Botman
01-19-2003, 02:31 PM
I want to thank 2+2, particularly David, Mason and Jim Brier, and Tommy Angelo and Izmet, and many others for their wonderful insights, which have helped me improve my Bot so much, especially recently.
For example, betting or calling instead of folding:
1. On the river: Early versions of the Bot, which used some simulations and also some knowledge gleaned from Wilson and from my own play, simply folded way too much on the river, especially Heads Up. I changed the code to rarely fold Heads Up, unless very very very sure that it is beaten. This has helped the program immensely, picking up pots for one big bet which it would have folded before. This adds up.
2. Check Raising: I rewrote both regular code and tables to check raise way more, after reading some of David's writings. Thanks David! It sometimes check raises to protect its hand, sometimes with a monster, and I do not even know which is which (there is randomness); maybe this is AI, but mostly it is very strong, confusing the opponent,
picking up pots, and building pots when strong too.
3. Special situations: There are many situations where a bet can pickup a pot and has wonderful odds because the opponents have said 'I am weak'. There is a 'special situation' section of code now, and it is amazing to me how the Bot picks up pots by just betting out with ANY cards.
4. Seeing more turns (and pot odds) or 'the size of the pot': I read some of the many problems posted here by David and Mason (isn't Mason always saying 'pot size matters') and others over the past year, and I saw a pattern of seeing many more turns with odds that don't look obviously good, but which are. My Bot sees many more turns now, and instead of folding for one small bet, when it knows it has proper odds, it sees (or even bets) non-obvious situations and tries to win very large pots.
Those were all -- "since I am seeing so few flops, lets be more aggressive when staying in."
Now for a difference:
5. Folding when beaten: There are a number of situations, especially online, given the texture of the game, where you must fold. Many people have written about this over the months on the 'Internet' Forum here, and I added code for this; like getting check raised on the turn with a vulnerable hand or a difficult board and no outs. Wilson will play on. Many humans will play on and sigh when they lose. The Bot just gives up (a generally small pot) when the opponent is screaming 'I am strong'. (special situation code). I just reread this and it sounds like Poker Kindergarten, but I don't think it is.
While 1-4 talk about 'betting or calling instead of folding' and 5 is about folding, there is #6:
6. Jim's book: Look, I have every 2+2 book, goes without saying, right? But Jim's book helped in a different way. I went through the book looking for 'what does the bot do'.
I went through every problem. I found that it helped a lot. I also found, by trial and error, that sometimes it caused me to program to be too passive. I fixed those. Wow, I think the book is excellent, especially for my purposes.
Way to go Jim.
Anyway, I think that looking into these in one's own game would be very useful. And I want to add some things which a Bot can do which is very hard for a human -->
1. It never gets impatient: I get impatient -- my AA gets cracked by 42o, I see more flops. I just do. Many people do too. My bot doesn't.
2. It never tilts: My AA gets cracked 3 times, I start to play badly, I just do. I have seen excellent players lose control when people draw out on them. My Bot never tilts.
Happy Poker,
Botman /forums/images/icons/club.gif
For example, betting or calling instead of folding:
1. On the river: Early versions of the Bot, which used some simulations and also some knowledge gleaned from Wilson and from my own play, simply folded way too much on the river, especially Heads Up. I changed the code to rarely fold Heads Up, unless very very very sure that it is beaten. This has helped the program immensely, picking up pots for one big bet which it would have folded before. This adds up.
2. Check Raising: I rewrote both regular code and tables to check raise way more, after reading some of David's writings. Thanks David! It sometimes check raises to protect its hand, sometimes with a monster, and I do not even know which is which (there is randomness); maybe this is AI, but mostly it is very strong, confusing the opponent,
picking up pots, and building pots when strong too.
3. Special situations: There are many situations where a bet can pickup a pot and has wonderful odds because the opponents have said 'I am weak'. There is a 'special situation' section of code now, and it is amazing to me how the Bot picks up pots by just betting out with ANY cards.
4. Seeing more turns (and pot odds) or 'the size of the pot': I read some of the many problems posted here by David and Mason (isn't Mason always saying 'pot size matters') and others over the past year, and I saw a pattern of seeing many more turns with odds that don't look obviously good, but which are. My Bot sees many more turns now, and instead of folding for one small bet, when it knows it has proper odds, it sees (or even bets) non-obvious situations and tries to win very large pots.
Those were all -- "since I am seeing so few flops, lets be more aggressive when staying in."
Now for a difference:
5. Folding when beaten: There are a number of situations, especially online, given the texture of the game, where you must fold. Many people have written about this over the months on the 'Internet' Forum here, and I added code for this; like getting check raised on the turn with a vulnerable hand or a difficult board and no outs. Wilson will play on. Many humans will play on and sigh when they lose. The Bot just gives up (a generally small pot) when the opponent is screaming 'I am strong'. (special situation code). I just reread this and it sounds like Poker Kindergarten, but I don't think it is.
While 1-4 talk about 'betting or calling instead of folding' and 5 is about folding, there is #6:
6. Jim's book: Look, I have every 2+2 book, goes without saying, right? But Jim's book helped in a different way. I went through the book looking for 'what does the bot do'.
I went through every problem. I found that it helped a lot. I also found, by trial and error, that sometimes it caused me to program to be too passive. I fixed those. Wow, I think the book is excellent, especially for my purposes.
Way to go Jim.
Anyway, I think that looking into these in one's own game would be very useful. And I want to add some things which a Bot can do which is very hard for a human -->
1. It never gets impatient: I get impatient -- my AA gets cracked by 42o, I see more flops. I just do. Many people do too. My bot doesn't.
2. It never tilts: My AA gets cracked 3 times, I start to play badly, I just do. I have seen excellent players lose control when people draw out on them. My Bot never tilts.
Happy Poker,
Botman /forums/images/icons/club.gif