A computer poker player (poker bot) is a program that plays poker games against human players as well as other computer players in order to benefit one party.
Bots or computer programs are frequently used in an online poker game to replace human players or as a form of cheating in poker (cheating), which is usually recognized by the poker room that provides the real poker game.
The use of player bots and computer assistance when playing online poker is a hotly debated topic. When it comes to determining which types of computer software are unfair advantages, players' opinions vary greatly. The interface activity with the poker client (in other words, playing by itself) without the assistance of a human operator is one of the main factors in determining whether they are against a computer program or not. Autoplayers are computer programs that have this capability and are universally classified as bots, regardless of how well they play poker.
This issue of unfair advantage is heavily influenced by the type of information and artificial intelligence available to computer programs. Furthermore, bots can play for hours on end without tiring and can survive naturally in a wide range of games without being influenced by human emotions. Bots, on the other hand, have some significant drawbacks, such as the inability of bots to accurately read the opponent's moves or adapt to the opponent's strategy as humans can.
Bots are generally not permitted on poker sites. The extent of the prohibition is determined by the site operator. Some websites will actively seek out and ban bot users using various software. Client poker can be programmed to detect bots, but this is debatable and may equate to embedding spyware in client software. Another approach is to use a CAPTCHA at random intervals during gameplay.
The topic of home bots is even more contentious because the conflict of interest can be confusing. A home bot is a player who is operated automatically by the online poker room itself. However, there are some indirect examples of being a good "house bot" (for example, a bot operating as a player with operator knowledge and approval). These bots would be comparable to a gambler's brick and mortar.
The house player does not lose out on the fairness of the games available in a brick and mortar casino as long as the house player plays honestly. The same is true in online settings. By definition, an honest online poker room that allows the house bot to operate will ensure that the bot house has no access to any information and is not also available to every other player in the hand (the same will apply to every human gambler). The issue is that there is no way to prove that their bots are not receiving sensitive information from the card server in the home online settings. This is exacerbated by the ease with which it can be accomplished in a digital environment without detection. Finding the house bots, let alone proving that they are not using home players, is nearly impossible; the only real way to do so would be to reveal the confidential personal information of every player, which obviously cannot be done due to privacy concerns.
Because poker is a game of imperfect information (because some of the cards in play are hidden), no one (including the computer) can predict the outcome of the hand. Due to a lack of information, computer programmers are forced to implement systems based on Bayes' theorem, Nash equilibrium, Monte Carlo simulations, or neural networks, which are all imperfect techniques. Unlike in chess, where no information is hidden, the computer can play with greater accuracy than humans.
Methods developed to approximate perfect poker strategy from a game theory standpoint in heads-up (two-player) games, and ever-improving systems developed for multi-player games. In this context, the perfect strategy can mean a variety of things. From the standpoint of game theory, the perfect strategy is one that cannot hope to lose to the strategy of another player; however, the optimal strategy may vary in the presence of sub-optimal players who have weaknesses that can be exploited. In this case, the ideal strategy would be one that accurately or closely models the weaknesses and exploits them to generate profits, as described above.
The GAMES group at the University of Alberta, led by Jonathan Schaeffer, the creator of Poki and PsOpti, is conducting extensive research into computer poker players. The STACKED poker player entertainment game featuring Canadian Daniel Negreanu has licensed the Poki Machine. "PsOpti" is available in the "Poker Academy" training program under the name "SparBot."
The ACM Competition
ACM has organized a competition in which competitors must submit actual software to be able to play poker on their specific platform. The event host team manages everything, including contest administration and results reporting. (Citations, references, and links are required.)
2005 World Series of Poker Robots
The online poker room Golden Palace hosted a promotional tournament in Las Vegas, in old Binions, in the summer of 2005, with a take-home prize of $100,000. It's known as the 2005 World Series of Poker Robots. This is a bot-only tournament with no entry fee. The bot developers are computer scientists from six different countries who are traveling on their own dime. The platform that houses the Poker Academy. The event also included a headsup demonstration with Phil Laak.
Human vs. Experimental Machine at the University of Arizona
At the AAAI conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in the summer of 2007, the University of Alberta hosted a very special heads-up tournament between humans and their Polaris bot. The University of Alberta created the hosting platform. There is a maximum giveaway bag of $50,000 with special rules to encourage humans to play well. Humans do not have to pay the entrance fee. The tournament is unique in that it has four duplicate style sessions of 500 hands each. Humans won by razor-thin margins.
The University of Alberta and poker coaching website Stoxpoker held their second tournament during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in the summer of 2008. The tournament includes six duplicate sessions of 500 hands each, with the human players specializing in Heads-Up Limit. Polaris won the tournament with three wins, two losses, and one tie. The tournament results, including hand histories for each match, are available on the competition website.
Annual Computer Poker Competition
Since 2006, the Annual Computer Poker Competition has held a series of poker program competitions. As of 2009, there are three types of poker: Limit Texas Hold'em, No Limit Texas Hold'em, and 3-player Limit Texas Hold'em There are two winners in each event: the agent who wins the most matches and the agent who wins the most money. These winners are frequently not the same agent, as one evaluation awards a strong player and another awards a good player to capitalize on the mistakes of other agents. These competitions are motivated by scientific research, and there is an emphasis on running millions of poker hands to ensure that all outcomes are statistically significant.
