Computer Faces Off Against Real Poker Pros: How Will the Humans Fare?

Written by:
C Costigan
Published on:
Apr/25/2015
Computer Faces Real Poker Pros:  How Will the Humans Fare?

In an epic Heads-Up No-limit Texas Hold’em challenge in which Man takes on artificial intelligence, real life human poker players will be putting it all on the line.

The study, which began April 24, was conducted by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh at nearby Rivers Casino. 

“Poker is now a benchmark for artificial intelligence research, just as chess once was,” said Thomas Sandholm, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon who has led development of Claudico. “It’s a game of exceeding complexity that requires a machine to make decisions based on incomplete and often misleading information, thanks to bluffing, slow play and other decoys. And to win, the machine has to out-smart its human opponents.

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“Computing the world’s strongest strategies for this game was a major achievement — with the algorithms having future applications in business, military, cybersecurity and medical arenas,” Sandholm said.

Poker pros Doug Polk, Dong Kim, Bjorn Li and Jason Les will all take part in the study, which will take place over the course of two weeks.

Polk is widely considered the world’s best player of Heads-Up No-Limit Texas Hold’em, having amassed $3.6 million in live tournaments to date.

“My strategy will change more so than when playing against human players,” Polk added. “I think there will be less hand reading so to speak, and less mind games. In some ways I think it will be nice as I can focus on playing a more pure game, and not have to worry about if he thinks that I think, etc. So I am looking forward to the match.”

“Rivers Casino is proud to partner with the number-one graduate school of computer science in the U.S., Carnegie Mellon University, right here in our own backyard,” said Craig Clark, general manager of Rivers Casino. “Regardless of whether man or machine prevails, this history-making experiment is a great win for Pittsburgh.”

- Ace King, Gambling911.com

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