Poker Game Research Articles

The application of imperfect information game theory in social games

The research on game AI has always been one of the focuses of artificial intelligence research. More complex real-world problems can be solved by the study of game AI. Since our cognition and information acquisition of the world are imperfect, we proposed single deep counterfactual regret minimization method with advantage baselines, a deep reinforcement learning algorithm based on imperfect information game. The new approach combines the single deep counterfactual regret minimization approach with the baseline network to achieve a better performance than the benchmark in poker. At last, this paper applies the new algorithm to two Chinese poker games with imperfect information game, and obtains better performance. Meanwhile, it also provides the possibility for the extension to real life.

Neural correlates of spontaneous deception in a non-competitive interpersonal scenario: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study

This study aims to examine neural correlates of spontaneous deception in a non-competitive interpersonal situation, and the difference in neural correlates between spontaneous deception and instructed deception using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We used a modified poker game in which participants freely decided whether sending a piece of truthful/deceptive information to other participants. In the instructed session, participants sent truthful/deceptive information per the instructions. In this non-competitive interpersonal situation in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), deception produced higher neural activities than truth-telling. In addition, spontaneous deception exhibited higher neural activities than instructed deception in the frontopolar area, DLPFC, and frontal eye fields. Spontaneous truth-telling produced higher neural activities than instructed truth-telling in frontal eye fields and frontopolar area. This study provides evidence about neural correlates of spontaneous deception during non-competitive interpersonal scenarios and the difference between spontaneous deception and instructed deception.

Revisiting Carr’s Business Bluff: Opinions on the Ethics of Playing the Game

Abstract This article is a response to Albert Carr’s business bluff compared to a poker game article in the Harvard Business Review “Is Business Bluffing Ethical? The Ethics of Business are not Those of Society, but Rather Those of the Poker Game”. Opinions are given on the ethical dilemmas which are deemed legal and acceptable in the business world by Carr.

Study on the Strategy of Playing Doudizhu Game Based on Multirole Modeling

Doudizhu poker is a very popular and interesting national poker game in China, and now it has become a national competition in China. As this game is a typical example of incomplete information game problem, it has received more and more attention from artificial intelligence experts. This paper proposes a multirole modeling-based card-playing framework. This framework includes three parts: role modeling, cards carrying, and decision-making strategies. Role modeling learns different roles and behaviors by using a convolutional neural network. Cards carrying can calculate reasonable rules especially for “triplet” by using an evaluation algorithm. Decision making is for implementing different card strategies for different player roles. Experimental results showed that this card-playing framework makes playing decisions like human beings, and it can to some extent learn, collaborate, and reason when facing an incomplete information game problem. This framework won the runner-up in the 2018 China Computer Game Competition.

First person profile: Raymond Sawaya, MD: The founding chair of the neurosurgery department at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Sawaya has nurtured a generation of specialists and helped to advance the field.

First person profile: Raymond Sawaya, MD: The founding chair of the neurosurgery department at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Sawaya has nurtured a generation of specialists and helped to advance the field.

Computing Team-Maxmin Equilibria in Zero-Sum Multiplayer Extensive-Form Games

The study of finding the equilibrium for multiplayer games is challenging. This paper focuses on computing Team-Maxmin Equilibria (TMEs) in zero-sum multiplayer Extensive-Form Games (EFGs), which describes the optimal strategies for a team of players who share the same goal but they take actions independently against an adversary. TMEs can capture many realistic scenarios, including: 1) a team of players play against a target player in poker games; and 2) defense resources schedule and patrol independently in security games. However, the study of efficiently finding TMEs within any given accuracy in EFGs is almost completely unexplored. To fill this gap, we first study the inefficiency caused by computing the equilibrium where team players correlate their strategies and then transforming it into the mixed strategy profile of the team and show that this inefficiency can be arbitrarily large. Second, to efficiently solve the non-convex program for finding TMEs directly, we develop the Associated Recursive Asynchronous Multiparametric Disaggregation Technique (ARAMDT) to approximate multilinear terms in the program with two novel techniques: 1) an asynchronous precision method to reduce the number of constraints and variables for approximation by using different precision levels to approximate these terms; and 2) an associated constraint method to reduce the feasible solution space of the mixed-integer linear program resulting from ARAMDT by exploiting the relation between these terms. Third, we develop a novel iterative algorithm to efficiently compute TMEs within any given accuracy based on ARAMDT. Our algorithm is orders of magnitude faster than baselines in the experimental evaluation.

