Philly’s own Adam “Good Bet” Ehrlich won an online poker tourney and wound up in Vegas testing his poker skills against the pros with a million dollars on the line.
Sounds pretty cool, huh?
Ehrlich was one of 30 players to win a free online tournament at FullTiltPoker.com. The winners each received airfare to Las Vegas, four-night hotel stay and $500 to spend in Sin City.
But the winners also got the chance to star on the TV Show “Face the Ace.” Ehrlich was picked as one of the guys to take on the pros.
It sounded easy enough -- beat three professional poker players and walk away a millionaire. But was it?
He read an article in Bluff magazine all about the show before he played, Ehrlich said. "It had strategy on how to play the exact pros on the show,” he said.
Ehrlich, 33, was being coy -- he knows cards. Though he is no pro, he does play in a weekly game and recreationally plays online -- he wasn't a poker novice.
But for Ehrlich cards were only part of the story.
Ehrlich an out-of-work stock trader, was looking for a change and hoped that his stint at fame on NBC’s “Face the Ace” could be his window into a new career. And at worst it could earn him some cash.
“I’m hoping I represent Philly well,” he said. “That I come off as a smart, intelligent and dynamic person… who would make a good employee.”
Ehrlich still had a flair for the dramatic and a little P.T. Barnum in him -- heck, he even set up his own “Good Bet” Web site.
“I wanted to create something that people would find entertaining,” he said. “People should definitely tune in."
So did he win some cash? Ehrlich was sworn to secrecy until after the show airs (Saturday at 2 p.m. on NBC 10).
He must have won something considering that he went to Vegas with an ace up his sleeve -- his girlfriend Karen.
She was his good-luck charm, he said. She stayed up with Ehrlich until nearly 3 a.m. the night that he qualified because he said if she was with him that he would win the free trip. He won and he took her along (naturally) to be with him as he played.
Watch Ehrlich go for the big bucks Saturday afternoon and in the meantime become his fan on Facebook.
