Gadget Metro

Here’s hoping that is not the last time we would read that headline. Sadly, it may not be much longer before that is an afterthought. See, softwares have become more sophisticated and intelligent since its inception. Poker players almost learned it the hard way.

In a contest dubbed “First Man-Machine Poker Championship”, two professional poker players were pitted against Polaris, the nickname given to the computer program. However, the real story of the contest was just how close Polaris almost won it. In one round, the computer player won decisively. Fortunately for Phil Laak and Ali Eslami, they barely edged out their opponent by $570. Whew.

To minimize the luck of the draw, this week’s games were set up so that cards were dealt to the computer vs. human in one match and the same cards were dealt to the human vs. the computer in the other match. Thus, the human in one game was playing the same cards that the computer was dealt in the other game. Brilliant, if you ask us.

The poker professionals later paid high esteem to the program.

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Polaris, Phil Laak, Ali Eslam

[image from: sawf.org]