Man vs Machine - 50k Hands Update

The match that started on April 24, dubbed Brains vs Artificial Intelligence, has passed the halfway point, as 48,500 of total 80,000 hands have been played. Although nobody really expected that an AI could actually stand up to top notch human opponents in the No Limit Heads Up match, the results are somewhat disappointing, as Claudico is getting owned really hard.

At this point in time, the Machine is down $587,000, which is just shy of sixty full buy-ins, as blinds stand still at $50/$100. While Doug Polk and Bjorn Li started off strong right off the bat, Dong Kim and Jason Les were struggling at the start.

However, as more hands played out, Claudico has been losing more and more ground, and as the things stand right now, Polk is up $275k, Bjorn Li is up $305k, Dong Kim is winning to the tune of $114k and only Jason Les is still in the red, as he is down $106,000.

The 2+2 thread following this event now has more than a thousand posts from railbirds and players interested in how the whole thing will pan out. Although the players are not playing for real money, they will be well compensated for their efforts. There is $100k up for grabs, with every player receiving $10k flat and the rest will be divided based on the results they book against Claudico.

From the results, it seems that humans were quick to adjust to the bot's playing style and started exploiting it, while the AI is clearly not so big on making adjustments. From what's been said, it seems that AI only makes the necessary adjustments after the play is over for the day, which means that it is not really capable of any bigger adjustments while the match is going on. This might be one of the reasons for such a crushing defeat.

Although the play is set to continue for another 30k hands, it is hard to believe that Claudico will make a big comeback. Humans have been grinding it down consistently and the computer doesn't seem to have an appropriate response. One of the biggest skills that human HU players are proud of is the ability to adjust to their opponents quickly and efficiently - something that Claudico just cannot do.

From what is being posted on 2 + 2, it seems that Polk in particular has been adjusting to the Claudico's strategy extremely well, reading its playing style very well and exploiting its tendencies over and over again.

Some of the hands described in the thread are really funny, with bot doing some really strange things, like hero calling river minbets with 6 or 7 high or folding on the turn getting 9 to 1 and similar. All this is really not that shocking because No Limit Hold'em can be quite complex and, especially in the heads up, there is more than just basic math to it.

That said, I've personally expected at least somewhat more exciting battle or at least a semi-sweat. It is safe to say that this performance leaves much to be desired. Unless they now pull out Claudico 2.0 out of nowhere and get it in the mix. Because, honestly, this first version doesn't seem at all ready to take on good heads up players.

Image: 7dayshop.com