Claudico

Claudico is an artificial intelligence computer program designed to play no limit Texas hold 'em heads-up.

Claudico was designed by Carnegie Mellon professor Tuomas Sandholm and his graduate students. The name means "limp" in Latin, a reference to limping into a hand without raising – a strategy the bot employs often.[1] Instead of having a professional poker player attempt to explain his strategy to the programming team, Sandholm had to computer attempt to devise the best strategy on its own. The task was so complicated that it necessitated the such of a Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Blacklight supercomputer with 16 terrabytes of RAM to complete.[2]

In explaining his motivation for designing the bot, Sandholm said "Poker is now a benchmark for artificial intelligence research, just as chess once was. 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."[3]

Originally called Tartanian, a version of the program won a July 2014 tournament against other computer programs.[3]

Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence

From April 24 until May 8, 2015, Claudico is participation in an event at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the event, the bot will face each of four top human opponents – Dong Kim, Jason Les, Bjorn Li, and Doug Polk – in a series of heads-up matches.[3] Polk is currently the world's number one ranked heads-up player.[1]

Each day will feature two 750 matches over 8 hours (plus breaks) against each of the humans for a total of 20,000 hands per player over the course of 13 days (with one rest day in the middle).[1][2] For each 750 hand set, the same hands are dealt to one human taking on Claudico on the main casino floor and another battling the computer in an isolation room, with the hole cards reversed.[4] This is done to insure that card luck is not a factor in the overall outcome. The 80,000 hand sample will represent the largest ever human–computer data set. Claudio will be able to adjust to its opponents strategy as matches progress, just as the humans can.[2] The match winner will be determined by the overall chip count after 80,000 hands; although individual results are being kept for the four pros, they are competing as a single team. If the final chip count is too close for the difference to be statistically meaningful, the match will be declared a draw.[4]

The tournament carries a $100,000 prize pool, funded by Rivers Casino and Microsoft. The casino set up stands and video screens for the public to watch the action live.[1] Additionaly, the matches are being broadcast online via Twitch.tv.[3]

Entering the event, Sandholm estimated that Claudico had a 50–50 chance to win.[3] Polk, however, was confident the humans had the edge.[2] He acknowledged that computer would likely surpass human play eventually but said "I hope we can make them go a few more rounds after this before they do, like Kasparov did."[1] He said his strategy would "change more so than when playing against human players ... I think there will be less hand reading so to speak, and less mind games."[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Sean D. Hamill (April 24, 2015). "Who's got the upper hand? Poker computer program pits man against machine". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tim Fiorvanti (April 24, 2015). "Brains vs. AI: Poker’s Top Heads-Up Pros Take on Computer Program in Two Week Challenge". Bluff. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Marilyn Malara (April 25, 2015). "Brains vs. AI: Computer faces poker pros in no-limit Texas Hold'em". UPI. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence". Rivers Casino. Retrieved April 26, 2015.

External links