Artificial Neural Networks And Texas Hold’em ECE 539 Final Project December 19, 2003 Andy Schultz

Introduction Poker interest has grown rapidly Poker interest has grown rapidly Online Poker Online Poker Texas Hold’em Texas Hold’em ESPN ESPN World Series of Poker (WSOP) World Series of Poker (WSOP) Predict Opponent’s Move Predict Opponent’s Move ANN ANN Betting patterns Betting patterns

A Quick Lesson in Texas Hold’em Easy to learn but difficult to master Easy to learn but difficult to master Game Play Game Play Two Hole Cards Two Hole Cards Flop, Turn, River Flop, Turn, River Community Cards Community Cards Best five-card hand Best five-card hand Lots of information Lots of information Cards, betting patterns, hand strength Cards, betting patterns, hand strength

Artificial Neural Network and Hold’em Decisions a hold’em player makes Decisions a hold’em player makes The size of the pot The size of the pot Number of bets to call Number of bets to call Number of opponents in the pot Number of opponents in the pot Cards on the board Cards on the board Which round of betting it is Which round of betting it is What happened on the previous round of betting What happened on the previous round of betting

Work Performed Data Collection Data Collection Playing on Party Poker Playing on Party Poker 33 usable hands 33 usable hands Categories for the ANN Categories for the ANN Multiple/Single rows per hand in database Multiple/Single rows per hand in database Data Setup Data Setup Organizing Organizing Normalization Normalization

Setting up the Network and Results Finding the best results Finding the best results Training Crate Training Crate 90% 90% Testing Crate Testing Crate 67-75% 67-75%

Conclusion Good way to predict opponents Good way to predict opponents 75% very useful 75% very useful Pot-odds Pot-odds Ways to improve Ways to improve More hands More hands More variables More variables New features New features Overall and recent betting patterns Overall and recent betting patterns