An Anatomy of Cycles in Shipping Industry, 1946-2020

The paper provided a help to shipowners—we believe—by determining the duration of cycles, first historically, since 1741, and par excellence since 1945, to 2020, and then mathematically, using Chaos Theory. It was remarkable to find out that both approaches gave the same outcome: shipping cycles lasted 6 years (rounded). We have also explored the possibility to predict a shipping cycle with reference to previous repeated attempts to forecast freight markets, but in this paper, we wanted to see what to suggest to shipowners, when forecasting is impossible—as is! This is in line with most important Greek shipowners, like Mr. G Procopiou, who suggests to ignore forecasters. The paper, however, showed the important corollary that bad times are longer than good times, helping to avoid fatal mistakes as those committed by Sanko shipping of Japan in 1980s. We showed also the more important corollary for businessmen that technology brought shipping cycles closer! We have re-introduced the concept of Joker, rejecting the theory that shipping is a “poker game”. To predict the coming of a Joker has not been so far achieved, though we have predicted the start of the 2008 depression using Chaos theory… Ten at least Jokers have appeared since 1951, including the 2019 Pandemic.

Research on the DouDiZhu's playing strategy based on XGBoost

In recent years, imperfect information games have received extensive attention in computer game research. As a three-person imperfect information game in China, DouDiZhu not only has competitive relationship but also has cooperative relationship between the players, which makes the model more complicated, hence it has high research value. In this paper, the DouDiZhu's playing strategy is converted into 182 legal playing multi-classification problems, by extracting the characteristics of winning data of different players, using the XGBoost model and setting reasonable model parameters. In addition, to make the strategy of playing cards more reasonable through phased training, character training, and rule correction methods. In this paper, a new data representation method of DouDiZhu game is proposed. The XGBoost model is innovatively used to solve the poker game problem. By adjusting the parameters and multi model training, a better card playing strategy is obtained. The experimental results show that the playing strategy predicted by the playing strategy model proposed in this paper is basically consistent with the human playing strategy, and has a good playing strategy for different situations. The method in this paper has achieved a third-place excellent result in the Chinese University Student Computer Game Contest 2019.

Research on the DouDiZhu's playing strategy based on XGBoost

In recent years, imperfect information games have received extensive attention in computer game research. As a three-person imperfect information game in China, DouDiZhu not only has competitive relationship but also has cooperative relationship between the players, which makes the model more complicated, hence it has high research value. In this paper, the DouDiZhu's playing strategy is converted into 182 legal playing multi-classification problems, by extracting the characteristics of winning data of different players, using the XGBoost model and setting reasonable model parameters. In addition, to make the strategy of playing cards more reasonable through phased training, character training, and rule correction methods. In this paper, a new data representation method of DouDiZhu game is proposed. The XGBoost model is innovatively used to solve the poker game problem. By adjusting the parameters and multi model training, a better card playing strategy is obtained. The experimental results show that the playing strategy predicted by the playing strategy model proposed in this paper is basically consistent with the human playing strategy, and has a good playing strategy for different situations. The method in this paper has achieved a third-place excellent result in the Chinese University Student Computer Game Contest 2019.

Priority based Agile Estimation for Size and Time (PAEST)

Agile estimation process is an emerging research area because of agile practice of accepting requirements at any stage. Some agile practitioners are using agile estimation of size and time based on expert opinion and planning poker game. These methods are non-algorithmic method whereas algorithmic method of estimation always useful for novice estimator as it is based on empirical study. In this paper, we have proposed algorithmic method, Priority based Agile Estimation for Size and Time (PAEST) for projects using agile practices. PAEST incorporates the identification of factors estimating size of projects based on its priority and impact on the project. Size and Time estimation are computed as function of priority factor of project attributes and uncertainty in requirements of the projects. Paper also elaborates the case studies of various domain of software projects along with priority and intensity level of factors affecting the project estimation. We have incorporated three domains: web application, MIS project and critical software and seven project attributes out of 21 attributes used by generalized estimation method in our case studies. Number of project attributes can be scalable to any number depending on project domain. Algorithm prioritizes the project attributes and generates the estimates of the project more realistic. Introduction of prioritization helps novice to get estimates more precise. In our study we observed that uncertainty in project have more impact than project attributes.

