Interview with the developer of the AI poker bot and advisor PokerX
Today we are going to interview Alex Kozikov, the developer of the AI poker bot and PokerX advisor and assistant. Aleksey is one of the founders of the company and has been working with us for more than 8 years.
PokerBotAI: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into programming and machine learning in poker?
Aleksey Kozikov: Of course, I was interested in computer technologies from my childhood and started to learn the basics of programming from the age of 6, when I had my first computer – Kompanyon 2 (ZX Spectrum analogue). After school I went to university and got my degree in computer science. Now I have been working as a software developer for more than 12 years. My first projects were mathematical and statistical calculations for navigational systems, but as I’m a poker fan I also tried my hand at coding poker software. I only started using neural networks and artificial intelligence in my work in the last 5 years when I became interested in using these technologies to improve my own online poker results. Machine learning has made huge leaps in recent years, as you can see in the examples with MidJourney, ChatGPT and other public AI products. Whereas previously we only used CPU server capacity, now we lease and buy Tesla series Nvidia GPUs for our computations.
PokerBotAI: Can you tell us about a project you’re currently working on?
Aleksey Kozikov: At the moment I’m working on a “Brain” – a universal software system and interface which processes tens of thousands of poker games around the world in real time. There are several such “brains” depending on game types, limits, poker rooms and geography. The coding team also handles our PokerX poker tipster and poker bot, which use neural networks and AI to predict poker hands and opponent actions with the help of “brains”. The goal is to provide players with valuable information and strategies to increase their chances of winning. Poker is a game of probability, and math and statistics work great here.
PokerBotAI: Can you tell us about the process of creating such “brains” to make poker bots work?
Aleksey Kozikov: Of course, the first step was to collect a huge dataset of past poker hands and their results. Then I used that data to train a neural network model. The model analyzes the data and learns to recognize patterns and make predictions about future hands. I also applied a genetic algorithm to fine-tune the model and improve its accuracy. All the time our operations department is testing different types of builds on different live poker rooms, and this data is also automatically processed by the system to improve and increase winrate.
PokerBotAI: How does the AI poker bot work in practice?
Aleksey Kozikov: PokerX advisor works by analyzing the current state of the game, including the cards on the table and the behavior patterns and bets of other players. It then sends this information to the “brain” to predict the results of the hand and suggests a strategy for the player to follow. The player can decide to take the tip or not, depending on his own opinion and experience. This can also happen automatically – the poker bot allows you to automate all the game actions in poker completely, or partially.
PokerBotAI: How has PokerX bot been received by the poker community?
Aleksey Kozikov: PokerX advisor and assistant has been very well received by the poker community, for 2022 as far as I know it’s the most popular and best selling product from PokerBotAI. Many players have reported an improvement in their results and win rate after using it. This has been especially noticeable at Pokerrrr 2, Suprema Poker and HHPoker poker rooms. Some professional poker players also use it as a tool to gain a competitive edge.
PokerBotAI: What are your plans for 2023, what should we be looking forward to?
Aleksey Kozikov: We’re constantly working on improving the accuracy and efficiency of the AI model. I also plan to add more features and functions to the poker advisor, such as real-time showdown analysis of hands and dynamic adjustments and strategy choices based on player performance. Definitely new supported poker rooms will be added, poker bot and assistant for ClubGG will appear in the coming days. New rooms are selected depending on the needs of our clients, the size of the “field”, the difficulty of circumventing security systems and the presence of competition. We are working on Heads-up poker, expanding support for OFC, PLO4 and PLO5 to our current poker rooms.