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Move over, Terminator; it’s time for the robots to terminate the online poker world! Or at least, this is what people think in Indiana, where they have announced the First Annual Poker Bots Only Tournament. The tournament is set to kick off in August, and the only thing that will set the competition apart will be the sophistication of software programming.
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Organized for the undergraduates of the Indiana University, the game played will be Limit Hold’em and first prize is set at $200. This is a great way for the students to test their creative programming abilities to outwit each other. All poker bots are required to be programmed beforehand and once the tournaments starts, the decision-making is left solely to the bot.
“We have every contestant write an artificial intelligence for playing poker. Once they write it, all these poker bots will play in a tournament. That’s pretty much the big picture of how it works” says Eric Jiang, organizer of the First Annual Poker Bots Only Tournament.
Eric hopes this competition will help his students to think outside the box, be more creative and inspired to put together something innovative.
“It’s really important for them to have their own interests and motivations to work on,” said Jiang. “I hope this can provide something fun, encourage them to think creatively. Maybe win a little fame and fortune, I guess.”
I would like to wish all the competitors the best, and can’t wait to see the results.