An Efficient Poker Protocol for Shuffling and Dealing Cards

This paper proposes a new card game and dealing system, designed specifically for poker games. The proposed method benefits from two poker characteristics games that are ignored by public card systems. First, cards are dealt in poker games in the form of rounds, betting with them, instead of all at once. Second, the total number of cards dealt in poker game cards is depending on the number of players but is usually less than half the total. With these remarks in mind, the proposed method distributes the computing cost of dealing cards evenly across the rounds. Compared to systems that provide a full introduction to the deck, the proposed approach provides a significant reduction in the total cost of computing. Also, it’s fair and strong. It perfectly fits hardware such as smartphones. The presented system is fast and secure mental poker protocol. It is twice as fast as similar protocols.

Solving Large Extensive-Form Games with Strategy Constraints

Extensive-form games are a common model for multiagent interactions with imperfect information. In two-player zerosum games, the typical solution concept is a Nash equilibrium over the unconstrained strategy set for each player. In many situations, however, we would like to constrain the set of possible strategies. For example, constraints are a natural way to model limited resources, risk mitigation, safety, consistency with past observations of behavior, or other secondary objectives for an agent. In small games, optimal strategies under linear constraints can be found by solving a linear program; however, state-of-the-art algorithms for solving large games cannot handle general constraints. In this work we introduce a generalized form of Counterfactual Regret Minimization that provably finds optimal strategies under any feasible set of convex constraints. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm for finding strategies that mitigate risk in security games, and for opponent modeling in poker games when given only partial observations of private information.

Collaborative security risk estimation in agile software development

Purpose Today, agile software development teams in general do not adopt security risk-assessment practices in an ongoing manner to prioritize security work. Protection Poker is a collaborative and lightweight software security risk-estimation technique that is particularly suited for agile teams. Motivated by a desire to understand why security risk assessments have not yet gained widespread adoption in agile development, this study aims to assess to what extent the Protection Poker game would be accepted by agile teams and how it can be successfully integrated into the agile practices. Design/methodology/approach Protection Poker was studied in capstone projects, in teams doing a graduate software security course and in sessions with industry representatives. Data were collected via questionnaires, observations and group interviews. Findings Results show that Protection Poker has the potential to be adopted by agile teams. Key benefits include good discussions on security and the development project, along with increased knowledge and awareness. Challenges include ensuring efficient use of time and gaining impact on the end product. Research limitations/implications Using students allowed easy access to subjects and an ability to collect rich data over time, but at the cost of generalizability to professional settings. Results from interactions with professionals supplement the data from students, showing similarities and differences in their opinions on Protection Poker. Originality/value The paper proposes ways to tackle the main obstacles to the adoption of the Protection Poker technique, as identified in this study.

Performing Miller's After the Fall, Lincoln Center, 1964: An Interview with Salome Jens

Performing Miller's <i>After the Fall</i>, Lincoln Center, 1964: An Interview with Salome Jens

