‘Bot’ This Too

Last column we discussed issues raised by the recent successes of a poker ‘bot’ named Polaris. This device is a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) program, and the brainchild of the Computer Poker Research Group at the University of Alberta in Calgary. It plays limit Hold ‘Em (LH) about as well as any sentient human and has earned its stripes by beating several experienced professionals in heads-up play. We’ve already examined a number of features of the bot itself. Here I’d like to explore some of the psychological factors of man vs. machine play.

Click to read more ...

Irony in Action

You’re in a tough $5/10 NLH game. You know the guy in the checkered shirt in seat 8. Solid, unimaginative, with little trick in his game. He’s just pushed a stack of greenies at you on the river. You missed your draw; you’ve got middle pair and, basically, can only beat a bluff.

Click to read more ...

‘Bot’ This

Most serious poker plays, especially those who play on-line are aware of the existence of “bots.” “Bot” is short for “robot” and the species of interest are those designed to play poker. A bot is, properly, an artificial intelligence (AI), a sophisticated piece of software that not only is programmed to make optimal decisions, but learns from its experiences.

Click to read more ...

Why Do We Play Poker?

A poker article I ran across recently in a respected magazine began with this ‘buzz line:’ “The object of poker is to win the most money. That’s it - that is your goal. That’s why you’re playing poker.” Now, of course, this sentiment wasn’t just discovered by this particular writer. If you flip through poker books, poker columns, videos, instructional tapes, blogs, you name it, you will see it repeated over and over again. It has become a mantra, almost like a religious chant, assumed to be true and never challenged. Well, heretic that I am, I’d like to challenge it here because, frankly, it just isn’t true. The vast majority do not play poker to win the most money. In fact, the vast majority do not play poker to win money at all, let alone “the most.” Oh, don’t get me wrong, we all like to win, hope we will win and surely anticipate doing such each time we buy chips but, you know, I don’t really think that winning money is why so many millions play.

Click to read more ...

The Cards You Are Dealt

Today’s column is a short dissertation on a banality. It’ll seem stupid at first but bear with me, there’re useful poker nuggets here. The banality: You can’t do anything about the cards you are dealt. Now I know that everyone who has played even a little poker knows this is true – but few act like it. Many complain endlessly about their bad luck, cry about their rotten cards, agonize over the endless hours missing countless flops, of getting sucked out on by bozos calling on a wing and a prayer.

Click to read more ...