Subj : Re: AI & Poker
To   : comp.programming
From : Scott McPhillips [MVP]
Date : Tue Jul 05 2005 11:22 pm

jawon wrote:
> Is it possible to write a program that could play poker?  Kind of like
> a Deep Blue version of Chess but for poker.  In the game of texas
> holdem for example this program would have to assess the flop, turn and
> the river in comparison with the hole cards on the screen and act call,
> bet, fold, raise accordingly also taking into consideration the actions
> of the other players in the hand.  How hard would it be to write such a
> program?
> 

Computing the probability of having the winning hand is easy.  In fact, 
some of the TV shows display those probabilities on the screen as soon 
as each card is shown.

But, but, but... what is the optimum betting strategy?  Human players 
use psychology, and observation of the other player's behavior, as well 
as observation of the other player's history and current bankroll.  This 
is judgment.  In fact, if the computer's strategy was algorithmic then 
expert human players could probably guess the computer's strength by how 
it bets.  There are imponderables here, as well as important variables 
that are not in the cards.

-- 
Scott McPhillips [VC++ MVP]

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