Face The Ace: Adam Ehrlich comes up short

Adam Ehrlich managed to beat Chris Ferguson to take down the first match and $40,000. However, Phil Gordon proved to be a tougher nut to crack and Ehrlich went home empty handed.

The third episode of the Full Tilt Poker sponsored Face the Ace aired over the weekend. Viewers who have been following the series will immediately notice that a few improvements to the show have been made in this episode. The most apparent one being that there is now much more interaction from the audience during the game.

Adam Ehrlich, a stock broker from Philadelphia was the challenger in this episode. Ehrlich who is nicknamed "A-Damn Good Bet" by his friends came on the show with supreme amounts of confidence and definitely made the show his own. His talkative and cocksure performance also ensured that there was nary a dull moment in the episode.

Ehrlich aims high but comes up short

Choosing the "Ace of Diamonds" as his first opponent, Chris Ferguson walked out the door to become Ehrlich's first opponent for $40,000. The challenger was not at all fazed at having to face the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner and got off to a blazing start. Without seeing a flop, Ehrlich took down the first three hands with aggressive raises.

"Are you ever going to fold one for me?" asked Ferguson. "I'll find a hand," came the reply from Ehrlich before racing into a big lead. After a total of four all-ins, Ehrlich finally found the cards to put Chris Ferguson away. "You beat a pro and a dealer, that's tough to do," quipped a gracious Ferguson after the match. He was referring to the fact that he survived two all-ins despite going in with the worst hand.

"I can't win the million dollars, if i stopped at fourty thousand," replied Adam when asked if he would face his second Ace. Choosing to go with the "Ace of Clubs", Ehrlich drew Phil Gordon (pictured right) for his $200,000 match-up. Just as in his first match, the challenger went ahead early on with a combination of good cards and aggressive betting.

Things changed however once Gordon took the lead. Despite saying repeatedly that he was actually rooting for Ehrlich to win the match, Gordon put in a polished performance and never let the amateur back into the game. In the final hand, Ehrlich went all in slightly ahead with against Gordon's but Gordon hit the flop and sent Ehrlich home empty handed.