Boom of Artificial Intelligence in Poker World

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has been unravelling its footprints in the poker industry. Scientists from across the globe are experimenting to develop an authentic Artificial Intelligence that will be capable of playing poker. The world has already experienced many significant breakthroughs in AI industry. Alexa and Siri are famous AI assistants in the world. Tesla car, a self driving car, is another great example of AI.

The game of online poker involves loads of incomplete information which makes the game quite complex like many real life situations; and this is the key reason that AI departments of big universities are playing around with poker. 

This is not for the first time that AI will be used in gaming industry. Did you know IBM's Deep Blue developed by Carnegie Mellon University beat Garry Kasparov, chess world champion in the re-match in 1997? And Google AlphaGo AI won the game GO by defeating the best player Lee Sedol.

Artificial Intelligence faces its own sort of problems when dealing with online poker games. Here’s what the AI technology has to prevail over:

AI	Poker
Imperfect Knowledge	-  Opponent's hands are hidden
Risk Management	-  Betting strategies and their consequences
Agent Modelling	-  Identifying opponent patterns and exploiting them
Deception	-  Bluffing and varying style of play
Unreliable Information	- Handling your opponents deceptive plays

Significant Achievements of Poker AI 

• 1984-The basic poker AI software Orac was created by Mike Caro to compete in WSOP
• 1997 - UoA released Loki-poker AI focused on Limit Hold'em variation
• 2003 - Poker AI developers began to shift from the Chess methodology model
• 2009 - University of Auckland introduces Sartes
• 2012 - Bellagio casino in Las Vegas installed a US$2 / US$4 Limit Hold'em bot that everyone could play against
• 2015 - Limit Hold'em is solved by Cepheus poker bot developed by University of Alberta
• 2016 - Many AIs took part of in ACPC (Annual Computer Poker Competition). To name a few, Slumbot by former Google engineer Eric Jackson and Act 1 (finished second in the Instant Runoff Competition) by a CMU Ph.D student
• 2017 - Deepstack AI bot from University of Alberta which can beat poker pros; and a mystery AI from CMU crushes best poker players

Benefits of Poker AI over Human 

• AI doesn’t make bad decisions when tired.
• AI is a risk taker, it doesn’t value money - if it has a 10% chance of winning US$ 20000 against a 90% of winning nothing or a guaranteed US$ 1999, it will always take the 10% risk.
• AI has no emotions and is unaffected by tilt.
• AI can identify specific weaknesses in players.
• AI is better than online bots as it follows balanced, non-exploitative approach. 

Future Trends of AI in Poker Circuit

So far, Libratus has emerged as a poker AI that has out bluffed the best players. In 2017, Libratus, a heads-up AI by CMU made the most decisive blow in the history of human versus poker AI. Libratus beat 4 best players and won at a rate of US$ 14.72 per hand. The challenge lasted for 120,000 hands wherein each hand started with 20,000 chips with the 50/100 blinds. This extraordinary poker AI relies on an algorithm that computes the strategy, randomizes its actions to make opponents uncertain of when it is bluffing, and analyzes its own play every night and corrects mistakes, playing differently each day. 

The next challenge for poker AI is to play against multiple players all at once. AI is capable to ram in 20,000 years of human work every week as electronic circuits function a million times faster than biochemical ones. AI will offer an extra layer of security because cyber security is expected to boost big data, intelligence, and analytics spending to US$ 96 billion by 2021.

The Ultimate Question: Is Poker a Game of Skills or Luck?

From the past few years, the popularity of online Poker in India is increasing at a tremendous rate. While the game has been around for decades, it has started gaining momentum after the advent of the internet. The technology has made it possible for people to play this highly entertaining card game online as per their convenient timings.

The game appeals to adrenaline-junkies and challenge-seekers who love to test their gaming prowess. Still, some people perceive it as a game based on luck. It may seem hard to believe, but it’s true that many of us don’t consider Poker playing a good mental exercise.

The wrong perception about the nature of the game is still holding people from experiencing the unlimited full and thrill involved in it.  Here, we are going to dispel the most common myth that prevails among the masses that Poker is a chance-based game.  

In reality, Poker is a game of maths, logic, and probability. In India, people paint Poker and other casino games like roulette, craps, or slot machines, etc with the same brush. Luck-based games are those games where a player cannot influence the outcome of the game in any way. In Poker, your winning completely depends on your ability to read your opponents and apply your understanding of mathematical concepts at the game table. You can win once or twice due to luck, but to survive at the game table for a long time, you have to learn how to make quick decisions based on your hand strength, table position, chip stack, table image and opponent’s level of skills. Even if you are dealt with a poor/average cards, you can still manage to beat opponents and win the hand if you implement critical thinking, patience, and strategies in the game. As you cannot see your opponent’s cards, you have to observe your opponent’s body language, playing style, and betting pattern to predict how he is going to make his next move. You have to develop strategies on the basis of the dynamic situation at the game table to outplay your opponents and win the pot.

Unlike a chance-based game, experience matters a lot in Poker. You have to understand the concepts of human behavior, money management, time management, probability, and deception. You must acquire the theoretical knowledge as well as the practical experience of playing the game before investing real money at the tables. The more you practice, the more your game improves.

Poker is played between players of varying skill-sets and experiences. To maintain your edge in the game, you have to learn every aspect of the game thoroughly and update yourself with the latest playing styles and techniques. Being a successful Poker player also requires reviewing your game consistently to identify the strongest and weakest points in your gameplay. You have to spot the mistakes you made at the game table to find out their causes and eliminate them permanently.

The facts associated with the game need to be highlighted in order to spread awareness about the true character of Poker. Never let the myths stop you from following what you love to do.

You can easily create an account on a gaming site to play Poker games online on your smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. Poker apps are also available to install on your Android or iOS devices. The game is available in Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Hold’em ++, Crazy Pineapple variants.