U of A Poker bot vs. The Unabomber
by MaxPower
People may have seen the press the University of Alberta has been getting recently. First U of Aresearchers announced earlier in July that they had created a computer program called Chinook which was impossible to beat in checkers.
Then just a week later, the same researchers (busy week) from the U of A debuted a Texas Hold'em poker playing bot called Polaris at the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference taking place right now in Vancouver. The computer program Polaris is facing two professional poker players - Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Ali Eslami.
Just posted on the www.cardplayer.com website however is the update on how the games are going. Polaris is holding its own and has even managed to kick some ass. They have a good recap of the type of games and the results here.
The U of A has been getting a ton of international press for these feats and should come as no surprise to people who know that the U of A artificial intelligence lab is one of the best in the world.
š„ú(Polaris) is phenomenal. They just spent all their (freaking) time perfecting heads-up limit poker,š„ù Laak said. š„úThat thing just beat us.š„ù