LONDON: Get ready for some for computer vs. human action as a computer poker software developed at Carnegie Mellon University will challenge four of the world’s best professional poker players – Doug Polk, Dong Kim, Bjorn Li and Jason Les – in a “Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence” competition beginning April 24 at Rivers Casino.
The software dubbed, Claudico, will play 20,000 hands of Heads-Up No-limit Texas Hold’em with each of the four poker professionals. The pros will receive appearance fees derived from a prize purse of $100,000 donated by Microsoft Research and by Rivers Casino. The Carnegie Mellon scientists will compete for something more precious.
“Poker is now a benchmark for artificial intelligence research, just as chess once was,” said Tuomas Sandholm, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon who has led development of Claudico. “It’s a game of exceeding complexity that requires a machine to make decisions based on incomplete and often misleading information, thanks to bluffing, slow play and other decoys. And to win, the machine has to out-smart its human opponents.
“Computing the world’s strongest strategies for this game was a major achievement — with the algorithms having future applications in business, military, cybersecurity and medical arenas,” Sandholm said.
