| Event # 1: Amateur Robot Poker Tournament | ||
| The Prize: | $100,000 was provided by GoldenPalace.net | |
| The Players: | Benbot, BlackShark, Catfish, gobot, HoldemMemory and pokerprobot | |
| The Place: | July 12 - 14, see the action live at Binion's in Downtown Las Vegas. | |
| The Platform: | The competition is powered by Poker Academy | |
| Event # 2: Amateur Robot Champion vs. University of Alberta Robot | ||
| The Prize: | Exhibition | |
| The Players: | Winner of Amateur Robot Tournament vs. U of A Robot (Poki-X) | |
| The Place: | July 15 at 6pm, see the action live at Binion's in Downtown Las Vegas. | |
| The Platform: | The competition is powered by Poker Academy | |
| Event # 3: Man vs. Machine Poker Challenge | ||
| The Prize: | Exhibition Match | |
| The Players: | Phil Laak aka "the Unabomber" vs. Winner of Event #1 Phil Laak aka "the Unabomber" vs. U of A Robot (Poki-X) | |
| The Place: | July 15 at 6pm, see the action live at Binion's in Downtown Las Vegas. | |
| The Platform: | The competition is powered by Poker Academy | |
| Time and Date | Event | |
| Thursday | 1pm - 4pm | Last Chance Pool, winner joins gobot & pokerprobot in final. UPDATE: Catfish wins Last Chance Pool |
| Thursday | 6pm - 10pm | Final Event, Amateur Robot Championship for $100k UPDATE: pokerprobot wins $100,000 |
| Friday | 1pm - 4pm | Amateur Champion plays UofA bot (Poki-X UPDATE: pokerprobot wins |
| Friday | 6pm - 10pm | Man vs Machine match UPDATE: Phil Laak with both matches |
(Drafted by: Darse Billings, Jonathan Schaeffer, Aaron Davidson, Kurt Lange, and the WPRC organizers and participants)
Poker is a game of both luck and skill. Skill will win out in the long run, but luck plays a significant role over the short term. The World Poker Robot Championship (WPRC) tournament structure has been designed to keep the competition fun and exciting, while also giving the best programs a chance to show their stuff.
There will be eight sessions of play, each lasting about four hours, or as long as necessary to determine a winner. Each session is a complete tournament, with players being eliminated continuously until one player has won all of the chips, and the round. The lowest finishers in the first four rounds will be relegated to a "last-chance" pool, and will have one last chance to show that they deserve to compete for the grand prize.
The three best (or luckiest!) programs will advance to the grand final on the third day. The winner of that tournament will be declared the Golden Palace.net World Poker Robot Champion, and will be awarded the grand prize of $100,000.
The newly crowned WPRC Champion will play an exhibition tournament match against the University of Alberta, for bragging rights to computer poker-playing supremacy.
Finally, the champion of the heads-up tournament match between the WPRC Champion and the University of Alberta will then play a heads-up Man vs. Machine tournament match against poker pro, Phil Laak.
Each tournament will be a Limit Texas Hold'em tournament. The stakes will increase steadily over time, and when a player loses all of their chips, they are eliminated. The play continues until only one player remains. The progression for the blinds and betting limits in each tournament are as follows:
| Level | Blinds | Length |
| 1 | 10 / 20 | 30 mins |
| 2 | 15 / 30 | 30 mins |
| 3 | 25 / 50 | 30 mins |
| 4 | 40 / 80 | 30 mins |
| 5 | 60 / 120 | 120 hands |
| 6 | 100 / 200 | 120 hands |
| 7 | 150 / 300 | 120 hands |
| 8 | 250 / 500 | 120 hands |
| 9 | 400 / 800 | 120 hands |
| 10 | 600 / 1200 | 120 hands |
During the first two hours of the tournament, the programs will be allowed to play at their maximum speed, in order to play as many hands as possible.
After two hours, there will be a break. The operators will be permitted to make changes to their programs during this time, for strategic purposes. This is the only time during the tournament that programmers may interfere with the poker decision logic of their programs -- at all other times, the bots are on their own!
When the tournament resumes, each betting level is scheduled to last 120 hands, until only one player remains. The pace of actual play might be slowed down artificially, by having the server pause for a few seconds before each action, or by allowing a commentator to freeze the action to make commentary during play.
