Beep…Bop…Boop…Beep

More than two hundred students are participating in an online poker course at MIT this semester and will be competing in the MIT Pokerbots Competition next month. Each team is composed of one to four students who have been given one month to program a completely autonomous "pokerbot". The bots, nearly 50 in total, will face off against one another for more than $30,000 in prizes in an online poker tournament set for Monday, February 6th.

The poker course, which is instructed by former online poker pro Will Ma, consists of a three-week seminar discussing the mathematical strategies needed to be a long-term winner at no-limit hold'em tournaments. The students are evaluated by their performance in a “play money” PokerStars Home Game league.