Two research teams taught their AIs to beat pros at poker

Poker-playing bots aren't exactly new -- just ask anyone who's tried to win a little cash on PokerStars -- but two different groups of researchers are setting their sights a little higher. To no one's surprise, those AI buffs are trying to teach their algorithms how to beat world-class Texas Hold'em players, and they're juuuust about there. In a paper (PDF) published on January 6, a team of collaborators from the University of Alberta, Charles University and the Czech Technical University claimed that their DeepStack AI is the "the first computer program to beat professional poker players in heads-up no-limit Texas hold'em". That confident (but not yet peer-reviewed) proclamation on the heels of a string of victories against high-level human players -- in total, 44,852 hands were played against 33 players recruited by the International Federation of Poker. Well, "string" might not be the right word; it sounds like the human players were basically routed.