The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Wired Campus

July 7, 2008

Man vs. Machine II: Poker-Playing Software Program Will Try to Avenge Last Year's Loss

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

Posted on Monday July 7, 2008 | Permalink |

Comments

  1. If it was all skill, Phil Hellmuth would win every tournament.

    — Doug    Jul 6, 11:52 PM    #

  2. At least according to Phil Hellmuth.

    — Lee    Jul 7, 07:13 AM    #

  3. finally someone is doing something important for the world. It is so tiresome what with all the famine, war, pestilence, etc. This story gives me hope for our civilization—hope for a brighter tomorrow.

    — Judge Smales    Jul 8, 10:27 AM    #

  4. Judge,
    please stop trolling the web and start doing “something important for the world”!

    — Jay    Jul 9, 09:16 PM    #

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