The lowest finishers in each tournament will be relegated to the sidelines, until they play in the "last-chance qualifier". The surviving players will go on to compete in the next round, with higher finishers being given a greater share of the chips at the start, so there is always incentive to finish as high as possible.
When the tournament is reduced to the last two remaining players, reverse blinds will be in effect.
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| gobot | $5000 | 1st | 770 | * | |
| Benbot | $5000 | 2nd | 770 | ||
| pokerprobot | $5000 | 3rd | 738 | ||
| Catfish | $5000 | 4th | 652 | ||
| HoldemMemory | $5000 | 5th | 609 | ||
| BlackShark | $5000 | 6th | 153 | moved to last chance pool |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| pokerprobot | $6000 | 1st | 992 | * | |
| Benbot | $6500 | 2nd | 992 | ||
| gobot | $7000 | 3rd | 825 | ||
| Catfish | $5500 | 4th | 726 | ||
| HoldemMemory | $5000 | 5th | 608 | moved to last chance pool |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| pokerprobot | $8400 | 1st | 678 | * | |
| gobot | $7200 | 2st | 678 | ||
| Catfish | $6600 | 3rd | 640 | ||
| Benbot | $7800 | 4rd | 517 | moved to last chance pool |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| pokerprobot | $11000 | 1st | 972 | * | |
| gobot | $10000 | 2nd | 972 | ||
| Catfish | $9000 | 3rd | 767 | moved to last chance pool |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| Catfish | $9000 | 1st | 866 | advances to final | |
| HoldemMemory | $7000 | 2nd | 866 | ||
| Benbot | $8000 | 3rd | 859 | ||
| BlackShark | $6000 | 4th | 759 |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| pokerprobot | $11000 | 1st | 1036 | 100k winner | |
| Catfish | $9000 | 2nd | 1036 | ||
| gobot | $10000 | 3rd | 815 |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| pokerprobot | $15000 | 1st | 886 | ||
| Poki-X | $15000 | 2nd | 886 |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| Phil Laak | $15000 | 1st | 399 | ||
| pokerprobot | $15000 | 2nd | 399 |
| Player | Starting Chips | Placed | Number Hands | ||
| Phil Laak | $15000 | 1st | 290 | ||
| Poki-X | $15000 | 2nd | 290 |
Try the Software
Care to try our award winning software and play against the same AI as Phil Laak.Poker Robots Compete In Vegas — GoodCasinos.net (May 28, 2005)
Poker-faced robots raising the stakes — Indystar.com (June 13, 2005)
Robots ante up for online poker games — HeraldToday (June 13, 2005)
A new breed of gamblers: "Poker-bots" — Los Angeles Times (June 15, 2005)
Robots take on poker's top hands — Times Online (June 21, 2005)
Las Vegas aces and the 'bot' of gold — the age (July 5, 2005)
Poker playing robots? Surely not — Belfast Telegraph (July 6, 2005)
Poker tourney pits robot vs. robot — Las Vegas Review Journal (July 11, 2005)
Jacksonville Resident's Poker Robot Competes in $100,000 Tourney in Las Vegas — Times Community (July 12, 2005)
Poker-Playing Robots Battle For $100,000 Pot — Information Week ( July 12, 2005)
Don't bet against the poker 'robots' — LA Times (July 18, 2005) [photo]
Who Says Robots Can't Bluff? — Wired News (July 18, 2005)
Poker Bot Proves its Mettle, but Loses to Poker Pro Phil Laak — Online Poker News (July 19, 2005)
Hoosier's robot is royal flush of poker world — Indystar.com (July 19, 2005)
Bots now battle humans for poker supremacy — Fox Sports (July 19, 2005)
Poker Academy
Poker Academy is a leading poker software developer. The company develops the world's most advanced Texas Hold'em poker learning tool, utilizing world renowned artificial intelligence developed over 10 years. Poker Academy software is designed to help player learn, adapt and improve their poker skills. Poker Academy includes No Limit, Limit and Tournament play along with many feature-rich components. Poker Academy is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, and has U.S. office in Minnetonka, MN. For more details, please visit www.poker-academy.com
University of Alberta Computer Poker Research Group
The Computer Poker Research group (CPRG) has been working for
14 years on developing poker-playing programs. It is part of the
well-known University of Alberta GAMES group, which has built an
international scientific reputation for producing high-performance
real-time programs for numerous games (including chess, checkers,
go, and poker). For more information, please go to:
UofA CPRG website
UofA GAMES group website
