U Alberta Researchers Pit AI Program Against Card Sharks

A team of computer science researchers at the University of Alberta are pitting Polaris, their poker-playing computer program, against two of the best Texas Hold 'em card players in the hemisphere. The purse is $50,000 in the 2,000-hand match between card sharks Phil Laak and Ali Eslami and the Alberta team, led by Jonathan Schaeffer.

Schaefer, who headed the team that created Polaris, said the poker is meant to be fun but also to test the limits of artificial intelligence in the dynamic, idiosyncratic world of card gambling.

"We have developed a format that has helped us factor out luck and make it into a scientific experiment to determine how good humans are relative to the best program in the world," Schaeffer told the Canadian Press. "The goal is to eventually produce a poker program that is stronger than all human players."

The match will be played July 23 and 24 in conjunction with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference in Vancouver.

Polaris represents several computer programs with different characteristics. One variant learns from the strengths and weaknesses of other players and adjusts its tactics--such as bluffing--accordingly.

"There is a mathematically optimal rate at which you should bluff," Schaeffer said. "Computers can calculate that. Humans don't understand the mathematics of poker. If they bluff too much, you can exploit them and win money."

Read More:

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • minimalist digital network with glowing interconnected lines and nodes

    Integration Brings Cerebras Inference Capabilities to Hugging Face Hub

    AI hardware company Cerebras has teamed up with Hugging Face, the open source platform and community for machine learning, to integrate its inference capabilities into the Hugging Face Hub.

  • Abstract geometric shapes including hexagons, circles, and triangles in blue, silver, and white

    Google Launches Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet

    Google has introduced Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental, a new artificial intelligence model designed to reason through problems before delivering answers, a shift that marks a major leap in AI capability, according to the company.

  • illustration of a futuristic building labeled "AI & Innovation," featuring circuit board patterns and an AI brain motif, surrounded by geometric trees and a simplified sky

    Cal Poly Pomona Launches AI and Innovation Center

    In an effort to advance AI innovation, foster community engagement, and prepare students for careers in STEM fields and business, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona has teamed up with AI, cloud, and advisory services provider Avanade to launch a new Avanade AI & Innovation Center.

  • chart with ascending bars and two silhouetted figures observing it, set against a light background with blue and purple tones

    Report: Enterprises Embracing Agentic AI

    According to research by SnapLogic, 50% of enterprises are already deploying AI agents, and another 32% plan to do so within the next 12 months..