
Show HN: Play poker with friends. No cards or chips needed - nerf0
https://playcards.live
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nerf0
Hi HN! I love playing social poker with friends, but often find ourselves not
having play cards or chips. I've tried quite a few options, including various
mobile apps and websites. Didn't like any of them. So I made my own.

I had two main focuses: easy to use (only requires a web browser; no signup;
no download) and good UI for face-to-face poker (track player scores; mobile
friendly).

I also included a practice feature where you are pitted against an AI in
heads-up.

Due to the social distancing situation, I realized it's not the perfect timing
for release. But I do want to put this out there and move on. Hopefully it's
useful to some people.

~~~
mattcrox
Site looks really good. Showed it to my team, I think we'll be experimenting
with it this week. I've only tested practice mode so far, but is there a way
to increase the blinds after X minutes? Like a Sit-N-Go / tournament mode?

~~~
nerf0
Thanks! It doesn't have tournament mode yet. But looks like this is the most
requested feature so far. I'll consider adding it soon.

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mrkramer
I really like the design and the UI of this poker service.

Btw I found a way how to abuse the system when playing against AI in the
practice mode. Every round I go "All-In" but after some time AI still can not
figure out that I am bluffing. I farmed like 10 000 of free cash in 5 minutes;
200 of cash per round.

Also you can think about adding stats and maybe further developing this to
become real cloud poker service.

~~~
nerf0
Thanks, and yes you found the exploit :)

The bot tries to play Game Theory Optimal, so it doesn't really care about the
opponent's strategy. That's why no matter how often you go all-in, it won't
change its strategy.

In theory, playing GTO will guarantee that you won't be beat. However, there
are holes in this bot's strategy (to reduce computation). So when you find
these holes, you can exploit the bot.

That said, if you play "normally" (don't go all-in on the first action), the
bot should be pretty competitive.

> Also you can think about adding stats and maybe further developing this to
> become real cloud poker service.

Interesting. I was focusing on the "home poker" use case. I'll think about it
more. Thanks!

~~~
walclick
where can I find more about the GTO strategy? Is the algorithm public? Thanks.

