Can AI Beat Poker Players?

In the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant inroads in a variety of disciplines. In games, AIs have been developed that can beat human experts at checkers, chess, Go, and even poker. But can AI really beat poker players?

The answer is yes… and no. It all depends on what you mean by “beat.”

If you mean can an AI win more money than a human over the long run, then the answer is probably yes. AIs are capable of making perfect decisions in every hand, which means they will always make +EV (expected value) decisions.

PRO TIP:AI can take on poker players in some games, but it is not unbeatable. AI technology has come a long way, but it still cannot account for the complexity of human behavior and the unpredictability of luck in poker. Therefore, players who understand the game and its strategies may still be able to outsmart AI opponents.

Over time, this will lead to them winning more money than their human counterparts.

However, if you mean can an AI beat a human in a single session or even a single hand, then the answer is no. AIs are not yet capable of bluffing or reading their opponents’ tells, which means they will often make +EV decisions that lose to human opponents who are making -EV decisions.

In the end, it is still early days for AI in poker. But as the technology continues to develop, it is likely that AIs will become increasingly difficult to beat at the tables.