Human vs machine as top poker pros take on AI

IT'S humans versus machine at the Rivers casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Four professional poker players are squaring up to an artificial intelligence over two weeks, duking it out by playing a total of 80,000 hands of poker for a $100,000 cash prize.
This may turn out to be the latest instalment in a grand tradition of computers beating us at our own games. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue computer famously beat chess great Garry Kasparov. Four years ago, IBM's Watson took part in the TV quiz show Jeopardy! and crushed two contestants with a strong track record. AI has even mastered the popular smartphone game 2048.
Still, poker is a tough nut to crack. In a game like chess, everyone knows where all the pieces are on the board. By contrast, poker is a game of imperfect information: players don't know for sure what cards the others hold or what will come up next in the deck. That makes it a challenge for any player, human or computer, to choose the right play.


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