2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

I have evidence which suggests some top 2+2ers are playing online for PLAY MONEY!!!!

A very old friend of mine has been working hard for some years to set up a play money site at which you can play against (ahem) bots as well as real players. It has some nice features and some real novelties, e.g. they model your play and create a "virtual you" who continues playing for play money when you're not there.

I just looked at the home page and some names jumped out at me: there are now virtual players called PokerBob, Joe Tall, Scary_Tiger, DeathDonkey and c dee c.

Have you guys been splashing around for play money or is my friend taking your names in vain?

If there's interest and if it's not considered spam I'll reveal the name of the site; but I was very tickled to see those names on the list. Is it really you?

Guy.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Hi Guy,

I'm not sure what you're involvement with the site is but I have absolutely no affiliation or stake in it, so I'm happy to say www.pokerparadime.com is a really neat site in free beta right now that I'm using.

I know how it sounds to say they created a site where you can play with and make a bot, but this isn't like "here's the code to make a bot and put it on pokerstars" its like "here is how you appear to play after X hands at your current style" and they use "Virtual Players" to give that style you create a legit sample size.

Anyway that didn't make a ton of sense but I think this site may help me find leaks in my play I never knew about - my "bot" has already played 20k hands and I can see his PT stats for instance.

-DeathDonkey

ps: Virtual Pokerbob runs good!

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

i just watched virtual pokerbob make a really dumb river bet what a fish

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Virtual TeeJayOrTj Is such a spewtard. I love it. Virtual Scary_Tiger was gunshy on river. This is first hand I watched of virtual me.
#Game No : 721575
***** Hand History for Game 721575 *****
$1/$2 Limit Texas Hold'em (6 Max) - Thursday, November 29, 23:34:34 GMT 2007
Table Greentol
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Sonia ( $392 )
Seat 2: <BaronSid> ( $115.50 )
Seat 3: <TeeJayOrTj> ( $21.50 )
Seat 4: <DukeApple> ( $32.75 )
Seat 5: <Scary_Tiger> ( $42.50 )
Seat 6: <MayorJutes> ( $12.50 )
Sonia posts small blind [$0.50]
<BaronSid> posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to <TeeJayOrTj> [ Jd Jc ]
<TeeJayOrTj> raises [$2]
<DukeApple> folds
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$3]
<MayorJutes> folds
TeeJayOrTj: Go Virtual Me
Sonia calls [$2.50]
<BaronSid> folds
<TeeJayOrTj> raises [$2]
<Scary_Tiger> calls [$1]
Sonia calls [$1]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, Qh, 2d ]
Sonia checks
<TeeJayOrTj> bets [$1]
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$2]
Sonia folds
<TeeJayOrTj> raises [$2]
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$2]
<TeeJayOrTj> calls [$1]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7c ]
<TeeJayOrTj> bets [$2]
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$4]
<TeeJayOrTj> calls [$2]
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
<TeeJayOrTj> checks
<Scary_Tiger> checks
<TeeJayOrTj> shows [ Jd, Jc ] Two Pair, Queens and Jacks
<Scary_Tiger> shows [ Ks, Kc ] Two Pair, Kings and Queens
<Scary_Tiger> wins $29 from the main pot with Two Pair, Kings and Queens
The time at which the hand ended: Thursday, November 29, 23:35:25 GMT 2007

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

The real fish in that hand is clearly Sonia. I actually emailed the site owner and conversed a bit about this, but Sonia does not appear to play good poker to me, but yet the stats they compile on her have her destroying the games. I can't really justify that in my mind when I see the way she plays.

-DeathDonkey

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

I just registered and waiting for a confermation email, wont be playing as I have to go now but watch out for inferno! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img], also pokerbo(b)t, has lots of emonies (aim me to talk about this shizzle im interested [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] )

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Dealer:Game #753935 starts
Dealer:yellowjack posts small blind [$0.50]
Dealer:Sonia posts big blind [$1]
Dealer:** Dealing down cards **
Dealer:MissLoams folds
Dealer:BaronSid folds
Dealer:MrBedsdon folds
Dealer:chipspewer folds
Dealer:yellowjack calls [$0.50]
Dealer:Sonia checks
Dealer:** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 4d, 3s ]
Dealer:yellowjack checks
Dealer:Sonia checks
Dealer:** Dealing Turn ** [ 9s ]
Dealer:yellowjack bets [$2]
Dealer:Sonia raises [$4]
Dealer:yellowjack calls [$2]
Dealer:** Dealing River ** [ 3h ]
Dealer:yellowjack bets [$2]
Dealer:Sonia raises [$4]
Dealer:yellowjack calls [$2]
Dealer:Sonia shows [ 7s, 5c ] Three of a Kind, Threes
Dealer:yellowjack shows [ 9c, 6c ] A Full House, Threes full of Nines
#753935yellowjack wins $18 from main pot with A Full House, Threes full of Nines

Sonia had 75o

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure what you're involvement with the site is but I have absolutely no affiliation or stake in it

[/ QUOTE ]

Just for the record, I have no involvement or stake in it either.

