Artificial Intelligence (or AI) has permeated nearly every aspect of life in 2025. AI is helping people improve at their jobs and interests, work more efficiently, and is even replacing humans in projects that can be automated. 

Programs like ChatGPT and Grok have become commonplace in helping people find solutions to their problems every day. How does that look in the world of poker? 

A Long Time Coming

In 2019, I was hired by Carnegie Mellon to test their AI poker bot “Pluribus” in 6-max No Limit Hold’Em. 

I’ve always had an interest in AI and what is possible, especially in games, so I leaped at the opportunity. I expected, win-or-lose, that I was going to witness some novelties in play that humans were not using at the time, and may be able to learn things from this artificial intelligence. However, the way it happened was quite surprising to me. 

My initial sessions, playing 6-handed against 5 copies of the AI, went very well. The bot played solid preflop, but massively overbluffed postflop. It was able to be tricked or exploited using certain lines or certain sizes – especially on the river. I won by a large clip in these sessions. However, by working with the computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon and using nightly self-play at an outrageous pace, the AI was able to plug its leaks virtually overnight.  

I went from a massive winner to a breakeven player against the AI in a matter of days. Over the coming weeks and months, Pluribus held its own against the top No Limit game players in the world. The level and speed of improvement was something I had not thought possible before the experiment. And keep in mind, this was six years ago! In 2025, there would be little doubt that any human vs AI match in poker would be a bloodbath in the computer’s favor.

Using AI as a Training Tool in Poker

Similar to chess, playing poker matches and competing against AI has little utility in 2025. The AI will always win and it will not be close. However, that does not mean that AI has no use to a poker player.  

Looking at the strategies chosen by an AI and breaking down how it is beating humans can lead to improvements in play. There are a number of poker programs today that have done exactly that. 

What is Possible Going Forward?

How much better can AI get at poker? Where can it go from here? These are questions that I can only speculate about. I’d love to see more use of neural networks in these poker programs and less reliance on human inputs.

Most current online tools are still reliant on humans to give them bet sizing options in poker, which computers often mix randomly.  What if we let an AI freestyle and choose any size at any point in the hand? Perhaps we are only scratching the surface on how well poker can be played. Only time will tell, but either way this is an exciting time to be alive and a part of this AI era.

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