). The river card, however, was a nine, giving his opponent two pair and a spot at the final table.

“That hand sucked a lot, but that’s poker,” said Hodges.

In the consolation match, Hodges finished fourth, leaving him in ninth place overall for the event. His exit there came while holding A-9 on a flop of A-10-9, for two pair. His opponent, however, held pocket tens and won with trips.

Despite his disappointment at not finishing higher, Hodges said he “did enjoy the tournament a lot” and was confident he’d have a shot at the worldwide title again next year.

The Army champion Saturday was Brian Hall, representing Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

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Jeffrey Pollack, the World Series of Poker commissioner, thinks pro player Annie Duke is representing the poker world “beautifully” on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice.

In a media conference call that just ended, Pollack and other WSOP officials outlined the changes for this year’s event, which starts in 28 days, and took questions about the tournament from media. (More on that in later posts.)

But there was time to digress.

At the tail-end of my question about women players in the WSOP — the conference’s first question! — Pollack said: “We would love to see a woman win the Main Event — unless that woman happens to be Joan Rivers.”

Later in the session, he added:

“I think the fact that a poker player at all, but certainly a poker player of Annie’s stature, is on Celebrity Apprentice is a quantum leap forward for the mainstreaming of poker into our pop culture. I think Annie is representing poker players beautifully…and is playing the game masterfully.

“I think the television is enthralling and we love watching her every Sunday. We think the net effect is that it’s going to be very good for poker and for the World Series of Poker.”

Pollack acknowledged that Rivers is getting support from a lot of people on non-poker entertainment online sites, but that he is “absolutely” behind Annie’s bid to win $250,000 for her charity to help refugees in Darfur.

“I consume more poker media these days than pop-culture media. I think the poker media is firmly behind Annie, which is great. We’re fully behind Annie and looking forward to seeing the show continue to unfold,” Pollack said.

(BTW — Rumors aside, Pollack said it was NOT him on the phone with Annie on the previous episode when she went ballistic after hearing that someone was helping contestant Natalie Gulbis secure fund-raising help from Phil Hellmuth AGAINST Annie.)

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Let’s face it, really good poker players probably would be the first to admit that arrogance, meanness, and manipulation all contribute to their success at the felt.

That doesn’t make them bad people.

On last night’s NBC Celebrity Apprentice episode, with “conspiracy victim” Melissa Rivers getting the boot instead of poker pro Annie Duke or losing project leader Brande Roderick, harsh words filled the airwaves. Most were aimed at Annie (again) by Melissa.

Here’s the thing, though: Arrogance aligns with confidence, meanness is a cousin of competitiveness, and manipulation is married to reading people. All of those traits give a poker player an edge in the game. Any game.

Some of Melissa’s other barbs — “whore” and “pit viper” for example — were just cheap, insignificant insults from a losing player.

Her mom, comedienne Joan Rivers, who was on the winning team this week, threw some great one-liners at Annie:

* “I can’t wait for her to get her first facelift cause she’s gonna need two doctors.” (Spoken by an expert on the subject, I reckon.)
* “Poker players are beyond white trash.” (Even if that’s a bad thing, it doesn’t matter because a person’s upbringing is irrelevant in poker. If you have the money to buy in, you can play.)
* “Your people (poker players) give money with blood on it.” (In a country filled with crooks raiding our wallets every day, at least losers at poker have a choice and a chance. Can Bernie Madoff’s victims say that?)
* “You’re a poker player. You’re a poker player.” (Said with such venom it implied extraordinary evil. Laughable on its face.)

Now, Annie’s no Angel. She uses language on the show that could get her booted from a card room. Freeze her pissed-off-nasty look on your TV screen and it’s downright scary. When Melissa suggested the three teammates should boast of “equal” performances in completing the task, Annie’s blood boiled: “I swear I almost punched her in the face.” (Can you say “ratings boost”?)

Annie is, however, a gamer. She excels in a heavily male-dominated, pressure-packed, aggressive activity that not only has failed to break her spirit but rather has made her tougher.

Sort of like a pit viper, now that I think about it.

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I understand from LDP reader Adam Miller that on tonight’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice, Joan Rivers declared that poker players are “lower than scum.”

Gee, Joan, please tell us how you REALLY feel! Don’t hold back, girl!

Haven’t watched my recording of the show yet, but I offer Adam this response:

Hearing a famous “TV personality” say something like that can persuade viewers who don’t know any better to take the comment as gospel — even on a wacky show like CA. Unfair, but harmless.

Of course, in the harsh experience of the true world — not television’s manufactured reality — the truth is that some people ARE “lower than scum”. And some of those people are poker players. Some also are politicians, bankers, welders, cab drivers, you name it. Even elderly comediennes.

One good thing about the comment: Hearing it no doubt makes regular scum feel better.

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NEWS RELEASE

The third episode of NBC’s 5th Annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship presented by GoDaddy.com airs this Sunday, April 26: Noon - 2PM ET

This week’s featured match-ups:

(1st Hour)
DIAMONDS - GUS HANSEN v. HUCK SEED
HEARTS - SAM FARHA v. PETER EASTGATE
(2nd Hour)
CLUBS - DANIEL NEGREANU v. DARIO MINIERI
SPADES - JEFFREY ISHBIA v. PHIL HELLMUTH

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which was taped at the Caesars Palace Poker Room March-6-8, features 64 top poker players competing in a series of heads-up (one-on-one games of No Limit Texas Hold’em) matches to determine the best heads-up poker player in the world. This tournament has a unique, single-elimination, bracket-style format modeled after college basketball’s championship tournament, except that the finals are the best of three.

