Poker Competition
If the appeal in competition is not just profit, but knowing that the profit came from another’s loss, then it is no surprise that certain “zero-sum games” dominate our world and culture. Poker is a perfect example of this American fascination with capitalism and despotic schadenfreude. This is because poker, just like any other zero-sum game, requires success and failure to be mutually inclusive. While poker is not quite in the realm of pure gambling and is not quite in the realm of pure skill, it successfully stands irresolute in the middle of it all with its ambiguous classification appealing to nearly every subset of our society. The diversity in its players is reflected in the innumerable Internet resources on the subject: sites that appeal to the gambler—downloadable interfaces to transform card room leisure into a domestic dalliance; sites that cater to mathematicians, economists and computer scientists in pursuit of new insights into AI programming and game theory; as well as sites for the serious card player (whom should never be referred to as a gambler as this connotes a certain unacceptable level of skill!) covering the gambit of topics from poker psychology to personalized poker chips. Each poker-related website reflects this diversity of audience with respective varieties in style and information, but three specific sites aptly and obviously categorize players into the academic, the leisurely, and the professional. Respectively, they are: University of Alberta’s Poker Research Group, Yahoo! Games – Poker, and Two Plus Two Publishing.
The University of Alberta has set out on the moderately ambitious task of designing a poker-playing computer that can beat the world’s best human player. T...
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... card player and it is perfectly designed for that aim.
It is not surprising that poker appeals to such a wide range of individuals or that poker sites have been created around their differences. This can be seen in all modes of competitive sport and poker is no exception. There is a contextual similarity in these sites that reflects a commonality in all poker players: win at all costs. The AI website clearly states that it exists with the intent of beating the world’s best player, visitors to Two Plus Two perpetually debate why his or her particular strategy is the most valuable, and even the novice player, when learning the rules of the game, is taught foremost to be a good bluffer (liar). These websites each uniquely capture the modus operandi of the poker player, the Machiavellian spirit of Vidal’s introductory quote, that simply winning is never enough.
Smarter than You Think starts out with a cautionary tale of how in 1997 world chess champion Garry Kasparov was beaten by Deep Blue, an I.B.M. supercomputer. This was a considered a milestone in artificial intelligence. If a computer could easily defeat a chess champion, what would happen to the game and its players? A year after Kasparov was defeated by the program he decided to see what would happen when a computer and person were paired up. He called this collaboration the centaur; A hybrid consisting of the algorithms and history logs of chess as well as the brain to “analyze their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as their moods.” ...
The game of poker is a card based game, which has developed into many various kinds, in terms of the number of cards dealt, how many cards are on the deck visible for all players, and what remains hidden, over the past few decades. Despite its differences, poker of any kind shares one major significance; the factor, that either sets one winning or losing, is based upon decisions made in the long run. The utmost degree of such decisions resemble economic components, since the most elementary acts, such as raising the bets and folding one’s cards, may be regarded as a case of supply and demand. And one of them, which is the topic of this essay, is Nash Equilibrium, commonly used in games with no more than two players involved which is also known as „Heads Up“. Nash Equilibrium sets two players, with the very same count of chips, against one another in a situation where each player can either bet, all of his or her stack only, or fold. After this particular match is finished, the players‘ stacks are equilibrated again and this whole process is being repeated for sake of the long run. This algorithm is also known as „Fictitious Play“ (Dudziak, 2006). Most importantly each of the players ought to take in consideration the opponent’s decision, based on which they reach a convenient consensus, meaning, in order to maintain Nash Equilibrium, they both must correctly presume the upcoming action (Osborne & Rubinstein, 1994). Thus it is foreseeable that one or the other side, oftenly, faces a difficulty while striving for an equilibrium.
In the end of the eleventh and middle of the thirteenth century there were nine wars between muslims and christians that are now called the crusades.All nine wars were meant to take over the holy land (what is now israel) from the muslims.The most successful of those battles was the first and second.The worst of the crusades was the fourth crusade.The Crusades didn’t have a positive effect on trying to take over the holy land.Document 1 states that ”the Crusades failed their chief goal: the conquest of the Holy Land.This is important because the crusades didn’t achieve their main goal and they weren’t recognized as much as the first crusades.Document 1 states that the left a bitter legacy in their quest to take the holy land..This is important
In 1095 Pope urban II call all Christians to take part in what would become the world’s greatest Holy War in all of history. Urban’s called Christians to take up arms and help fight to take the Holy Land of Jerusalem back from the accursed Muslims. During this time of war the whole world changed. Land boundaries shifted, men gained and lost and gained power again, and bonds were forged and broken. The Crusades had a great impact on the world that will last forever. There were many major social, political, religious and economic changes that occurred during the crusades. But first, a brief history to give backbone to these reasons.
