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With the ongoing Texas Holdem poker
phenomenon sweeping America on
television and the Internet,
University of Alberta spin-off
company, BioTools is hoping to cash in
on the high stakes industry. The
company is using the University’s
research wing to launch its online
poker game development, marketed as
Poki’s Poker Academy aimed to help
novices and experts.
The software learns patterns and
adapts to various playing styles.
Developers at BioTools claim that it's
not just an advanced poker game but a
complex learning tool that can display
odds, variables, can graph results as
well as the likelihood of certain
poker situations. It forces an
opponent to continually change
strategies and adapt their play, as it
will attempt to exploit any and all
weakness or predictability it finds in
their playing style and can even
bluff, using it’s artificial
intelligence (AI) engine.
“Texas
Holdem
poker has become so popular—this
software is for people who don’t yet
feel comfortable going to a casino and
betting money or for top players who
want to improve their game. You could
take a good player who would have a
tough time beating our game. Poker
Academy is for all levels of players,”
said Mike Fedeyko, sales and marketing
manager at BioTools.
“We are getting closer to beating the
best players in the world. Our current
programs can acquit themselves quite
well against strong opposition, and
they continue to become stronger as
the research progresses. I do not
believe they are superior to the best
humans yet, but I believe that day
will come—possible within the next
year or two,” explains said Darse
Billings, a former professional poker
player and Alberta PhD student working
on the project. |