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Annie Duke’s team easily defeated Joan Rivers’ team on tonight’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice. The win was worth a CA-record $245,000 for her selected charity that helps Congo refugees.

In the boardroom, with Donald Trump’s firing decision being formed, Joan compared Annie to Adolph Hitler! Nice, Joan. Annie had you on tilt the whole time — pretty easy to do. Trump fired pro golfer Natalie Gulbis from Joan’s team after the defeat.

Natalie Gulbis

Another show record may be about to fall: the most “bleeps” for a contestant. Annie is closing in on that title, too. She got multiple “f-word” bleeps last night. And when she was touting her various skills as a wife and mom, there was one hilarious bleep of the word “blow.” Nice job of editing, guys!

At a poker tournament, her language would have earned her a one-orbit penalty! On CA, it gets her extra camera time! Ahhh, show biz…

From 2+2 thread…

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OK, now that the Masters is done and I’ve sent in my taxes, I can get down to some serious business: Watching “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Don’t say it. I used to feel the same way — stupid show, stupid premise, a waste of time. But hey, chalk this decision up to poker research!

You see, poker pro Annie Duke is one of the celebrities competing on the current sequence of shows on Sunday nights. I held out as long as I could, keeping busy with important stuff like watching reruns of Star Trek Enterprise (Jolene Blalock is the bomb!).

But now that bossy Annie is going heads-up as project manager this week against bitchy Joan Rivers — well, there are sure to be lots of fireworks! The two of them have been sparring back and forth for weeks now, and it’s only going to get worse this week.

Look for plenty of “bleeps” if they wind up face-to-face. If it gets violent, I’m sure Annie can take her!

I’m rooting for Annie — not because she’s a sweetheart, but because she is using some of her poker skills (and well-heeled poker friends) to raise money for charity on the show. In the process, another segment of the public is getting exposed to the poker scene in general and one of the game’s sharper players specifically.

Which can only be good news for the game we love!

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VANESSA ROUSSO BECOMES 1ST WOMAN IN NHPC TITLE MATCH

If you’ll be busy doing Easter sorts of things during midday Sunday, don’t forget to set your DVR before you leave the house. It’s National Heads-up Poker Championship time on NBC!

The first of six consecutive Sundays of coverage starts at Noon (Eastern Time). Most of the six shows are two hours long, including this Sunday’s. The semifinals and finals are combined into a concluding three-hour telecast on May 17.

The 64-player bracket-style elimination tourney features some terrific match-ups, but will go down in NHPC’s five-year history as the first featuring a woman in the championship match — something I sort of predicted might happen before action began last month at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Vanessa Rousso earned her spot in the title match against Huck Seed by defeating a ridiculously strong lineup of players: Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand Grospellier.

Seed got there by ousting Jonathan Little, Gus Hansen, Glen Chorny, David Oppenheim and Sam Farha.

Previous heads-up champs are Phil Hellmuth (2005), Ted Forrest (2006), Paul Wasicka (2007), and Chris Ferguson last year.

Here are bracket matches to be featured each week:

SHOW 1 (APRIL 12)
CLUBS & SPADES - ROUND OF 64
(1st Hour)
CLUBS - DANIEL NEGREANU v. CHRIS MONEYMAKER
CLUBS - MIKE MATUSOW v. DARIO MINIERI
(2nd Hour)
SPADES - MIKE SEXTON v. PHIL HELLMUTH
SPADES - GABE KAPLAN v. CHRIS FERGUSON

SHOW 2 (APRIL 19)
HEARTS & DIAMONDS - ROUND OF 64
HEARTS - JOHNNY CHAN v. ELI ELEZRA
DIAMONDS - ANNIE DUKE v. BRAD GARRETT

SHOW 3 (APRIL 26)
ROUND OF 32
(1st Hour)
DIAMONDS - GUS HANSEN v. HUCK SEED
HEARTS - SAM FARHA v. PETER EASTGATE
(2nd Hour)
CLUBS - DANIEL NEGREANU v. DARIO MINIERI
SPADES - JEFFREY ISHBIA v. PHIL HELLMUTH

SHOW 4 (MAY 3)
ROUND OF 16
(1st Hour)
HEARTS - ERICK LINDGREN v. DAVID WILLIAMS
DIAMONDS - KENNY TRAN v. DAVID OPPENHEIM
(2nd Hour)
SPADES - PHIL HELLMUTH v. TOM DWAN
CLUBS - SCOTTY NGUYEN v. DANIEL NEGREANU

SHOW 5 (MAY 10)
QUARTERFINALS
(1st Hour)
DIAMONDS - DAVID OPPENHEIM v. HUCK SEED
HEARTS - DAVID WILLIAMS v. SAM FARHA
(2nd Hour)
CLUBS - VANESSA ROUSSO v. DANIEL NEGREANU
SPADES - BERTRAND GROSPELLIER v. PHIL HELLMUTH

SHOW 6 (MAY 17)
SEMIFINALS
(1st & 2nd Hour)
SAM FARHA (Hearts) v. HUCK SEED (Diamonds)
VANESSA ROUSSO (Clubs) v. BERTRAND GROSPELLIER (Spades)

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH (Best of 3 Matches)
(3rd Hour)
VANESSA ROUSSO (Clubs) v. HUCK SEED (Diamonds)

Huck Seed hoists the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship trophy with poker hostess Leeann Tweeden, center, and title-match opponent Vanessa Rousso looking on. Photo by Stephanie Moore.

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