Human poker champs narrowly beat A.I. program

[Doctor Q]

News link

Two professional poker players narrowly beat a computer late Tuesday after four tense rounds that scientists called the world's first man-versus-machine poker championship.

Two poker players ranked as the world's best prevailed against a program named Polaris by just 570 points in the fourth and final game in the match.

The competition was held as 1,000 scientists from around the world converged on Vancouver for a conference on artificial intelligence.

Poker is a special challenge for computers - which can already consistently beat humans at chess, checkers, and backgammon - because the gambling game includes deliberate deception, unpredictable emotions of opponents, and elements of chance as well as mathematics.​

Hooray for our side!

But how long before computers have become masters of yet another sport by becoming best at poker? And what will the computers do with the money they'll win playing in Las Vegas?

YouTube video: Machine vs man poker challenge introduction

The First Man-Machine Poker Championship website

 

[SilentPanda]

Well aren't Honda and other companies working on Soccer (Football) robots? Pretty soon nerds will dominate all sports through machines! Yay!

 

[MacNut]

Isn't the new goal a man machine hybrid. The brain of a human with the strength of a machine.

 

[After G]

I think it'll be the same like any other game - the computer will play better than 99% but there will always be at least one crazy/genius person ...

 

[MacNut]

How exactly does one play poker with a computer, how do you bluff a machine or a machine bluff a human.

 

[nbs2]

How exactly does one play poker with a computer, how do you bluff a machine or a machine bluff a human.

A bluff is designed to elicit a predictable response. A given wager, based on the strength of your opponents hand should either draw them in or force them out. Thus, a predictable response to a bluff is what the computer would expect and what the human would have to expect from the computer. The human bluffer couldn't rely on an unpredictable computer and the computer couldn't compensate for the unpredictable human.

Or could it?

 

[WildCowboy]

Isn't the new goal a man machine hybrid. The brain of a human with the strength of a machine.

At some point, the human brain becomes irrelevant...once they figure out how to beat us at poker, it's only a short leap to taking over the world.

How exactly does one play poker with a computer, how do you bluff a machine or a machine bluff a human.

That's the thing...the machine has a much harder time dealing with bluffing, but it still does pretty well. I'm sure it has algorithms for remembering when a certain player has bluffed in the past and with what cards (if they end up being revealed). The computer will be very good at figuring out a player's tendencies, so you'll likely stand a bit better of a chance against it if you are a little more unpredictable than you'd otherwise be.

 

[MacNut]

How were the cards dealt, was the hand fed into the computer or was it an electronic deal?

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Heh... BV posted a thread about this competition a few days back, and I correctly predicted a win for the human players. They've got nothing on us, these computers.

 

[Doctor Q]

My Mac would be good at poker, since it already knows how to bluff. Just yesterday, it told me an email message was junk when it was from a friend of mine. And it did this with a perfectly straight face!

 

[killerrobot]

The problem with artificial intelligence is that it's just that. Take it outside of what it's programmed to do and it's f"·$%!, such as bluffing. You will never be able to program emotions, fears, hopes, dreams or lies.

 

[iBlue]

YES! Score one for the peeps!

My Mac would be good at poker, since it already knows how to bluff. Just yesterday, it told me an email message was junk when it was from a friend of mine. And it did this with a perfectly straight face!

hahaha (the cheeky bugger!)

The problem with artificial intelligence is that it's just that. Take it outside of what it's programmed to do and it's f"·$%!, such as bluffing. You will never be able to program emotions, fears, hopes, dreams or lies.

we hope. (also found this funny considering your username here)


Now allow me to pop in iRobot and get nervous.