Poker News
Robotic "heads up" poker!
By Hugo Guzman
Jun 14, 2005, 10:01

Robots will be marching into Las Vegas next month for the world's first money tournament exclusively for (you guessed it!) robots. The cash prize will be an impressive $100,000.

The tournament's conception is the byproduct of new brand of computer programming that aims to create artificial intelligence for the purpose of winning money in online poker rooms. Engineers like Roger Gabriel and Ken Mages are developing software applications that can pose as human players in online poker rooms. Although these programs are not yet good enough to beat players consistently, they are considered a rising threat by Online Casino companies.

Ken Mages program was able to earn him small amounts of money on a fairly consistent basis, but after a short stint selling the program online (and a lot of customer complaints) Mages decided to sell the computer program to a business associate, then ventured out to see if anyone was interested in using the robotic players to pull a publicity stunt.

Mages soon struck a deal with Los Angeles executive Darren Shuster to set up a contest in Las Vegas, dubbed the World Series of Poker Robots, and just after Memorial Day their partnership persuaded Antigua-based GoldenPalace.com to put up the prize money. They hope to one day pit the winner of the robot tournament against the (human) winner of the World Series of Poker.


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