One of the two developers (the one spelt with a c rather than a k) is a good friend of mine, one of my two main poker buddies I suppose. He kept the whole thing a giant secret for three years or more while they worked on it, and only revealed it to me a few months ago when the site was more or less ready to go.

I find the whole thing fascinating. I have found Sonia to be very tough to beat despite her exhibiting some very strange behaviour; e.g. she has been known to three-bet/fold preflop in a blind steal situation.

I've had some extremely interesting discussions with my friend since he revealed this project to me. I hope that he'll end up sharing some of this with us all here. I am more or less sworn to confidentiality about most of it. I told him about this thread last night so maybe he'll post here.

Now if only I could prevent myself going on play-money tilt every time I try to play there, maybe I could work out how best to use the site as a training tool.

Guy.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

this is hilarious. someone created a site where pbob runs hot and crushes all.

but wtf, how come theres no virtual victor?

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

#Game No : 764538
***** Hand History for Game 764538 *****
$1/$2 Limit Texas Hold'em (6 Max) - Friday, November 30, 12:53:28 GMT 2007
Table King's Tallenpoint
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Sonia ( $1179.50 )
Seat 2: <MrPineberry> ( $53 )
Seat 3: <rjb24> ( $50 )
Seat 4: <phaethon> ( $51.75 )
Seat 5: inferno ( $36 )
Seat 6: <LadyByburgh> ( $75 )
<LadyByburgh> posts small blind [$0.50]
Sonia posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to inferno [ Qd Jd ]
<MrPineberry> folds
<phaethon> calls [$1]
inferno raises [$2]
<LadyByburgh> folds
Sonia raises [$2]
<phaethon> calls [$2]
inferno calls [$1]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Td, 7d, 6s ]
Sonia checks
<phaethon> bets [$1]
inferno raises [$2]
Sonia raises [$3]
<phaethon> raises [$3]
inferno calls [$2]
Sonia calls [$1]
** Dealing Turn ** [ As ]
Sonia bets [$2]
<phaethon> calls [$2]
inferno calls [$2]
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
Sonia bets [$2]
<phaethon> raises [$4]
inferno folds
Sonia calls [$2]
<phaethon> shows [ 7h, 8h ] A Ten High Straight
Sonia doesn't show [ Kd, Tc ] A Pair of Tens
<phaethon> wins $35.50 from the main pot with A Ten High Straight
The time at which the hand ended: Friday, November 30, 12:54:16 GMT 2007

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The real fish in that hand is clearly Sonia. I actually emailed the site owner and conversed a bit about this, but Sonia does not appear to play good poker to me, but yet the stats they compile on her have her destroying the games. I can't really justify that in my mind when I see the way she plays.

-DeathDonkey

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi DeathDonkey, Sonia varies her play significantly depending on her opponents. Some strange plays may seem otherwise if you had seen their stats, however for obvious reasons they have to remain confidential.

We are in the process of adding Monies won from or lost to Sonia in your stats so you can see just how fishy she is!

[ QUOTE ]
this is hilarious. someone created a site where pbob runs hot and crushes all.

but wtf, how come theres no virtual victor?

[/ QUOTE ]

There is a virtual PokerBob because someone has signed up to the site with that username; there is no virtual Victor as no-one has registered with that name.

Marc

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

does sonia know your cards?

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
does sonia know your cards?

[/ QUOTE ]

No

Marc

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

I call BS on Sonia.

I had a hand where she openraised from the SB, then I 3-bet and she folded preflop. WTF?? Maybe she read my 3-bet as super-super strong. No. I don't think so. I had 3-bet T7o in the same situation a few hands earlier and showed it down.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

PokerParadimeMc,

The idea for this site very cool, but almost too good to be true. I understand that a detailed answer to the following question would probably give away more than you want to, but I'll ask anyway and maybe you will be able to give a general answer.

How is it possible mathematically to infer a "strategy" based on a player's hand histories that would be anything more than the crudest approximation, even after 10K hands or more?

How do these virtual clones create that strategy?

