EETimes.com – Computer takes on champs in poker challenge — This is indeed interesting. Maybe it will kill the mystique of poker.
Today and tomorrow (July 23 and 24), the world’s First Man-Machine Poker Championship is pitting two poker masters against a computer program, called Polaris, at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) conference (Vancouver B.C.). Polaris was programmed by the University of Alberta and is competing against Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, a mechanical engineer and winner of the World Poker Tour, and Ali Eslami, a gaming consultant turned professional poker player.
Yes, but can it cheat?
The machine would be easy to beat unless it has a “bluff” scenario built in, which I think would be hard to do if all the cards are not shown at the end of each hand? The computer should be flawless and therefore win on the basis of card counting and odds of winning==but lose if it doesn’t know how to bet?
Much better task for artificial intelligence than chess. I’d bet on the hoomans.
As anyone who has played poker can tell you, there is far more to it then just the cards.
Is the computer capable of spilling beer on the table? How about getting pizza sauce on the cards. Can it order a ridiculous pickle, ham, tomato, swiss cheese, roast beef, and tuna sandwich on a kaiser bun? How about joking about how the other players are lousy bluffers? Does it blabber on incessantly until the other players tell it to just shut the eff up? How about bowing out early after winning a big pot because the computer’s little iPod is sick?
We’ll see just how well this electron, silicon, solder, plastic, and tin box can do against real people.
and is competing against Phil “The Unabomber” Laak,
Won’t it be fun when enough time has passed for people to have nick-names like:
Phil “Columbine” Laak, Phil “Federal Building” Laak, or Phil “Nine-Eleven” Laak.
Many years ago, before the PC age, I wrote two simulators, one for blackjack and one for craps. After millions of hands, various seating positions, etc. the blackjack simulator revealed a winning strategy, but only for a two deck shoe and only one player vs. dealer. Nowadays, Vegas really frowns on card counters, so that didn’t work out — I have no desire to spend some time in the back room with casino security. The craps simulator has actually made me some money, but the system still depends on finding the “hot” shooter — someone who can roll “numbers” at least seven or eight times in a row without crapping out. Still tough to do, but at least craps gives you the best odds in town, real odds without juice.
Good luck to the poker simulator, I’d like to see the results (and the source code). Maybe John will post a follow-up article.
Hmm, should be interesting.
Poker is the easiest way to make money at casinos, if you know how to read people. That’s what these champion card players are good at. Anyone can get a book and learn the odds and follow basic rules to bet. To win consistently, you have to be able to learn how the other person bets.
Unless they throw a random subloop into the program, the humans will simply learn how the computers play, beat the stuffing out of them. They may not win every hand, nor every tournament, because there is always a random element to poker, but over the long haul, the humans will take the computers money.
Don