Opportunity brief
About the Event:
Test your algorithmic trading and game theory skills in Pokerbots, a high-stakes algorithmic bot competition!
Teams must code an autonomous Python bot to compete in a custom poker variant designed with modified Texas Hold'em mechanics to prevent the use of public repositories.
Technical & Runtime Constraints:
- Environment: Python 3.11.
- Allowed Libraries: Standard Python libraries, NumPy, and SciPy only (no pip installations allowed at runtime).
- Compute Limits: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, read-only filesystem, and zero network access.
- Time Bank: Cumulative time bank per match (~60 seconds for 400 hands) with a hard wall-clock kill. Crashes or exhausted time banks result in match forfeiture.
- Communication Protocol: Bots operate automatically via a predefined stdin/stdout protocol.
Tournament Structure & Progression:
All matches utilize duplicate deals (playing every deal twice with swapped seats) to mitigate luck and seat advantage.
- Stage 1 (Swiss Qualifier): Valid bots play 6 rounds of ~200 duplicate deals (400 hands). Match points: 1 for Win, 0.5 for Draw, 0 for Loss.
- Stage 2 (Top 32 Finals): The top 32 qualifying teams advance to a full round-robin stage (~500 duplicate deals each). Scores reset prior to this stage.
- Tie-Breakers: Calculated using a capped chips per hand formula.
Rules & Regulations:
- Team Size: Teams must consist of exactly 2 members. An individual can only be on one team.
- Submissions: Teams can re-upload/overwrite submissions until November 15th at 23:59 IST. Only the last valid upload counts.
- Fair Play & Code Review: Code copying, collusion, and network calls are strictly prohibited. Winners' source code will undergo a thorough manual review prior to prize payouts.
Evaluation Criteria:
- Duplicate Deal Performance: Match points accrued during the Swiss Qualifier and final standings in the round-robin stage.