Who is ORAC?
Perhaps the better question would be WHAT is ORAC? Anyone who is into poker bots would know exactly what I am talking about. ORAC is the first ever attempt at a poker bot. Created by Mike “Mad Genius Caro” in 1984, this poker bot could actually be dubbed as the father of all poker bots. Now who is Mike Caro? His wikipedia entry reads:
In 1978 he contributed 50 statistical tables to Doyle Brunson’s Super/System and wrote that book’s chapter on draw poker. He acts as a consultant to many casinos, providing odds, and he helped develop the Poker Probe, the first serious commercial PC program for analyzing poker situations. He is the founder of the Mike Caro University of Poker, Gambling and Life Strategy, the world’s first permanent poker school. He was one of the few people who believed in the 1990s that real money online poker would not only work (most people said it would not) but also that it would eventually eclipse face-to-face casino poker.
Caro is the author of a number of books about poker, including:
• The Body Language of Poker
• Bobby Baldwin’s Winning Poker Secrets
• Caro on Gambling - a collection of his columns published in Gambling Times magazine
• Mike Caro’s Book of Poker Tells - There is also a companion Video/DVD
• Caro’s Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker
• Gambling Times Official Rules of Poker
• Gambling Times Quiz Book
• Master Hold’em and Omaha Poker
• New Poker Games - Descriptions and rules of esoteric or newly invented poker variants
• Odds Quick and Simple
• Professional Hold’em Play by Play
• Poker at the Millennium
• Poker for Women: A Course in Destroying Male Opponents at Poker and Beyond
He also has made multiple videos, some of which correspond to his books. He was formerly editor in chief of Poker Player magazine and senior editor of Gambling Times magazine.
In 1984 at the World Series of Poker he demonstrated Orac (Caro backwards), a poker-playing computer program that he had written. Orac was the world’s first serious attempt at an AI poker player, and most poker professionals were surprised at how well it played.
Impressive, isn’t it? This guy, a genius, a professional poker player, and whatever else you want to call him, actually paved the way for today’s software known as poker bots. Different people have mixed feelings when it comes to poker bots. There are those who think and feel that they are nothing but a cheater’s tool. There are those who see much more merit in poker bots than that. The way I see it though, no matter what you think, you cannot deny the genius and intelligence behind these poker bots – especially the newer ones that have come up in the poker world today. With that thought in mind, I think I shall feature more on poker bots in the weeks to come. I am pretty sure that there will be a lot of takers when it comes to poker bots.
Technorati Tags: poker, poker bots, poker players, online poker, poker software, ORAC, Mike Caro, Doyle Brunson
Written by Sasha on March 23rd, 2007 with
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