The lawsuit over the Face the Ace poker show will continue in a US federal court in Las Vegas. Earlier a district court in Nevada had dismissed Brandon McSmith's claim that Poker PROductions had stolen the idea for the show from him.


McSmith represented himself in the district court, but for the federal court he has hired a lawyer.

Face the Ace was a ratings flop and NBC dropped the show after one season. McSmith claims that the producers of the show, Poker PROductions used his idea which he had pitched to them earlier under the title All Star Poker Challenge. McSmith's pitch is availabe on Youtube and while it's an amateurish presentation, similarities to the basic idea of Face the Ace are striking (view the pitch here).

McSmith originally demanded a staggering $85 million in compensation but it is yet unclear what his demands are in the federal court. He also says that he plans to write a tell-all book about the actions of Poker PROductions, NBC and Full Tilt Poker who was sponsoring the show.

It is mentioned that even the FBI has taken an interest probably due to Full Tilt Poker's involvement in the case. McSmith has been in contact with Arlo Devlin-Brown whose US Attorney's office in New York have earlier conducted several online poker fund seizures in the US.

Source: Poker News Daily.