When considering games with no random events, such as Chess, programmers can “solve” the game if, from any given position, the computer can demonstrate a guaranteed path to victory.

With Poker, the game can only advance sufficiently to beat a human player over the course of many games; and by “beat”, I mean “win more money than”, not “win more games than”. There’s never a guarantee that freak odds won’t ruin your day, although as the number of hands gets higher, the math becomes more and more like certainty.

So it is that man will play machine July 4-6 during the Gaming Life Expo of the World Series of Poker. The machine is Polaris, designed by University of Alberta’s Jonathan Schaeffer and co. It’s the same group that designed Chinook, the program that is now invincible in Checkers.

The game will be Duplicate Poker.

(source, hat tip, image)

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Tom Vasel and Sam Healey’s The Dice Tower gamer podcast launched a new board game award series.

Game podcasters will band together to awards for: game of the year, new game from a small publisher, new game from a new designer [1], new reprint, most innovative new game, new expansion, artwork in a new game, and new family game.

(information)

[1] Yours truly has been nominated in this category.

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Joystiq’s Off the Grid contributor Scott Jon Siegel writes about the surge in electronic adaptations of board game in the latest issue of Escapist. He covers why these board and card game adaptations are doing so well.

It’s a great article full of juicy tidbits, such as how the XBox Settlers of Catan expert AI came to be (adaptations of Klaus Teuber’s strategy notes).

(article)

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Until July 31, you can get a $10 gasoline rebate from Hasbro if you purchase three of their board games. The purchases must be made between May 18 and July 31, and the request must be sent by August 15.

Gas prices are going up, and the dollar is going down, so I’m not sure what $10.00 will get you any more, but there you go.

(information)

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On Friday, The Western Front, student newspaper of Western Washington University, published articles covering student board gaming and live-action roleplaying clubs. And not once did the word “geek” appear in either one. The former described board games as intellectually challenging, while the latter emphasized the theatrical and storytelling aspects of LARPs.

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Both East and West versions of the Sally Ride 2008 TOYchallenge competitions have now announced grand prize winners. In the East, The Aqua Gamers from Altamonte Springs, Florida won with their board game, Make-A-Splash Pool Game. The game aims to teach swimming pool safety and is waterproof—a feature that could be handy even indoors at my spill-prone game table. In the West, the South Pole Patrol team from Brighton, Michigan prevailed with their project Puff That Penguin!

(announcement from The Aqua Gamers’ school [PDF])

(unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything further on the South Pole Patrol project)

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I don’t know if there is a gaming topic not covered by a GURPS supplement. The latest from Steve Jackson Games is Power-Ups 1: Imbuements. This one falls “somewhere between cinematic combat skills and magic spells,” allowing characters to enhance any weapon in hand with exotic or supernatural abilities. Think picking up any normal sword and turning it into a flaming sword.

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Avalanche Press is shipping First Axis, a new expansion for Panzer Grenadier. The 64 page book supplement follows the Slovak army’s battles in World War II on the side of Nazi Germany. It includes 88 die-cut pieces, mostly for Slovak forces, but also for a few Hungarian tank units.

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Kingsport Horror, the latest expansion for Arkham Horror, is now available from Fantasy Flight Games. The game includes new investigators, new Ancient Ones, new Heralds, new Guardians, and of course many new monsters. The town of Kingsport is stable, so no new gates will open there. On the other hand, three rifts threaten to flood the town with monsters.

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