Artificial Intelligence Enters the Online Casino Poker
Industry
Developments in computer technology could just take online casino poker to the
next level with new artificial intelligence programming that will enable
computer programs the ability to bluff in internet poker games. Scientists have
found a new way to program the “bots” (term for computer programs that play
games with players) so that they play the game in a more realistic manner more
akin to what players would encounter outside of the online casino industry.
Bluffing is often consider an essential part to successfully playing poker – be
it at online casinos or face-to-face – which means that when playing against the
computer, real players were always at an advantage because they had the ability
to think beyond merely statistical calculation. But now scientists in
Johannesburg, South Africa, at the University of Witwatersrand, have found a way
to program the bots based on a neural network algorithm.
Evan Hurwitz is one of the leading scientists on the project, and he explains
why the traditional computer programs could be a thing of the past for online
casino gamblers. He comments, “Computers are programmed to perform the best
strategy, but bluffing is based on unexpected, illogical actions.” The algorithm
he uses for the new bots is taken from stock market predictions. And rather than
program the bots with the poker rules prior to paying the game, the program
allowed the bots to infer the rules of the game by actually playing poker hands
with the other bots. And since the bots were not bound by performing the
statistically “best” possible way, within no time the scientist were amazed to
see that the computers were able to figure out that bluffing increased the odds
at winning against the other bots.
This could mean some serious changes for online casino poker players – it looks
like the scientists have just raised the bar and the internet poker fans will
just have to adjust if this technology ever reaches the mainstream population.
|