Poker pros beat Polaris

Garry Kasparov made history when he lost a game of chess to IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer. Photo / Reuters

Computer science folded yesterday as Polaris poker software was bankrupted by professional players.

Phil Laak and Ali Eslami beat Polaris after four rounds in the world's first man-versus-machine poker championship, held at Vancouver's Hyatt Regency hotel.

The pair won by 570 points in the final game.

Both agreed that the machine was a tough competitor, and would only get harder to beat as programmers further improved the Polaris programme.

The psychological aspect of poker made software difficult to write.

Scientists compared the match-up to when a Deep Blue supercomputer beat Russian genius Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997.

- NZ HERALD STAFF