An Excerpt from Hillbilly Hustle

An Excerpt from Hillbilly Hustle Wesley Browne (bio) Knox Thompson first crossed paths with the man who would ruin him at a poker game above the arcade in downtown McKee, a forsaken place he had made it a point to avoid. After finding out about the game from one of his Porthos regulars, Knox couldn't resist. It was said to be frequented by a herd of donkeys spilling money, and that proved to be true, but [End Page 90] making money and keeping it aren't the same thing. Especially not in Jackson County. He knew better than to go to that sketchy-ass game, but by mid-2011 the poker boom of the aughts had cooled, online poker was illegal in the United States, and most of the good live games had dried up. At the apex, he had his choice of games in Richmond and Berea, but when poker waned, so did his options. The worst part about it was the shittiest, most casual players were the first to give it up. They say poker lessons are expensive, and it's true. Knox tried to teach at least two nights a week if he could. He had come to rely on poker winnings to keep his pizza shop and his parents afloat. The worsening drought made him reckless. It drove him up the narrow stairwell with puckered, peeling paint into the dense smoke of the apartment over the arcade in McKee. He had told Darla, his girlfriend, and himself that if the game wasn't on the level or if things went bad, he'd just bail out. Making his way up, Knox didn't recognize the country music that played. The steps were shallow and about every third one sagged like it was held up by wet sponges. The apartment at the top was a studio with a table and ten chairs in the middle. Off to the side was a kitchen with appliances as old as he was and a sink full of dirty dishes. A feeble folding table teetered under the weight of two Cherry Master video– slot machines. The poker table, which appeared to be from an old dining-room suite, had green felt over the top and stapled tight to the undersides. It was ringed by men, sitting in mismatched chairs that looked to have come from ten different grannies' kitchens. They wore dull flannel or black t-shirts, jeans, and boots or high-top shoes, and most were stoking cigarette cherries or had tobacco spit cups or bottles alongside. The smoke in the room was thick as white gravy but the smell of damp still pierced through. Only one person [End Page 91] was vaping. It hadn't fully grabbed hold in Jackson County just yet. There was one woman at the table, heavyset, wearing glasses and a faded denim shirt. She appeared to be neither smoking nor dipping. She had a half-full twenty-ounce bottle of electric-blue Mountain Dew game fuel and an open bag of Funyuns on the table beside her. Once Knox cleared the landing, all eyes lighted on him, like a strange car passing down a country road. They had no way of knowing what he was: a guy who had built his game reading and rereading dozens of poker books, and playing countless hands live and online. He had worn his white Adidas slides with white socks—one with a Nike logo and the other without—loose mesh shorts, and a threadbare, powder-blue "Trampled by Turtles" t-shirt. He had one tattoo, a full-sleeve of fighting robots in grayscale. The most he'd done all day to his receding, curly black hair and sloppy beard was run his fingers through them. If he had any tells at all, he made sure his appearance wasn't one of them. The table went back to the hand playing out. It ended with a bet followed by folds and a burr-headed fat kid with a chinstrap beard and diamond-looking stud earrings raking a small pile of chips and adding them to his stack all while dragging from a stubby fag. He couldn't...

The preferences in capital allocation among economics students in Poland. Investments on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and forex in comparison to a poker game

The preferences in capital allocation among economics students in Poland. Investments on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and forex in comparison to a poker game

Effect of valenced vicarious online contact on out‐group prejudice and perceived out‐group variability: A study of online poker

AbstractOnline poker has become a multibillion dollar industry, with millions of people from around the world both playing and watching online poker each year. Unlike live poker, players and watchers, typically cannot rely on physical cues of other players; in fact, the only information often available to poker players is others’ nationality. Because these poker games often involve members of different national groups, it constitutes a context of indirect contact that has considerable potential to examine how attitudes and beliefs about people from other nationalities can be influenced by interactions in online poker. In the current research, we examined how observing an in‐group player have positive or negative contact with a player of another nationality impacted one’s own attitudes and beliefs about the out‐group nation. Participants (N = 157) watched an online poker video recording of a fellow in‐group member have negative, positive, or no intergroup contact with an out‐group member at an online poker table. Subsequent affective (out‐group attitudes) and cognitive (perceived out‐group variability) measures of intergroup bias were taken. Data revealed that while observing negative contact increased out‐group prejudice, observing positive contact reduced prejudice (all relative to no intergroup contact). However, no differences were found in perceived out‐group variability. Implications for online poker and future research intergroup contact are discussed.

Evolutionary Stem Cell Poker and Cancer Risks: The Paradox of The Large And Small Intestines.

