CMU Artificial Intelligence Is Tough Poker Player -CMU News - Carnegie Mellon University

Artificial Intelligence: Upping the Ante" poker competition nears its halfway point, Carnegie Mellon University's AI program, called Libratus, is opening a lead over its human opponents -- four of the world's best professional poker players. Libratus had amassed a lead of $459,154 in chips in the 49,240 hands played by the end of Day Nine. One of the pros, Jimmy Chou, said he and his colleagues initially underestimated Libratus, but have come to regard it as one tough player. "The bot gets better and better every day," Chou said. AI, which began Jan. 11 at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, pits Chou and three other leading players -- Dong Kim, Jason Les and Daniel McAulay -- against Libratus in a 20-day contest in which they will play 120,000 hands of Heads-Up, No-Limit Texas Hold'em poker. All four pros specialize in this two-player, unlimited bid form of Texas Hold'em and are considered among the world's top players of the game. While the pros are fighting for humanity's pride -- and shares of a $200,000 prize purse -- Carnegie Mellon researchers are hoping their computer program will establish a new benchmark for artificial intelligence by besting some of the world's most talented players. Libratus was developed by Tuomas Sandholm, professor of computer science, and his Ph.D. student, Noam Brown. Libratus is being used in this contest to play poker, an imperfect information game that requires the AI to bluff and correctly interpret misleading information to win. Ultimately programs like Libratus also could be used to negotiate business deals, set military strategy or plan a course of medical treatment -- all cases that involve complicated decisions based on imperfect information. AI contest in 2015, four leading pros amassed more chips than the AI, called Claudico. But Sandholm said he's feeling good about Libratus' chances as the competition proceeds. "The algorithms are performing great.