Do you take into account, eg, that a good human player is doing fairly complex oppoenent modelling himself? And do you try to replicate his opponent modelling?

Or are the models based simply on a complex collection of stats: VPIP, PFR, 3bet, cbet%, turn cr %, etc, etc?

Thanks for any info
gm

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Okay,

I found the answers to my own questions here:

http://pokerparadime.com/StaticPage?template=aboutus.vm

and HOLY SH*T! The results you guys list at the end of the page are incredible:

[ QUOTE ]

Due to the different nature of the heads up game Sonia was started off with no knowledge of poker apart from a short self-play heads up match to enable to her to get a very basic grasp of the game. Despite this handicap Sonia's class showed against Vexbot as she went on to win the one million-hand session at an outstanding rate of 3.5 big bets per 100 hands. It was decided to let Sonia keep her experience of playing Vexbot when starting the test against Sparbot. Again Sonia outclassed Sparbot to win by 3.1 big bets per 100 hands over a full million hands.

To complete the tests Sonia was played against two tables of Pokis, one full ring and one short handed. One seat is always reserved for a human player in Poker Academy so the game had to play with one short of full ring. Despite not having any experience of full ring, Sonia rapidly adapted to the game to achieve a rock steady win rate, despite only feeling the urge to enter the pot with 15% of her hands. Having demonstrated her superiority long before the million hands, the session was stopped at 250,000 hands where her win rate stood at 5.6 big bets per 100 hands. For the final test the best Pokis were kept from the previous session. Able to play many more hands in 6-Max, Sonia made her class really work for her by achieving a whopping 9.5 big bets per 100 hands over 100,000 hands.


[/ QUOTE ]

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

I just want to state that I like the site and what you are trying to accomplish.

One thing that should be noted is the winrates that Sonia is claiming. Keep in mind that these are rake-free winrates. A 1 BB/100 winner at stakes like 5/10 is actually a 4BB/100 if rake was ignored.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I just want to state that I like the site and what you are trying to accomplish.

One thing that should be noted is the winrates that Sonia is claiming. Keep in mind that these are rake-free winrates. A 1 BB/100 winner at stakes like 5/10 is actually a 4BB/100 if rake was ignored.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah good point. I completely forgot about that.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

I am also interested in how much lhe poker-specific information is needed to "train" Sofia?

Reading the description on the website, it sounds as if almost none is required. That is, it sounds as if Sofia is a general engine that needs nothing more than the game rules in order to work its magic, but that seems pretty difficult to believe.

For example, did you have to define situational categories like board textures, betting sequences, etc, that Sofia knew it needed to collect data on and base modelling on? Or was Sofia somehow able to create those categories herself (that seems almost impossible to me)?

J

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I just want to state that I like the site and what you are trying to accomplish.


[/ QUOTE ]
sorry if I'm being dense, but what is the site trying to accomplish?

anyway, I signed up last night and played about 20 hands, then I got bored and started playing like a typical play-money maniac for another 20 hands or so and quit. Does that mean virtual tryptamean is still playing like a maniac? or a tag? or something in between?

Also, why does sonia not get the <> around her name if she is also a virtual player?

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Am I the only one that's a little bit freaked out by this???!!!

I mean, it may be useful to get some information from playing on the site, but what about all the information/data you guys are giving away to the site operators and whoever else has access to the data they collect and the winning player models they observe/create???

Seems like you're handing out a ticket for a collection of players to come out and start crushing your games?!? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

-Bill

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

yeah soon there will be 100s of sonia clones on stars calling 3 cold OOP and crushing the games

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

sarcasm?

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Hi Marc,

I hope you saw my comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I conversed a bit with the other Mark by email and he explained exactly what you just stated to me. I was more commenting on the fact that IF Sonia is crushing the games then us humans have been making a lot of strategic mistakes against players such as the typical opponents at your tables. That scares me a bit because we (2+2ers who study and think about the game) take certain things for granted that Sonia will either prove wrong or we will all continue to disagree with her about. I hope you could see why this would be unsettling to some of us, a shift of thought has to occur given the potential evidence Sonia can bring to the table about her correct play.

All, at first I was a bit freaked out by the site too, and a friend even told me "do you think they are just modeling your play to make a bot that will crush the online games" but what it comes down to for me is they certainly don't need to go to all the trouble of creating a site like this if that was the sneaky secret goal. I mean they could just hire the best players out there to come and give them strategy advice in private. The fact that they are open and honest about what the site is and isn't is pretty reassuring. I for one think these days limit hold'em strategy discussion often is boring or we repeat the same things we've asked and discussed many times before, but playing with my virtual player and seeing his stats and results and what he concludes about my play from small samples of hands is giving me a new perspective on potential leaks in my game, ways opponents perceive us in a small sample of hands, and then there is Sonia's play itself, which might lead to a lot of things we thought were correct plays being shown to be suboptimal.

