Face the Ace: Charles Campbell, Will Liberman One and Done
The Halloween installment of the NBC poker franchise “Face the Ace” saw two contestants go one and done. Savannah firefighter Charles Campbell and cell phone salesman Will Liberman both failed to win $40,000.
Campbell, whose initials affectionately earned him the nickname “CC,” donned a jacket that said, “Face the Ace? I am the Ace” on the back. Campbell selected the ace of spades and, desiring to face Mike Matusow, watched as Phil Gordon emerged. Each player received 20,000 in chips and blinds began at 200/400. The match saw small-ball poker played, as Campbell and Gordon both carefully guarded their chip stacks. In one hand, Campbell called pre-flop with pocket sevens and Gordon made it 2,400 with pocket eights. Campbell pushed it to 5,400 and Gordon shoved all-in for 17,400. Campbell tanked before electing to fold face up and Gordon commented, “That was a great laydown,” showing the better pocket pair.
Campbell doubled through Gordon holding A-K, including the king of clubs, against K-10. With the studio audience of about two-dozen gathering in wait, the flop came J-2-A with two clubs. The turn was the queen of clubs, giving Gordon the nut straight, but another club on the river improved Campbell to a flush. However, the challenger would drop most of his chips back to the pro when his A-Q could not hold against Gordon’s Q-10. Gordon flopped top pair on a 4-10-3 board and quickly pushed. Given the number of chips in the pot, Campbell called with ace-high. The board ran out 7-2, giving Gordon all but 400 of the 40,000 chips in play.
Campbell doubled up from 400 to 800 before ultimately falling with J-7 to Gordon’s K-5 of diamonds. The board came 6-8-3-9-9 and Gordon earned $10,000 for his charity, PreventCancer.org. He agreed to place the grant to the organization in Campbell’s mother’s name, as she is a two-time cancer survivor. Host Steve Schirripa, of “The Sopranos” fame, applauded the gesture.
The second contestant to take to the “Face the Ace” stage in Las Vegas was Liberman, who hails from Atlanta after moving from Russia a decade ago. Liberman selected the ace of clubs and faced Erick Lindgren, who, like Gordon, was making his second appearance on the poker television show. Lindgren was the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year after earning his first bracelet in the $5,000 buy-in Mixed Hold’em event. He also took third in that year’s $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship for $781,000.
In a key hand, Lindgren made the call pre-flop with 7-4 of spades and Liberman raised to 1,200 with K-Q. Lindgren obliged and the flop came 6-7-Q, giving both players a pair. The action, however, went check-check to another seven on the turn, improving Lindgren to trips. Lindgren led out for 1,500 and Liberman called to see a king on the river. Liberman checked, Lindgren bet 3,800, and Liberman called with top two pair, shipping a pot of 13,000 to “E-Dog.”
In the match’s final encounter, Liberman called with 7-4 of spades hoping to get lucky with the same hand as Lindgren did and the pro checked his option with 10-8. The flop came J-8-2 with two spades and Liberman pushed for his last 3,500 in chips. Lindgren called and the turn and river blanked out. Lindgren earned $10,000 for his charity, giving the pros a sweep of the “Face the Ace” Full Tilt Poker qualifiers for the first time this season.
“Face the Ace” will return on Saturday, November 14th at 3:00pm ET on NBC. The series will then air one month later on December 14th, also at 3:00pm ET, and then on January 2nd at 2:30pm ET.
Related Poker News:
- Poker Room Review: Ameristar St. Charles, St, Charles, MO
- Charles Barkley enters celeb poker event in Vegas
- Poker run set for Saturday to benefit Fort Campbell Fisher House
- Briefs: Poker tourney to help pets
- Charles Barkley Heads Back To Poker Tables
- Jefferson County OKs table games
- Greg O’Neill and Charles Chang Edge Out Fellow MBA Candidates in Charity Poker Tournaments Hosted by Harrah’s …
- WSOP-C Horseshoe Southern Indiana Day 3: Moore, Moore, Moore, Charles “Woody” Moore Takes the Title!
- Charles Nesson Calls for Presidential Candidates to Play Poker in Colbert Report Appearance
- NBC To Premiere New Poker Reality Series Face The Ace
- The Palms Goes Gaga for ‘Poker Face’
- From Poker Face to gimp mask… Lady GaGa unveils her most ridiculous outfit yet
Poker jargon:
- BIG BOBTAIL - An open-ended 4-card straight flush.
- FOLD - To decline to call a bet, thus dropping out of a hand.
- TIGHT - [1] A style of play that entails playing fewer hands than average. Antonym: LOOSE. [2] A FULL HOUSE.
- PAT HAND - In draw poker, a hand that does not need any more cards. Specifically, a straight, flush, full house or straight flush. One might bluff and represent a pat hand but actually hold something else.
- MANIAC - A player who bets, raises and reraises without regard to the quality of his hand. Most often found in flop games.
- STEAM - Playing wildly, calling and raising a lot, because one is upset. Compare: ON TILT.
RSS feed
