do you think a computer can play poker?

[blaze666]

i wouldn't say now. the ps3 is still only 1% as powerful as the uman brain. but someday.

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
well zetack, according to ian pierson, of the 'futureology' department, at BT, the PS3 will be about 1% as powerul as a human brain. by 2050, he predicts that a computer will be able to carry out as many functions as a human brain. although, they thought we'd be going on holiday to the moon by now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but the computer "brain" doesn't have to be making its heart beat, monitering the production of endorphins, or checking out the tits on the waitress, while wondering what would be a good snack....it would just have to process poker decisions.

Ok, fine, a computer has only 1% of the power of my brain. But ya know what, I bet if you asked a compter to mulitply 1,343,786,900,111 by 8,336,896,412,001 it would come up with the answer a whole lot faster than me. In fact I couldn't come up with the answer without paper and a pencil and even then if I did it five times the odds of me getting the same answer all five times is vanishingly small.
Do you see why this 1% argument doesn't really convince me when it comes to whether a computer could play high level poker?

And to the posts that kind of diss computer's chess playing ability, when a computer has beatent the human world champion I'd say its playing at a pretty high level. But what do I know, I'm not a chess player.

--Zetack

[jtr]

[ QUOTE ]
i wouldn't say now. the ps3 is still only 1% as powerful as the uman brain. but someday.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blaze, will you please not take that stuff too seriously? As someone with passing familiarity with cognitive science and BT's futurology department, I can confidently assure you that Ian Pierson talks a lot of BS.

Regarding your original question: I'd rather lend my bankroll to a well-constructed computer program than I would to about 99.5% of poker players out there.

[OrangeKing]

[ QUOTE ]
And to the posts that kind of diss computer's chess playing ability, when a computer has beatent the human world champion I'd say its playing at a pretty high level. But what do I know, I'm not a chess player.

--Zetack

[/ QUOTE ]

And don't think he was trying to "diss" computer chess programs, but despite their amazing strength, they have glaring, huge weaknesses in certain areas too.

And a computer hasn't beaten a world champion in a match in 8 years now...it seems like the pattern is "human wins early game or two, takes lead, computer comes back to tie, match ends in draw." [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[blaze666]

yeah, that why i said that they thought we'd be taking holidays on the moon by now. im never trust anyone that says by the year x we will be able to do so and so, because they made all these wacky predictions in the 70's that never came true.

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
And a computer hasn't beaten a world champion in a match in 8 years now...it seems like the pattern is "human wins early game or two, takes lead, computer comes back to tie, match ends in draw." [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

That's still a pretty high level of play wouldn't you say?

Notice the OP didn't ask about whether a computer could play as well or better than the best poker player in the world, and I merely said I'd expect it to be able to play at an expert level.

--Zetack

[danzasmack]

I have thought about this for some time. The only game I think a computer would play would be 7 card stud. Hold 'em, i feel, relies on less calculation. You are given 3 starting cards in stud, running a simulation over a certain # hands will give a computer an EV for just about every starting hand. Based on the bet coming to the computer and the amount in the pot the computer can make a call, raise or fold - also accounting the probabilty of making a winning hand based on the winning % of those hands and the probability of your oppponent getting a certain hand. Basically, since you see the most cards in this game, i feel it favors a computer more.

thoughts?

[obisponator]

To any of you non-believers our there, below is a link of a paper written by 4 professors at the University of Alberta who wrote a computer program that plays world class poker. Hope this answers your question.

http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~duane/pdf/2002aij.pdf

[Sarge85]

I would imagie a computer could play near perfect weak tight poker.

Sarge[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

[jtr]

Hey, Sarge.

I see your point, but if you take a look at the Alberta work, you'll find that some of the strategies they developed, particularly the heads-up ones, are near-on psychotically aggressive. Very uncomfortable to play against.