... as they present pure fantasy, and the lovers have one foot in each world; they experience desperation in the face of harsh realities, but meanwhile they learn and change as a result of their fantastical dreams. The allusions used in each world illustrate the differences between them and bring them together simultaneously. All of the myths and legends referenced have similar themes and origins, but each is interpreted differently by the speaker; the lovers speak of mythological figures much like themselves, the mechanicals attempt to do the same with little success, and the fairies reference gods and goddess who toy with the fates of mortal lovers. Such striking similarities echo the ever-present theme that in love, we are all the same. Whether we fancy a donkey, a meddling fairy, or a friendly Athenian, in love there is beauty, hilarity, and irrationality in excess.
The Crusades were great military missions embarked on by the Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing the Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the hands of the Moslems. The Crusades were considered Holy Wars (1). Their main target was the Moslems not the Jews, although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes (2). There were many Crusades some more significant than others, but in general the Crusades was an important event in the history of Medieval Europe.
Once Deep Blue supercomputer defeated chess grandmaster Kasparov, he, Kasparov, thought what would happen if “humans and computers collaborated” (Thompson 343)? Kasparov figured that it would be a symbiotic relationship in which “each might benefit from the other’s peculiar powers” (Thompson344). A Notably example would a 2005 “freestyle” chess tournament, which consisted of teams with computers and chess players. With a tournament full of computers and chess grandmasters, the winners were amateur chess players Cramton and Zackary (Thompson345). The reason why these players were able to win is because they were “expert[s] at collaborating with computers.” By themselves these players would not have the skills to take on such talented players, but since Cramton and Zackary were able to know “when to rely on human smarts and when to rely on the machine’s advice” they were able to succeed (Thompson 345). These players were able to harness the power of the symbiotic relationship between man and machine. In conclusion, when it comes down to the wire on “who’s smarter-humans or machines; the answer is neither, it’s both working side by side” (Thompson 347). In addition, the benefits of these digital gadgets can be summarized into three
I understand the heavy weight that was pressing down upon these students’ shoulders. On one hand, one could not properly pay tribute and respects to the brutally murdered Reggie Jordan by wr...
“The course of true love never did run smooth” ~William Shakespeare. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus and Hippolyta plan their wedding, which includes a play by the craftsman. While the other characters are trying to figure out their love for one another, the fairies interfere. Throughout the play the characters alternate lovers often. Although they bicker at one another, everyone finds their way to their true soul mate. The characters in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are successful, after many trials and tribulations, in acquiring their desired relationships.
A significant portion of children in the United States are impacted by divorce. Empirical investigations verify that children of divorce are at a heightened risk for the development of psychological, social, behavioral and academic issues (Amato, 2000; Amato, 2001). Amato and Keith (1991) studied the welfare of children of divorce compared with that of children whose parents are still married to each other. Children from divorced families scored considerably lower on a range of outcomes and it was shown that these problems can persist into adulthood. Given the high rate of divorce and the negative effects it has on our youth, the implementation of effective prevention programs has great significance (Wolchik, West, Sandler, Tein, Coatsworth, & Lengua, 2000).
Who’s smarter at chess - computers or humans? Chess is all about ultimate way of thinking, which puts it on a same level as an extreme sport.In the eighteenth century, Wolfgang von Kempelen caused a stir with his clockwork Mechanical Turk—an automaton that played an eerily good game of chess, even beating Napoleon Bonaparte.CLIVE THOMPSON is a freelance journalist and blogger who writes for the New York Times Magazine and Wired.He blogs at collisiondetection.net. This essay is adapted from his book, Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better (2013). A writer for Scientific American fretted that the inventor "Would Substitute Machinery for the Human Mind." Eighty years later, in 1997, this intellectual
Throughout “Alone”, Poe uses various poetic devices to captivate his reader. For instance, Poe uses external rhyme throughout the poem, at the end of each pair of lines. Along with the use of rhyming, Poe also uses descriptive imagery. A m...
Humans have over time developed many different tools to enhance their games and play. Many of these tools take the form of boards, or balls, or cards and in many cases games were created using the culture and topics of the time as a basis for their play. Card games are one type of tool which have long reflected the society and culture of the time in which it was created and played. In very early Chinese culture playing cards were created and developed even further when the Chinese invented their own paper. Many years later, through the travels of merchants, paper playing cards came to the European countries (McDonald, “The Real History of Tarot”). The first mention of playing cards came from Belgium, Germany, and Italy where they were mentioned as they were being banned from use as gambling games. Eventually this ban on card games is relaxed and cards become a more integral and legal form of entertainment (“Early References”).
Gambling in this society is an addictive thing. Gambling can be a fun thing but most people who gamble become very addicted. If the government talk to people about how gambling could help the world in positive ways they could have a better outcome on gambling. Casinos have been involved with numerous donations to schools in the state of Alabama. Casinos still have downfalls because gambling in the casinos could help in good ways and also bad ways. Gambling helps citizens by issuing out jobs in Alabama. Economic Development and employment is the reason why gambling should have the permission to be legal in all states.
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.