Recent studies demonstrate that normal human tissues accumulate substantial numbers of somatic mutations with aging, to levels comparable to their corresponding cancers. If mutations cause cancer, how do tissues avoid cancer when mutations are unavoidable? The small intestines (SI) and colon accumulate similar numbers of replication errors, but SI adenocarcinoma is much rarer than colorectal cancer. Both the small and large intestines are subdivided into millions of small neighborhoods (crypts) that are maintained by small numbers of stem cells. To explain the SI cancer paradox, four fundamental evolution parameters (mutation, drift, selection, and population size) are translated to crypts. The accumulations of driver mutations in a single stem cell may be analogous to an evolutionary poker game. The rarity of SI cancer may reflect that SI crypts are smaller and have fewer stem cells than the colon, which reduces the numbers of cells at risk for mutation and perhaps selection efficiency. Tissue microarchitecture may physically modulate cancer evolution by controlling the numbers of directly competing neighboring cells. A better understanding of the SI cancer paradox may illuminate how tissues naturally avoid cancers when mutations are unavoidable.

Book review: Superforecasting: The art and science of prediction. Crown Publishers, New York, NY. Tetlock. E. Philip, Gardner, Dan (2015)

Book review: Superforecasting: The art and science of prediction. Crown Publishers, New York, NY. Tetlock. E. Philip, Gardner, Dan (2015)

Caesar Kleberg and the King Ranch by Duane M. Leach

Reviewed by: Caesar Kleberg and the King Ranch by Duane M. Leach Andrew C. Baker Caesar Kleberg and the King Ranch. By Duane M. Leach. ( College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2017. Pp. 376. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index.) In this beautifully produced book, Duane M. Leach, former president of Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville), provides a thorough account of one of the most influential but frequently overshadowed figures in Texas's most famous ranching enterprise. Caesar Kleberg became acquainted with the art of insider politics early in his career. As the personal assistant to his father, U.S. Representative Rudolph Kleberg, from 1896 to 1900, he traveled the halls and backrooms of Congress. His love of cattle, ranching, and the outdoors, however, drew him back to Texas. When his uncle and aunt, Robert J. Kleberg and Alice Gertrudis King, invited him to join them in the management of the King [End Page 351] Ranch in 1900, he eagerly accepted. Over the next half century, Caesar would become the right hand of the Kleberg family operation, acting as business manager, advisor, confidant, and lobbyist for the King Ranch. His unswerving loyalty, his talent for breeding horses and cattle, and his extensive political connections made him a central pillar of its success. Written and published in cooperation with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Caesar Kleberg and the King Ranch places a particular emphasis on Kleberg's pioneering conservation efforts. He was a state leader in managing ranchland for both cattle and wildlife, ensuring that the lands in the ranch's Norias division would provide ample native and exotic game for visiting gentlemen to hunt. These efforts secured him a position on the Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission and have led many to label him "the father of wildlife conservation in Texas" (279). While this conservation legacy is important, the greater significance of the book lies in its account of the political maneuvering and business savvy required to keep the ranch afloat. The majority of the topically organized chapters focus on Caesar's part in this herculean endeavor. Here Leach's extensive access to the King Ranch archives and his oral interviews with prominent family members provide a wealth of material. The author brings readers into smoky midnight poker games, railroad boardrooms, and the South Texas brushlands. He deftly traces the way the King Ranch leadership connected their ranching operation to markets and protected it from tax assessors, shifting political factions, and Mexican border raids. The result is a hybrid biography and business history that uses Caesar's life to flesh out the political world of South Texas, a world that included figures like James B. Wells Jr., John Nance Garner, and Archie and George Parr. The Kleberg's success in this high-stakes game allowed them to bring railroad access to South Texas, establish Kingsville and its university, and sustain a ranching empire. Leach's portrayal of the Klebergs does not ignore their faults. These were hard-drinking, masterful men who gambled in business and for pleasure, and tough, uncompromising women who believed "God helps those who help themselves" (7). In their politics, the Klebergs were states' rights Democrats who embraced the role of patron, demanded personal loyalty, and had few qualms about leveraging political power for personal economic gain. That being said, there is no air of the iconoclast about Leach's writing. He approaches his subjects with discretion. The result is an excellent, if sympathetic biography of one of South Texas's most powerful men. Caesar Kleberg and the King Ranch is an excellent introduction to the King Ranch and its place in the larger political economy of the state and nation. [End Page 352] Andrew C. Baker Texas A&M University-Commerce Copyright © 2017 The Texas State Historical Association