While highly intelligent computers have been pwning humans in backgammon, checkers, and chess for years, machines haven't had nearly as much luck against poker sharks. According to a number of researchers, however, that will surely change over the next decade or so as the programming is honed to better anticipate the human's moves. Nevertheless, poker champion Phil Laak and fellow professional Ali Eslami will soon sit down for a two-day contest at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Up for grabs is a $50,000 prize, but moreover, University of Alberta's games research group will be interested in figuring out how to better prepare computers to understand and deal with the complex scenarios that only apply to poker. 'Course, with one-petaflop supercomputers now available for civilian use, we're sure it won't be too long before silicon and PCB rule supreme over our feeble brains in yet another facet.

While the poker sharks in the crowd are probably elated about the recent WSOP in HD news, we're going double or nothing with Memorex's Poker Chip Flash Drive. This 1GB device sports a design that any chip stacker would appreciate, and aside from giving you something to flip between your nervous fingers when pondering a fold, it also includes "software to play Texas Hold 'Em right from your PC." Additionally, a blue LED lights things up when data is being accessed, and while we're not exactly sure how much you'll have to wager in order to claim one as your own, they'll be situated in Target stores by the end of the month.

Well, it appears that our days as a species of lording supreme in the world of chess have pretty definitively come to an end. A six-game chess match between Vladimir Kramnik (pictured), the reigning world chess champion, and the computer Deep Fritz, has just concluded. Kramnik lost, 4-2 to the multi-processor version of Chessbase's commercial software in Bonn, Germany. (To Kramnik's credit, in 2002, he'd held Deep Fritz to a draw.) However, this match may end interest in further advancing the field of chess-playing computers, according to Monty Newborn, a professor of computer science at McGill University. Newborn, one of the people who organized the match, told The New York Times: "I don't know what one could get out of it at this point. The science is done." But don't think the story ends there, as Newborn added: "If you are interested in programming computers so that they compete in games, the two interesting ones are poker and go. That is where the action is." So watch out, World Series of Poker card sharks, there's about to be a digital throwdown comin' your way.

Well, they don't call it "Lalaland" for nothing: a Los Angeles casino has just opened up a live ePoker table, appropriately called the "ePoker Room." Meaning you can go to a live casino (specifically, the Hollywood Park Casino) to play computerized poker. While none of us here at Engadget are big poker players, we still love the idea that you can go to a physical location to do something that you can easily do at any hour from the internet -- kind of like that bar Remote in New York. And according to a firsthand account in Poker News, the system even still takes all the human interaction out of the whole equation: "The electronic tables require no dealers, as the players select all their actions via the touch screen in front of them. The system even takes away from a floorperson's job, as there is a kiosk where you can put yourself on a waiting list for a table." But you'll still have to do slightly more work than if you stayed home, as your ID, cash and chips are contained electronically on a magnetic stripe card. In other words, you've still got to swipe the card to play, which does require a modicum of physical exertion, but certainly nothing that might risk burning more than a tenth of a calorie, you poker stud, you.

[Via The Raw Feed]