Man vs Machine – Results

July 24th - AAAI conference - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The final day of competition is now complete.

Team Laak/Eslami had a very strong showing on day two of the event pulling out a win in both sessions and thus The First Ever Man vs Machine Championship is won by Man! Polaris and the team from the University of Alberta had a great showing giving these two poker pros everything they could handle. Ali sumed up the grueling matches with "I wouldn't wish this on anyone".

For those just joining us, the Man Machine Event is a competition pitting a team of two Pro Poker players against the University of Alberta's advanced poker bot Polaris. The game is a $10/$20 Limit Heads Up Texas Holdem, with a duplicate reverse match system (the same cards are dealt in both games but the human and bot is reversed).

Session 1   (12pm MST Monday July 23, 2007)

Day one got under way today seeing Polaris getting a slight upper hand in session 1, ending up ontop by $70 or 7 small bets. For the results to be statistically significant a team must win by a minimum of $250 (25 small bets), and thus session one was declared a draw.

Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak

Phil started the first day of competition playing in the private room. Phil found himself down -$1500 before clawing his way back up. 'Every six months you'll see Polaris just fold' - Phil Laak

Phil Laak: -$465
Polaris: +$465

'Prince Ali' Ali Eslami

Ali started the first day of competition playing in the public room in front of a very interested audience including media, AAAI members and some of the brains behind Polaris.

Ali Eslami: +$395
Polaris: -$395

Session 1 is a draw!


Session 2   (6pm MST Monday July 23, 2007)

The second session of day one is now complete with the win going to Polaris! The cards were very one-sided in this match - through the duplicate session Polaris managed to take better advantage of the situation.

Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak

'The Unabomber' moved into the public lobby for his second match. Phil enjoyed a string of good cards and used that to accumulate a healthy advantage over Polaris.

Phil Laak: +$1660
Polaris: -$1660

'Prince Ali' Ali Eslami

'Prince Ali' was secluded into the private room and suffered the same disadvantaged cards that Polaris did experienced in the lobby. Polaris took advantage of the one-sided cards to gain over $2500 lead.

Ali Eslami: -$2515
Polaris: +$2515

Polaris wins Session 2!


Session 3   (12pm MST Tuesday July 24, 2007)

Session 3 got under way this afternoon after a very exciting end to day one. Team Laak/Eslami fired back at Polaris in the afternoon session and came on top deadlocking the match at one win, one loss, and one tie for each team.

Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak

Phil was again in the public room for session 3 and played very well while trash talking Polaris along the way!

Phil Laak: +$1455
Polaris: -$1455

'Prince Ali' Ali Eslami

Ali was secluded in the private room for day two's first session. Ali did well to survive his luck put Polaris edged him out in the end.

Ali Eslami: -$635
Polaris: +$635

Team Laak/Eslami win session 3!


Session 4   (7pm MST Tuesday July 24, 2007)

Session 4 is now over with the win going to the Humans! A very tough match for both Laak and Eslami see the humans win the session by $570. Props go out to both players as well as Polaris and the team from the UofA for a great showing!

Phil 'The Unabomber' Laak

Phil was again in the private room for session 4 and had to battle through some cold streaks until the bitter end of the match.

Phil Laak: +$110
Polaris: -$110

'Prince Ali' Ali Eslami

Ali was in the public room for the final session and put on a clinic. Great in-depth analysis from Ali truely gave everyone in attendence a window into one of the great cash game players around.

Ali Eslami: +$460
Polaris: -$460

Team Laak/Eslami win session 4 and the first ever Man vs Machine Poker Championship!