NBC has definitely become one of the most poker-friendly mainstream broadcast networks in the world today. In fact, the combination of their National Heads-Up Poker Championship and their Poker After Dark series really does mean that they are probably the friendliest out of the major cable networks to the game of poker.

In their most recent foray into the world of televised poker however, NBC has decided to come up with a whole new way of doing poker shows. They are marrying the popularity of poker to the interest generated by reality shows in a show that is being called Face The Ace. Face The Ace will have its first episode on August 1st at 9 PM in the Eastern Time Zone and then will have six more shows after that taking it through to January 2nd, 2010.

The basic premise of the game is what makes it so interesting. There will be poker professionals four at a time behind different screens, allowing the contestant to choose a screen and pick one of the four players without actually knowing who they are going to be facing. The pro will play heads up against the contestant, getting $10,000 for charity if they win. However, the contestant can win $40,000 if they win the match.

The fun doesn’t stop there though as the contestant is then given a chance to walk away or pick another screen to face another pro heads-up. A win there for the contestant will increase their prize money to $200,000, although a loss will decrease it to nothing. If they manage to beat all four poker professionals, a total of $1 million will be awarded to them. At the end of every successful match, they will be given the chance to walk away with their current winnings or to attempt to parlay them into larger winnings in a proposition that is worth all or nothing.

What makes this particular show even more interesting is the fact that it will draw on the large group of professionals from Full Tilt Poker. People like Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey will be playing in these games.