Bodog Beat

Can poker pro Phil Laak defeat the poker A.I. Polaris? So far, it's not looking so good. (Image courtesy www.ualberta.ca)

Poker pros Phil Laak and Ali Eslami are currently competing in the first Man-Machine Poker Championship against an artificial intelligence named Polaris.

Polaris is a poker playing computer program (or bot) that has been in development through several incarnations since 1991 at the computer science department of the University of Alberta in Canada.

Polaris is being put to the test at an Artificial Intelligence conference in Vancouver, Canada where it will compete in a series of heads-up matches against Laak and Eslami with $50,000 going to the winning team - Man or Machine.

To balance the contest Eslami started by playing in public in a conference room while Laak played isolated in a separate room. To maintain balance the cards dealt to Eslami were the same that the computer received while playing Laak and vice versa. After 500 hands the players are now switiching positions.

The competition got underway at 12:00pm today and will conclude tomorrow evening. The first round of playing 500 hands of $10/$20 Limit Holdem against Polaris just finished and it was close with the combined team totals +/- coming out to +$70 in Polaris' favor - a very small victory which is being technically labeled as a draw.

Eslandi, whose game was viewable by the public, started out with a solid lead on Polaris, but as the game continued the A.I. began to learn and to improve its game reducing Eslandi's lead.

It seems that the future is here and I for one welcome our new A.I. poker playing overlords. Tell Sara Connor her time is up. The machines have arrived.

Eslandi and Laak will switch positions for the second half of the Limit Texas Holdem poker competition with play resuming at 6pm PST.

Stay tuned to the Beat for more live updates of the First Man-Machine Poker Championship live from Vancouver, Canada.

Ali Eslami faces off against the cold calculations of the University of Alberta's poker program Polaris. (Bodog Beat Image)