[Knockwurst]

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"This is what seperates poker from chess.. a chess computer can beat a weak player just as effeciently as a grandmaster can."

Because there is no bonus for beating somebody badly. But say there were extra points for checkmating in less than say 45 moves. If tournaments were comprised of good and bad players alike, a computer would lose to humans it could beat head up.

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David, you are undoubtedly wrong about this. First, a chess computer can be programmed to play any number of different ways or open in any number of different ways. Thus, if there is an opening that is objectively weaker against a stronger player, but allows the computer to win in fewer moves against a weaker player, the computer can simply be programmed to do just that.

Indeed, a common program retailing for about $100 such as Fritz is so strong that it could play an inferior opening and still beat many mid-level grandmasters in a tournament like you proposed or heads up.

These programs are known for finding mates in the shortest number of moves which humans have missed in analysis. So there is no reason to think that the program would do anything other than find the quickest mate once it has gone into the opening it has been programmed to play.

Simply put, with a strong enough computer the most efficient response to a given chess move could be calculated whether its the first or last moves of the game and the human has no advantage here as he/she cannot more efficiently exploit a weak move.

Back to the more interesting question -- Can a program eventually beat the best poker players in the world? I sure would like to see you weigh in on that one.