Supercomputer Outwits Humans In Poker Rematch

Megalith

Megalith

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I don’t know a damn thing about Poker, but I can tell you that losing to a computer in front of a crowd must be pretty embarrassing—yet with the way things are advancing, maybe that isn’t anything to be too ashamed about, as we are seeing such monumental gains in AI that getting owned by software is becoming more and more ordinary. In this case, four of the “world’s best” poker players were defeated by Libratus, an artificial intelligence robot. I don’t know what is worse, getting beat by AI or sitting there playing poker for 20 days straight.

An artificial intelligence called Libratus has beaten four of the world’s best poker players in a gruelling 20-day tournament that culminated late on Monday. The Brains vs Artificial Intelligence competition saw four human players – Dong Kim, Jason Les, Jimmy Chou and Daniel McAulay – spend 11 hours each day stationed at computer screens in the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh battling a piece of software at no-limit Texas Hold’em, a two-player unlimited form of poker. Libratus outmanoeuvred them all, winning more than $1.7m in chips. (Thankfully for the poker pros, they weren’t playing with real money) It’s a crushing defeat for humanity, but a major milestone for artificial intelligence.
 
well.... its gotta be "counting cards" right? i mean if you could memorize every. single. hand. then it'd probably be roughly equivalent, wouldnt you think?
 
I have followed this for for some time. the player Doug Polk beat the AI badly last year. but didnt go this year. they had 4 random players with modest skill and 3 out of 4 was doing real good against the AI and then they tweaked it and all 4 started losing. Doug poke was asked to go coach them for a few days but i guess they didnt do any better. They said the AI started to bluff more an with larger amounts of chips. and they couldnt just keep calling. it would be as if the player with the largest amount of chips was bullying the table. which is hard to counter because you have to have about the same amount of chips to keep calling. and when you are just ace high it really is hard to call someone pushing with say a 2 6 un-suited.
 
NeoNemesis said:
Couple that with the fact that it has no tells whatsoever.
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Exactly. Kinda hard to read an inanimate box.

Although I'm surprised no-one has written software to challenge video poker machines at bars. Granted it'd be highly illegal if deployed in the wild. But I imagine something to read the cards on the screen (every deal is a new deck) and compare to the pay table, then give you the suggestion of the statistically best move.
 
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P4B said:
I have followed this for for some time. the player Doug Polk beat the AI badly last year. but didnt go this year. they had 4 random players with modest skill and 3 out of 4 was doing real good against the AI and then they tweaked it and all 4 started losing. Doug poke was asked to go coach them for a few days but i guess they didnt do any better. They said the AI started to bluff more an with larger amounts of chips. and they couldnt just keep calling. it would be as if the player with the largest amount of chips was bullying the table. which is hard to counter because you have to have about the same amount of chips to keep calling. and when you are just ace high it really is hard to call someone pushing with say a 2 6 un-suited.
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That's the difference. That's why the AI would be able to win every time. A computer doesn't worry about losing chips. It's not "real money" to the computer.

The AI doesn't really 'lose' anything, whereas the human is actually risking their own cash. A computer doesn't actually "feel" loss the way a human does. There are no consequences, so it will never play the game the same way a human would.
 
Counting cards is a Black jack thing. poker is knowing the percentage or likelihood of any two cards giving a win.
 
P4B said:
Counting cards is a Black jack thing. poker is knowing the percentage or likelihood of any two cards giving a win.
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That's just part of it and that's what makes it great. Anyone can learn the math behind it but few are great at it.
 
NeoNemesis said:
Couple that with the fact that it has no tells whatsoever.
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Sounds like a challenge. Wasn't there some very spy-craft style research into extracting encryption keys by analyzing the power consumption and RF noise emitted from a CPU?
 
sean.b said:
well.... its gotta be "counting cards" right?
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Exactly. My first thought when i read the headline was "They aren't on a level playing field. They are letting the computer cheat i bet, while the human isn't allowed to". Or some other such unequal ground!

Just like in video games. The AI is so "good" because it plays by different rules then the player! If it was the same set of rules (as it should be), the AI would be bad af! lol
 
P4B said:
I have followed this for for some time. the player Doug Polk beat the AI badly last year. but didnt go this year. they had 4 random players with modest skill and 3 out of 4 was doing real good against the AI and then they tweaked it and all 4 started losing. Doug poke was asked to go coach them for a few days but i guess they didnt do any better. They said the AI started to bluff more an with larger amounts of chips. and they couldnt just keep calling. it would be as if the player with the largest amount of chips was bullying the table. which is hard to counter because you have to have about the same amount of chips to keep calling. and when you are just ace high it really is hard to call someone pushing with say a 2 6 un-suited.
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Yeah that calling BS is what happened to me several years ago when I was at a coworker's christmas party. Three or so guys were downstairs playing poker, so I asked if I could join them as my friends and I used to play for nickels and quarters back in the day. Well, these guys were playing for quite a bit more, and I couldn't even finish one round with my measly $20. At least it was a cheap lesson into the realities of gambling :D
 
How the cards fall is a legit part of poker, but reading people and studying tells is a huge part of the game. I wouldn't consider this to be poker as you are completely blind to the other player. This is like playing poker in 4 different rooms with someone walking in and giving you the bet information. aka this isn't actually poker.
 
So it is the same as online poker. So much for online poker, it will die out much like online chess other than the variety where computers are encouraged.

Makes sense that a good poker program will win most of the time, no stress causing errors, no silly calls, just calculated and exacting play without tiring.
 
Vader1975 said:
How the cards fall is a legit part of poker, but reading people and studying tells is a huge part of the game. I wouldn't consider this to be poker as you are completely blind to the other player. This is like playing poker in 4 different rooms with someone walking in and giving you the bet information. aka this isn't actually poker.
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It would essentially be the same as online poker, you don't get to see faces there either in most cases.
 
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