A poker-playing software program developed by researchers at the University of Alberta is competing against some of the world’s best poker players in a man-machine showdown in Las Vegas that started today and runs parallel with the 2008 World Series of Poker.
The program, dubbed Polaris, will play a game of limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker against human players who are professional poker coaches. Last year, an earlier version of Polaris competed with professional poker players in Vancouver, British Columbia. The humans won with a final score of two wins, one loss, and one tie.
“We’re still quite far from the necessary computing power for perfect play,” said associate professor Michael Bowling, leader of the university’s computer-poker research group in a press release. “However, we’ve been able to take what we learned last year and apply it to improving this year’s program.” —Maria José Viñas
