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Poker Program Battles Humans In Vegas

Posted by timothy on from the leds-blink-when-they're-bluffing dept.

Bridger writes "Poker software called Polaris will play a rematch against human players during the 2008 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Developed by an artificial intelligence group at the University of Alberta in Canada, Polaris will be pitted against several professionals at the Rio Hotel between July 3rd and 6th. 'It's possible, given enough computing power, for computers to play "perfectly," where over a long enough match, the program cannot lose money,"' said associate professor Michael Bowling.'"

5 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Zero sum game by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Poker is a zero sum game. Pit two of these 'perfect' players against each other, and one of them will lose money.

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  2. Re:So What! it's Chess all over again! by ragethehotey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because Chess is a game of complete information, and is largely a matter of brute forcing out the best move from tons of choices. Poker is a game of incomplete information (You do not know your opponents hand), as the decisions your opponent will make influence what the "correct" decision for you to make is. Chess was a matter of computing power, whereas poker is a matter of implementing game theory abilities in the AI.

  3. Re:I'm at least as good as this software... by brady8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was hoping this wouldn't have to be said, but playing Poker isn't gambling if you play it properly. The house takes a small cut from each hand which reduces your winnings by a proportionally small amount, but otherwise it's like anything else requiring skill - over time, the best player will always win more money, and the worst player (skill-wise) will lose the most money.

  4. Re:Reminds me of those... by alrudd1287 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Playing perfectly = keeping 100% of your money in your wallet

  5. Re:Can't lose money? by Karganeth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Poker sites are not full of bots. The one I play at is full of terrible players who enjoy throwing their money away.

    No bot plays perfect poker. I'm sure that no bot will be perfect for a very, very long time (way beyond my lifetime). The mathematics behind poker is incredibly complex. A good book about it is the mathematics of poker by Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman. From reading your post it seems to me that you have a very little idea about the problems with solving poker and even how to play poker. You can't just call when you have the odds and fold when you don't. It just doesn't work that way - that strategy is easily exploited. I'm also not sure why you were modded +5 Insightful... I guess there aren't many poker players here at /.