Cyberspace transformed forever one year ago to the day, as ChatGPT rolled out on the World Wide Web. The product from OpenAI became “the fastest-growing consumer technology in history,” and its influence in all spheres continues to show monumental growth.
While artificial intelligence is no stranger to the poker realm, as seen with poker bot Pluribus, the scope for poker content and ChatGPT remained largely untouched. Until PokerNews asked the tool to predict the outcome of the 2023 WSOP $25K Heads Up Championship.
Surprisingly, it didn’t do too badly and chose three of the four semi-finalists correctly. So, on this anniversary, we’re looking back at just how well ChatGPT fared in figuring out the final outcome.
Furthermore, we want to know how you would like to see it used in Poker or if you have any ideas of your own. Interact with our social media post at the end of the article to give your thoughts on the subject.
Round of 16
Just for clarity, PokerNews posed the question to ChatGPT when the final 16 players were determined. The original field size was 64, so this already saw the bot’s chances of picking the winner go from 1.5625% to 6.25% at this stage. While that drastically increased the chances of ChatGPT “winning”, there was still a long way to go.
From the Round of 16 brackets, ChatGPT accurately selected five of eight players who advanced to the next stage. Not too shabby for a first effort.
| Match | ChatGPT Prediction | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Daemon Richardson v Eric Wasserson | Daeman Richardson | Eric Wasserson |
| Sean Winter v Kevin Rabichow | Sean Winter | Sean Winter |
| Chanracy Khun v Gabor Szabo | Chanracy Khun | Chanracy Khun |
| Landon Tice v Chance Kornuth | Chance Kornuth | Landon Tice |
| Roberto Perez v Isaac Kempton | Isaac Kempton | Roberto Perez |
| Doug Polk v Reiji Kono | Doug Polk | Doug Polk |
| Chris Brewer v Tyler Gaston | Chris Brewer | Chris Brewer |
| Joshua Heinzl v Anthony Zinno | Anthony Zinno | Anthony Zinno |
Chanracy Khun Wins Event #8: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship
Quarter Finals
Obviously, with some incorrect choices, this skewed some of the match-ups that ChatGPT had to guess from. Despite this, it still guessed that Sean Winter, Doug Polk and Chris Brewer would make it to the final four, which they did.
The only outlier was Chanracy Khun, who ChatGPT expected to fall to Chance Kornuth in the previous round. Instead, the eventual winner of the tournament, Khun, overcame Landon Tice in the quarter-finals.
| ChatGPT Predicted Match-Ups | ChatGPT Prediction | Actual Bracket | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daeman Richardson v Sean Winter | Sean Winter | Eric Wasserson v Sean Winter | Sean Winter |
| Chanracy Khun v Chance Kornuth | Chance Kornuth | Chanracy Khun v Landon Tice | Chanracy Khun |
| Isaac Kempton v Doug Polk | Doug Polk | Roberto Perez v Doug Polk | Doug Polk |
| Chris Brewer v Anthony Zinno | Chris Brewer | Predicted Correctly | Chris Brewer |
Semi-Finals
The first semi-final duel was predicted to involve Winter and Kornuth. However, Winter actually faced Khun in lieu of Kornuth. ChatGPT thought that Winter would be the one to make it to the final, but of course, Khun was the player to make it over the penultimate hurdle.
ChatGPT performed better for the other match-up and forecasted that this contest would be fought between Polk and Brewer. It prophesized that Polk would occupy the second seat for the finale and get that bang on the money.
However, a huge two-outer for Polk is what propelled the three-time bracelet winner to last stage, so we’re saying ChatGPT had a bit of lady luck on its side for this one.
| ChatGPT Predicted Match-Ups | ChatGPT Prediction | Actual Bracket | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Winter v Chance Kornuth | Sean Winter | Sean Winter v Chanracy Khun | Chanracy Khun |
| Doug Polk v Chris Brewer | Doug Polk | Predicted Correctly | Doug Polk |
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Final
Okay, so ChatGPT got half of the final two right, which we’ll call a success. It now just needed to foretell who would be the player lifting up the bracelet above their head.
It believed that it would be Winter up against Polk in the final showdown when, in reality, it was Khun versus Polk.
Many expected Polk, a heads-up specialist, to capture his fourth piece of WSOP hardware, and ChatGPT agreed. As we know now, that wasn’t quite the case, as Khun walked away as the victor.
| ChatGPT Predicted Match-Ups | ChatGPT Prediction | Actual Bracket | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Winter v Doug Polk | Doug Polk | Chanracy Khun v Doug Polk | Chanracy Khun |
How Would You Like to See AI Used in Poker?
There’s no shadow of a doubt that the future of poker content will have some AI elements. The possibilities that can come from it are probably endless, but how would you like to see it used?
One idea we came up with was a best-of-five series involving a poker bot and a famous poker player. Could you imagine something like Pluribus up against Phil Hellmuth in this setting akin to High Stakes Duel? Who would Hellmuth blow up at if there’s no one actually sat across from him? We’re sure he’d still find a way of short-circuiting his mainframe, and of course, it’d be box-office poker viewing.
Alternatively, could AI be used in the poker staking space? With festivals like the WSOP Paradise, WPT World Championships, and EPT Prague just around the corner, many poker players will be looking to sell action. AI could be used to find out which horse to back.
Let us know below where you see AI and poker having a closer relationship.
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Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.