Humans beat computer in epic poker battle
As any player knows, poker is about more than calculating odds and weighing up the risk.
While the programmers of Polaris gave their computer the ability to bluff, ultimately it was the humans that came out on top in the world’s first “Man versus Machine” poker match, held in Vancouver, Canada, recently.
Given the advanced nature of the technology developed by scientists at the University of Alberta in Canada, it was up to two of the poker world’s biggest names to take up the challenge, with Ali Eslami and Phil “the Unabomber” Laak playing four hands against Polaris.
With the pair in separate rooms and with the computer playing both simultaneously and every effort made to reduce the element of luck, the first round of around 500 hands ended in a draw, with Polaris then taking the second.
However, after the programmers tweaked their computer, the pros went on to win the two remaining rounds and walk away with a £50,000 prize.
“We won, not by a significant amount, and the bots are closing in,” Mr Laak told the New York Times.
“I literally felt the same feeling that you would have if you beat 500 people in a tournament and won $1m.”
With the Canadian team having already produced an unbeatable draughts-playing programme, they are confident that their time will come.