$50k Hold'em Championship Poker Tournament
The Poker Academy has agreed to supply the software for the world's first ever 'Man Versus Machine' Texas Hold'Em Poker Championship Tournament. Though it is officially an experiment to determine the true luck versus skill factors of poker, there is real money on the line - $50,000 to be exact.
In the first corner, we have "Polaris", an Artificial Intelligence computer program developed at the University of Alberta, Canada. Polaris is the current reigning 'Checkers' champion. The program has never been beaten; only wins and draws have been recorded.
In the other corner, representing human poker enthusiasts around the globe, we have skilled poker professionals Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Ali Eslami. Laak hails from Dublin, Ireland and has become well known throughout the WSOP and WPT poker community since 1999. Eslami is a resident of sunny California with 14 cashes under his belt, including 5th place in the 2007 World Series of Poker.
Laak, Eslami and 'Polaris' will face off in four 500-hand matches, each dealt identical to one another, except that the same hands will be dealt to a different competitor in each round. At the end of the tournament, the four chip count totals will be added together to determine the rightful winner. in addition, the experiment will record how each player chose to play the same hands, thereby examining the outcome in relation to a degree of luck versus skill.
The tournament will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver, B.C. - Canada, to coincide with the Associate for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) annual conference on July 23-24, 2007. All registered attendants of the AAAI 2007 conference are welcome to join in the audience for the competition. The event will also be open to the general public.
