You can’t win a game of poker from this computer program
Even if you have a pair of aces or a big slick in each hand, according to researchers at a Canadian university, the chances are zero that you will ever beat their computer program in a game of Heads Up Limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker.
The researchers from the Canadian University of Alberta, among others, claim in the scientific journal Science that they have solved this variant of Texas Hold ‘Em, in which two players play against each other. Now that is not entirely true, because every now and then the program will bet or fold, but conclude afterwards that it could have done better.
It is striking that the program called Cepheus also tackles bluffing mathematically. With the same cards in hand and on the table, the program does not always do the same. With a bad hand it sometimes makes a bet, but other times it chooses to fold.
It’s not the first time a computer program has gotten better at a game than even the best human players. This has already happened with chess and checkers, but it is different with poker. Not all elements are visible in that game, because both the opponent’s cards and some cards on the table are not visible at the start of the hand. That’s why the researchers also focused the program on a form of poker with only a single opponent. With multiple opponents, the program would have to look for more complex solutions.
The researchers trained the poker software by playing it against itself and then analyzing those games. They think the program could also be useful outside of poker, but they don’t know exactly what that will look like.
There is another consolation for people who are not very good at poker. The program has trouble with weaker players, because the strategy of the program is too conservative to win big.
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This hand is not enough to beat this advanced computer program