One of the players, GS2, was developed at Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh by two computer scientists with more of an interest in game theory than games.

Thomas Sandholm, director of the Agent-Mediated Electronic Marketplaces Lab, and Andrew Gilpin, a graduate student, created GS2 and its predecessor, GS1. Sandholm says poker is playing the same role in the development of computers now that chess did in the early days.

Poker is a very complex game, he said. Computer poker programs really require sophisticated technology.

That’s because poker players must not only respond to other players’ moves but make decisions based on incomplete information.

The poker competition takes place during the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, scheduled for July 16-20.