4 ms·

6.912 - MIT Pokerbot Competition

56 points by rottencupcakes 16y ago

dev_zero 16y ago
Another, potentially more relevant to HN MIT IAP this year is the web app security Capture the Flag: http://mitctf2011.wikispaces.com/IAP+Announcement http://mitctf2011.wikispaces.com/IAP+Announcement
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- lwat 16y ago
  It will be Hold'em. Almost 100% of bots out there play Hold'em.
  - heyitsnick 16y ago
    If the goal is to test the team's ability to enter in to new areas, this mike be good reason to set the test to be a non-hold'em game. Something like PL 5CD heads up shoot-out* would be pretty interesting domain (and much smaller game tree) to work with. Even if it is hold'em, there's the still teh question of structure (limit/big bet, NL/PL, antes, blinds, tournament or cash, heads up/ring/9m) that there's a lot of possibility.
joeycfan 16y ago
Can't enter without an MIT email... :-(
sajithw 16y ago
I'm one of the guys behind this. I realize it's MIT students only right now (we have a special 1-month term in January with no classes for competitions like this) but if there's enough interest we would love to hold an open tournament in the next few months. We're also looking at opening our scrimmage server up to the public this month if there are enough people who want the intellectual fulfillment of competing :) Edit: Created a small mailing list. Feel free to sign up if you want to be updated when we decide to launch an open tournament (towards the end of the month, most likely). http://mitpokerbots.com/interest http://mitpokerbots.com/interest
- jaekwon 16y ago
  i'm interested.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- dtran 16y ago
  Thanks for setting this up - it sounds really awesome. Could you set up a mailing list or something where we can subscribe to updates?
  - sajithw 16y ago
    Yep, on it right now. Will post the link in a few minutes. Edit: It's up, see my above comment.
    - jaekwon 16y ago
      Will we get a chance to compete against MIT students? That's mostly what I'm interested in; I'll either get schooled by MIT, or school MIT. Yes this is a counterchallenge. ;)
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
- tansey 16y ago
  This looks really interesting to me. I'm curious to see the rules-- does it differ much from the AAAI poker competition [1]? [1] http://www.computerpokercompetition.org/ http://www.computerpokercompetition.org/
- heyitsnick 16y ago
  Sorry if this is a silly question, but where does the name come from? Googling 6.912 turns up references to "MIT 6.912 Introduction to Copyright Law".
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
dtran 16y ago
Really interested to hear more about the details, especially the format - will it be a single tournament or a cash game with thousands of hands? Since it's all bots playing, I assume they'll play through enough hands/tables to diminish/negate the role of luck. Will the bots adopt to patterns in the other bots' playing styles? Most interestingly, will a bot come out of this that can go head-to-head with the likes of Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and other poker pros? Most bots I've heard of in online poker just follow a set of rules for what to do with certain hands in different positions and scenarios. A bot that can adapt/pick up on betting patterns from the other player (over the course of thousands or tens of thousands of hands) would be really cool.
- eru 16y ago
  How about playing duplicate poker to eliminate the luck factor, too? You can even make all bots play all positions. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_poker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_poker
- heyitsnick 16y ago
  I would expect most competitors will attempt to design a simplified GTO/balanced (un-exploitable) strategy, with some base assumptions what's considered as "good poker". The only way I can see teams approaching a more exploitive strategy is if the tournament was filled with lots of very weak 'house bots' with highly exploitive strategies (like the previous rock-sissors-paper bot competion that was filled with lots of non-GTO house bots that could be predicted and exploited). No known bots have come close to playing competitively heads up or ring in big-bet games (such as no-limit or PLO) above the micro/lowstakes. However bots already exist that are very strong at limit heads up.
  - jaekwon 16y ago
    With enough number of hands played and space for storage of history it should be possible to exploit each other, or at least the opportunity is there.
    - heyitsnick 16y ago

Another, potentially more relevant to HN MIT IAP this year is the web app security Capture the Flag: http://mitctf2011.wikispaces.com/IAP+Announcement http://mitctf2011.wikispaces.com/IAP+Announcement

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

lwat 16y ago
It will be Hold'em. Almost 100% of bots out there play Hold'em.
- heyitsnick 16y ago
  If the goal is to test the team's ability to enter in to new areas, this mike be good reason to set the test to be a non-hold'em game. Something like PL 5CD heads up shoot-out* would be pretty interesting domain (and much smaller game tree) to work with. Even if it is hold'em, there's the still teh question of structure (limit/big bet, NL/PL, antes, blinds, tournament or cash, heads up/ring/9m) that there's a lot of possibility.

joeycfan 16y ago

Can't enter without an MIT email... :-(

sajithw 16y ago

I'm one of the guys behind this. I realize it's MIT students only right now (we have a special 1-month term in January with no classes for competitions like this) but if there's enough interest we would love to hold an open tournament in the next few months. We're also looking at opening our scrimmage server up to the public this month if there are enough people who want the intellectual fulfillment of competing :) Edit: Created a small mailing list. Feel free to sign up if you want to be updated when we decide to launch an open tournament (towards the end of the month, most likely). http://mitpokerbots.com/interest http://mitpokerbots.com/interest

jaekwon 16y ago
i'm interested.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
dtran 16y ago
Thanks for setting this up - it sounds really awesome. Could you set up a mailing list or something where we can subscribe to updates?
- sajithw 16y ago
  Yep, on it right now. Will post the link in a few minutes. Edit: It's up, see my above comment.
  - jaekwon 16y ago
    Will we get a chance to compete against MIT students? That's mostly what I'm interested in; I'll either get schooled by MIT, or school MIT. Yes this is a counterchallenge. ;)
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
tansey 16y ago
This looks really interesting to me. I'm curious to see the rules-- does it differ much from the AAAI poker competition [1]? [1] http://www.computerpokercompetition.org/ http://www.computerpokercompetition.org/
heyitsnick 16y ago
Sorry if this is a silly question, but where does the name come from? Googling 6.912 turns up references to "MIT 6.912 Introduction to Copyright Law".

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

dtran 16y ago

Really interested to hear more about the details, especially the format - will it be a single tournament or a cash game with thousands of hands? Since it's all bots playing, I assume they'll play through enough hands/tables to diminish/negate the role of luck. Will the bots adopt to patterns in the other bots' playing styles? Most interestingly, will a bot come out of this that can go head-to-head with the likes of Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and other poker pros? Most bots I've heard of in online poker just follow a set of rules for what to do with certain hands in different positions and scenarios. A bot that can adapt/pick up on betting patterns from the other player (over the course of thousands or tens of thousands of hands) would be really cool.

eru 16y ago
How about playing duplicate poker to eliminate the luck factor, too? You can even make all bots play all positions. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_poker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_poker
heyitsnick 16y ago
I would expect most competitors will attempt to design a simplified GTO/balanced (un-exploitable) strategy, with some base assumptions what's considered as "good poker". The only way I can see teams approaching a more exploitive strategy is if the tournament was filled with lots of very weak 'house bots' with highly exploitive strategies (like the previous rock-sissors-paper bot competion that was filled with lots of non-GTO house bots that could be predicted and exploited). No known bots have come close to playing competitively heads up or ring in big-bet games (such as no-limit or PLO) above the micro/lowstakes. However bots already exist that are very strong at limit heads up.
- jaekwon 16y ago
  With enough number of hands played and space for storage of history it should be possible to exploit each other, or at least the opportunity is there.
  - heyitsnick 16y ago