Researchers at the University of Alberta developed a computer program named “Polaris” that was designed to compete against two of the sharpest poker players in the world (Phil Laak and Ali Eslami). The Computer managed to win at least one round but finally it lost. Nevertheless this was the first victory of a poker bot against strong human players and therefore it marks a milestone in artificial intelligence research.
Credit: University of Alberta
The interessting thing about this story is that poker contrary to chess is a game of imperfect information (because you don’t know the cards of your opponents) and therefore findings under these conditions are supposed to be more beneficial for real-life.
Esmali said that the game wasn’t like professional poker online, when he can typically watch TV or eat some food while playing. “This required really intense focus to play at the level to beat this bot.” (Humans best computer in poker match)
