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ICCM 2004 Competitive Symposium: PokerBot World Series Game
playing seems to satisfy a basic craving of human cognition by exercising
its fundamental abilities in a competitive setting. Therefore, it provides
an excellent benchmark to study and evaluate cognitive models in tractable
yet naturalistic settings that are simple and formal yet reproduce much of
the complexity of real life. Poker is probably the most widely played card
game, with endless variations played by millions of adherents from casual
players gambling pennies to professionals competing in million-dollar
tournaments. Unlike other games that emphasize one particular aspect of
cognition, poker involves a broad range of cognitive activities,
including:
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Reasoning under uncertainty (opponents' cards)
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Dealing with probabilistic outcomes (future cards)
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Decision-making with multiple options (chips used for
bets)
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Individual differences (different styles of play)
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Inference of intent (from opponents' bets)
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Intentional deception (bluffing, sandbagging)
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Pattern recognition (detecting trends from flow of
game)
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Social and emotional aspects (dealing with winning and
losing)
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Economic behavior (factoring impact of amount of
bets)
Because of the range of cognitive activities involved,
poker provides a broader and more challenging test for cognitive modeling
than other games such as chess that focus on a more restricted range of
mechanisms (e.g. search). Despite the complexity of aspects involved, it
remains a highly tractable domain, partly because it abstracts away from
computationally demanding perception and interaction problems. Poker is
increasingly being played in online gaming communities where the need for
challenging, cognitively plausible agents is increasing. Poker therefore
provides a challenging domain at the intersection of fundamental research
questions and potential mass application. Open competitions such as Robocup and the World Series of Poker.
Potential participants should contact the organizers by email
(clebiere@maad.com) by April 1st to register their interest and obtain
detailed rules of participation. Participants must register to the
conference to be able to submit a player but free registration will be
offered to the winner(s). The best models will be presented at a symposium
during the conference where progress on research issues will be discussed.
--> ICCM main page
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provide a setting for mutual feedback on participants'
current research and guidance on future research directions
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develop a supportive community of scholars and a spirit
of collaborative research
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contribute to the conference goals through interaction
with other researchers and conference events
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