BRotD - Entry 0246 - Artificial Intelligence - Computers Playing Poker (and winning)

Best Reading of the Day

AI is certainly a subject we'll be hearing a lot about, now, and very soon.

Like card games?  How about Poker?

That game has been a real barrier for computers over the years because of the uncertainty, and the "bluff" factor that coincides.  No more, thanks to Artificial Intelligence.

What you say?  This isn't relevant to me?  Yes it is.  AI will soon be fueling all kinds of things, such as automating jobs (eliminating jobs) around factories and warehouses, etc. If you are part of the public that thinks trade is eliminating jobs in this country you really need to look at AI.  It is and will continue to be the real job killer.  Only going to accelerate.

This is a good read:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-31/inside-the-20-year-quest-to-build-computers-that-play-poker

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Four of the best professional poker players in the world spent most of January holed up at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, losing. They’d show up before 11 am, wearing sweatpants and stylish sneakers, and sit down in front of computer screens. Each of them was supposed to play 1,500 hands of heads-up no limit Texas Hold ‘Em online before they could go back to the hotel for the night. This often meant working past 10 p.m. Over the course of the day, Starbucks cups and water bottles piled up next to the players's keyboards. Chipotle bags lay at their feet.

Every time one of the players made a move, the action was transmitted to a computer server sitting five miles away at Carnegie Mellon University.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE** This headline caught my eye as a great supplement to the story I provided above:
A Mystery AI Just Crushed the Best Human Players at Poker
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/mystery-ai-just-crushed-best-human-players-poker/