-DeathDonkey

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
this is hilarious. someone created a site where pbob runs hot and crushes all.


[/ QUOTE ]

i just saw that. I have $37k and the next guy has $2500. this clearly cannot be real, as no site would ever let me win.

Ummmm, what?
 

So Sonia 3bets pf w/K9o then caps the flop w/gutshot + 2 overs? Something seems fishy.

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to PokerYoda [ Ts Js ]
<rick_rolled> calls [$1]
<phaethon> raises [$2]
<BaronKedal> folds
Sonia raises [$3]
PokerYoda folds
<MrRedpoint> calls [$2]
<rick_rolled> calls [$2]
<phaethon> raises [$2]
Sonia calls [$1]
<MrRedpoint> calls [$1]
<rick_rolled> calls [$1]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, 6s, 5d ]
<MrRedpoint> checks
<rick_rolled> checks
<phaethon> bets [$1]
Sonia calls [$1]
<MrRedpoint> calls [$1]
<rick_rolled> raises [$2]
<phaethon> raises [$2]
Sonia raises [$3]
<MrRedpoint> folds
<rick_rolled> calls [$2]
<phaethon> calls [$1]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5h ]
<rick_rolled> bets [$2]
<phaethon> calls [$2]
Sonia calls [$2]
** Dealing River ** [ 7h ]
<rick_rolled> bets [$2]
<phaethon> calls [$2]
Sonia raises [$4]
<rick_rolled> raises [$4]
<phaethon> calls [$4]
Sonia raises [$4]
<rick_rolled> calls [$2]
<phaethon> calls [$2]
Sonia shows [ Kc, 9h ] A Nine High Straight
<rick_rolled> shows [ 7c, 9s ] A Nine High Straight
<phaethon> doesn't show [ Qd, Qc ] Two Pair, Queens and Fives
Sonia wins $29.75 from the main pot with A Nine High Straight
<rick_rolled> wins $29.75 from the main pot with A Nine High Straight

Re: Ummmm, what?
 

This is mostly for Aaron W, example from Sonia:

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9854/sonialv6.jpg

Re: Ummmm, what?
 

Is it bad that I don't want to pay Sonia for advice because I want to have more virtual $ so I'm higher on the leaderboard?

-DeathDonkey

Re: Ummmm, what?
 

guess what virtual me doesnt play like me

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am also interested in how much lhe poker-specific information is needed to "train" Sofia?

Reading the description on the website, it sounds as if almost none is required. That is, it sounds as if Sofia is a general engine that needs nothing more than the game rules in order to work its magic, but that seems pretty difficult to believe.

For example, did you have to define situational categories like board textures, betting sequences, etc, that Sofia knew it needed to collect data on and base modelling on? Or was Sofia somehow able to create those categories herself (that seems almost impossible to me)?

J

[/ QUOTE ]

There is some information about this on the Technology page, but basically we do translate game events into a more digestible form for Sonia first (e.g. current pot size, who last bet, the button position etc.). This translation stage can be thought of as her basic set of 'sensory connectors' to the outside world. However, the derivation of meaning from this information, how to use it, when it's important etc. is entirely self learnt by Sonia during her initial training phase, and then ongoing on the site as she interacts with real human players.

The fact that this very thin sensory layer can be replaced by a different layer is what should make her suitable for use in other domains.

I hope this goes some way to answering your questions.


[ QUOTE ]
Also, why does sonia not get the <> around her name if she is also a virtual player?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sonia is not a model of any player, hence no <>.


Mark

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

Scary_Tiger
Ranking: 105th
Bankroll: $45

SCARY TIGER BUSTO!

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]


There is some information about this on the Technology page, but basically we do translate game events into a more digestible form for Sonia first (e.g. current pot size, who last bet, the button position etc.). This translation stage can be thought of as her basic set of 'sensory connectors' to the outside world. However, the derivation of meaning from this information, how to use it, when it's important etc. is entirely self learnt by Sonia during her initial training phase, and then ongoing on the site as she interacts with real human players.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mark,

This makes sense to me. Also, it seem that if this is the case then by creating an appropriately fine-grained sensory layer Sonia should be able to perform decently to very well in other variants of poker.

Have you guys tested her in NL games yet, eg?

