The game of
poker (or at least most of the variants) is considered
to be
computationally intractable. However, methods are being
developed to at least approximate perfect strategy from the
combinatorial game theory perspective in the heads-up
(two player) game, and increasingly good systems are being
created for the multi-player or
ring game. Perfect strategy has multiple meanings in
this context. From a game-theoretic optimal point of view, a
perfect strategy is a
minimax one that cannot expect to lose to any other
player's strategy; however, optimal strategy can vary in the
presence of sub-optimal players who have weaknesses that can
be exploited. In this case, a perfect strategy would be one
that correctly or closely models those weaknesses and takes
advantage of them to make a profit. Some of these systems
are based on
Bayes theorem, Nash equilibrium, Monte Carlo simulation and
Neural networks. A large amount of the research is being
done at the University of Alberta by the GAMES group led by
Jonathan Schaeffer who developed Poki and PsOpt. The Poki
engine has been licensed for the entertainment game STACKED
featuring Canadian poker player Daniel Negreanu.
One major aspect of poker is being a
game of
imperfect information. Some cards in play are concealed, so
the players cannot deduce the exact state the game is in.
This fundamentally differs from games like chess where all information about the game's current
state is public. A major part of the skill of live poker
games, however, is guessing at the strength of a player's
hand by identifying
tells made by other players, while concealing one's own.
As a computer would not make any physical tells, playing
against a computer would necessitate reading tells only from
the bets placed. Once the 'mind' of the computer is known it
can exploited.
Although you cannot read a computer opponent, playing
against computer opponents can still help you sharpen your
skills by learning how to count outs and play the
percentages. With the advancing technology of artificial
intelligence, computer players can be created to incorporate
bluffs and other human-like decisions.
Pokerbots are
bots or computer programs that play
online poker disguised as a human opponent. Online poker
rooms prohibit the use of bots like
WinHoldEm.
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