Poker Bot Loses To Pro Poker Players

Phil Laak and Ali Eslami have recently competed against the University of Alberta Poker Bot named Polaris. The Polaris poker bot was created by two university students from the U of A. The stage was set at the inaugural $50k Man-Machine Poker Championship in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Polaris is the worlds best poker bot and it was ready for its toughest match ever vs Phil Laak and Ali Eslami. The first match took place on July 23rd at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Polaris had the best of the poker professionals on day 1. The super aggressive bot threw off Laak and Eslami. Although, after discussing strategy, Laak and Eslami became victorious on day 2.

When asked how they were able to overcome the bot Laak replied, “We just played our (freaking) A game,”

During the last two matches Laak took every single move and play very seriously. He took several minutes in between plays and started agonizing over them. Good thing the computer couldn't get a “read” on him. Laak felt the poker bot was so good that he had this to say about it. “Let’s put it this way. The bot is so strong, I would bet on it against any human in the world,” Laak said.

Phil Laak thinks that the best poker players would try to play for a tie because that’s what the bot is programmed to do. Players of inferior skill will make more mistakes, and these mistakes will translate into wins for Polaris.