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Methods are being developed to at least approximate perfect poker strategy from the combinatorial game theory perspective in the heads-up (two player) game, and increasingly good systems are being created for the multi-player game. Perfect strategy has multiple meanings in this context. From a game-theoretic optimal point of view, a perfect strategy is a one that cannot expect to lose to any other player's strategy; however, optimal strategy can vary in the presence of sub-optimal players who have weaknesses that can be exploited. In this case, a perfect strategy would be one that correctly or closely models those weaknesses and takes advantage of them to make a profit. Some of these systems are based on Bayes theorem, Nash equilibrium, Monte Carlo simulation and Neural networks. A large amount of the research is being done at the University of Alberta by the GAMES group led by Jonathan Schaeffer who developed Poki and PsOpti. The Poki engine has been licensed for the entertainment game STACKED featuring Canadian poker player Daniel Negreanu. "PsOpti" is available under the name "SparBot" in the poker training program "Poker Academy". Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Mathematicians playing Konane at a Combinatorial game theory workshop (for technical content, see external link) This article is on the theory of combinatorial games. ... Bayes theorem is a result in probability theory, which gives the conditional probability distribution of a random variable A given B in terms of the conditional probability distribution of variable B given A and the marginal probability distribution of A alone. ... In game theory, the Nash equilibrium (named after John Forbes Nash, who proposed it) is a kind of solution concept of a game involving two or more players, where no player has anything to gain by changing only his or her own strategy unilaterally. ... Monte Carlo methods are algorithms for solving various kinds of computational problems by using random numbers (or more often pseudo-random numbers), as opposed to deterministic algorithms. ... A neural network is an interconnected group of neurons. ... The University of Alberta (U of A) is a public coeducational research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ... Jonathan Schaeffer is a researcher and professor at the University of Alberta. ... Daniel Negreanu (born July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player. ...

One major aspect of poker is being a game of imperfect information. Some cards in play are concealed, so the players cannot deduce the exact state the game is in. This fundamentally differs from games like chess where all information about the game's current state is public. Perfect information is a term used in economics and game theory to describe a state of complete knowledge about the actions of other players that is instantaneously updated as new information arises. ... This article is about the Western board game. ...

Pokerbots are bots or computer programs that play online poker disguised as a human opponent. Since most online poker rooms prohibit the use of bots, their use can be a form of cheating in poker. Poker bots include BluffBot, Polaris, and WinHoldem. Internet bots, also known as web robots, WWW robots or simply bots, are software applications that run automated tasks over the internet. ... A computer program (often simply called a program) is an example of computer software that prescribes the actions (computations) that are to be carried out by a computer. ... Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. ... // Cheating in poker is any behavior outside the rules intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players. ... BluffBot is a Texas hold em poker playing program developed by Teppo Salonen. ... Polaris is a Texas hold em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for 16 years as of 2007. ... WinHoldEm is an online Texas hold em bot. ...

External links

• The University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group
• Wired:On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Bot
• USnews.com: Can "pokerbots" beat humans?
• Programming Poker AI Article by the programmer of the AI for the World Series of Poker Game