Thanks,
Jonah

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Marc,

I hope you saw my comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I conversed a bit with the other Mark by email and he explained exactly what you just stated to me. I was more commenting on the fact that IF Sonia is crushing the games then us humans have been making a lot of strategic mistakes against players such as the typical opponents at your tables. That scares me a bit because we (2+2ers who study and think about the game) take certain things for granted that Sonia will either prove wrong or we will all continue to disagree with her about. I hope you could see why this would be unsettling to some of us, a shift of thought has to occur given the potential evidence Sonia can bring to the table about her correct play.

All, at first I was a bit freaked out by the site too, and a friend even told me "do you think they are just modeling your play to make a bot that will crush the online games" but what it comes down to for me is they certainly don't need to go to all the trouble of creating a site like this if that was the sneaky secret goal. I mean they could just hire the best players out there to come and give them strategy advice in private. The fact that they are open and honest about what the site is and isn't is pretty reassuring. I for one think these days limit hold'em strategy discussion often is boring or we repeat the same things we've asked and discussed many times before, but playing with my virtual player and seeing his stats and results and what he concludes about my play from small samples of hands is giving me a new perspective on potential leaks in my game, ways opponents perceive us in a small sample of hands, and then there is Sonia's play itself, which might lead to a lot of things we thought were correct plays being shown to be suboptimal.

-DeathDonkey

[/ QUOTE ]

DeathDonkey,

I agree with this. I would also add that, having read the technology summary, I am pretty sure that Sonia would already be a winning bot at stakes of at least 10/20, and likely higher than that at HU games. That is, if they want to use Sonia in real money games to make a lot of cash, they don't need our help.

J

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Virtual TeeJayOrTj Is such a spewtard. I love it. Virtual Scary_Tiger was gunshy on river. This is first hand I watched of virtual me.
#Game No : 721575
***** Hand History for Game 721575 *****
$1/$2 Limit Texas Hold'em (6 Max) - Thursday, November 29, 23:34:34 GMT 2007
Table Greentol
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Sonia ( $392 )
Seat 2: <BaronSid> ( $115.50 )
Seat 3: <TeeJayOrTj> ( $21.50 )
Seat 4: <DukeApple> ( $32.75 )
Seat 5: <Scary_Tiger> ( $42.50 )
Seat 6: <MayorJutes> ( $12.50 )
Sonia posts small blind [$0.50]
<BaronSid> posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to <TeeJayOrTj> [ Jd Jc ]
<TeeJayOrTj> raises [$2]
<DukeApple> folds
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$3]
<MayorJutes> folds
TeeJayOrTj: Go Virtual Me
Sonia calls [$2.50]
<BaronSid> folds
<TeeJayOrTj> raises [$2]
<Scary_Tiger> calls [$1]
Sonia calls [$1]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, Qh, 2d ]
Sonia checks
<TeeJayOrTj> bets [$1]
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$2]
Sonia folds
<TeeJayOrTj> raises [$2]
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$2]
<TeeJayOrTj> calls [$1]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7c ]
<TeeJayOrTj> bets [$2]
<Scary_Tiger> raises [$4]
<TeeJayOrTj> calls [$2]
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
<TeeJayOrTj> checks
<Scary_Tiger> checks
<TeeJayOrTj> shows [ Jd, Jc ] Two Pair, Queens and Jacks
<Scary_Tiger> shows [ Ks, Kc ] Two Pair, Kings and Queens
<Scary_Tiger> wins $29 from the main pot with Two Pair, Kings and Queens
The time at which the hand ended: Thursday, November 29, 23:35:25 GMT 2007

[/ QUOTE ]

I played like 50 hands one time earlier this month, and probably didn't play too good, but I really like how I virtually played this hand.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Scary_Tiger
Ranking: 105th
Bankroll: $45

SCARY TIGER BUSTO!

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

I heard scary tiger is busto

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

it crashed on me with AA otb and folded me, and when it got back going i saw the flop was AAx.

Re: 2+2ers hitting up a play money site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


There is some information about this on the Technology page, but basically we do translate game events into a more digestible form for Sonia first (e.g. current pot size, who last bet, the button position etc.). This translation stage can be thought of as her basic set of 'sensory connectors' to the outside world. However, the derivation of meaning from this information, how to use it, when it's important etc. is entirely self learnt by Sonia during her initial training phase, and then ongoing on the site as she interacts with real human players.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mark,

This makes sense to me. Also, it seem that if this is the case then by creating an appropriately fine-grained sensory layer Sonia should be able to perform decently to very well in other variants of poker.

Have you guys tested her in NL games yet, eg?

Thanks,
Jonah

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't get this. A different type of game means an entirely different program.