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Friday, July 22nd, 2005

Bots now battle humans for poker supremacy

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

Shawn P. Roarke
Special to FOXSports.com

You never know who you're playing in online poker.

Is ninjalord — who just went all-in on the flop without a face card showing — a cutthroat poker mercenary? Is RU2Chicken, aggressively betting into each pot with junk cards, a pre-teen trying to emulate his heroes from the nightly televised poker shows? Is the Unabomber at your table really poker pro Phil Laak — who goes by that intimidating nickname on the pro poker tour?

No one knows the answers to these questions. And, since the advent of online poker, that's rarely been problematic.

The cloak of anonymity has been the acceptable tradeoff for cardsmiths elated with the ability to play poker at anytime from anywhere.

But that's quickly changing as a menace far more serious than an underwear-clad novice raising the pot before the flop with a 2-7 in his hand slowly creeps its way into many of these rooms. That threat is the poker bot, a computer program designed to play nearly statistically flawless poker.

"There are a lot of people out there that have seen the opportunity to make money out there and have built online poker bots and are being deceitful," says Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, a professor of computer science at the University of Alberta.

And, Schaeffer should know. He has worked extensively in the past 14 years to develop just such a poker bot. However, unlike the opportunists out there, Schaeffer's work has been above-board and out in the open.

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Poker-playing doc cites logic

Tuesday, July 19th, 2005

JOE BELANGER
London Free Press

It was bad luck that eliminated Radu Butan from the World Series of Poker.

But it took a lot more than luck to get him into the Vegas tournament last week and home with $274,000 in prize money.

"I never once felt I was lucky," Butan said yesterday.

"It's more a game of patience and logic. There is an element of luck, but that's not as important."
The 28-year-old doctor, a resident internist at London Health Sciences Centre's University Hospital, was eliminated from the poker tournament Thursday.

He was one of 225 Canadians among the 5,619 poker players who descended on Las Vegas for the week-long event, vying for the $7.5-million US first prize.

Most players put up $10,000 to enter, but Butan won his trip -- hotel and entry fee -- in an online Texas Hold 'Em tournament at Pokerstars.com.

The Romanian-born Butan, who immigrated to Canada in 1989 with his mother and grandmother, had about 30 per cent of his winnings -- or $82,200 -- withheld for U.S. taxes, but is confident he will get it back.

It was a hand against the then-reigning world champion, Greg (Fossilman) Raymer of Connecticut, that ended the remarkable run at the tables for Butan.

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