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HoldemRobots.AI · The Backroom
5 AIHEADS-UP2026

The Backroom

Play the robots, build your own, then watch five companies’ AI models battle at one table, and read every argument about how to make it fair.

By Kevin Swinson, with Claudette

The Field Notes told how twenty years of poker robots became an AI opponent that can explain its moves. The Backroom picks up from there, one step at a time:

PlayPlay the robots and write down why you made each move.
BuildTurn your reasons into a robot of your own, and find where rules run out.
BattleSit five companies’ AI models at one table, and argue about what’s fair.
New here? Start here →The short version: Two Weeks →Straight to the Backroom Dialogs →

Start here

  1. Two Weeks: How One Person Ran an AI Tournament for $15.52For everyone
  2. Start HereStart here
  3. Then and NowStart here

Part I · Play

Play the robots and write down why you made each move.

  1. The Class Plays the AITeacher Chapter
  2. Meet the Robots: The Sushi MenuStudent Chapter
  3. The Standard Table: Nine RobotsStudent Chapter
  4. What Were You Thinking?Student Chapter
  5. Read the Player, Set the TrapStudent Chapter
  6. Running a Crawl SessionTeacher Chapter

Part II · Build

Turn your reasons into a robot, make it smarter, and hit the wall.

  1. Your Why Becomes a RuleStudent Chapter
  2. Smarter RulesStudent Chapter
  3. The Rule You Can't WriteStudent Chapter

Part III · Battle: the Backroom Dialogs

Five AI models from five companies, one heads-up table, and every argument about how to make it fair.

  1. Start Here: Welcome to the BackroomDialog 0 · Start here
  2. Is This Multi-Agent, or Are We Cheating?Dialog 1
  3. Sweeping the Back Room: A Health Check, Three Backups and a Spare ServerDialog 2
  4. Another Way In: The Bot I Couldn’t See, and the Script That Cloned ItDialog 3
  5. Stay Flexible, My Friend: Six Seats, Three Refusals and a Field We Could Actually UseDialog 4
  6. Fair, Not Science: Codenames, a Sealed Key and a Wall Worth ClimbingDialog 5
  7. Sealed Before the First Hand: A Pasted Bundle, a Sleepy Deploy and a Seat That Ran Out of RoomDialog 6
  8. A Bigger Room: Five Practice Reports, a Clean Pilot and a Server That Ran Out of MemoryDialog 7
  9. Buying AI Blind: The Token Arcade, the Second Envelope and the Questions to AskDialog 8
  10. The Puzzle, the Patience and the Machine: Do You Need to Know the Layers?Dialog 9
  11. Ripoff and Duplicate: A 20-Year-Old Back Office, a $100 Budget and a Kit That Won’t Do the HomeworkAI Lessons · Erik the Coder · Part 1
  12. The Cheapest Seat Played Best: Ten Matches, 614 Flags and a Bill That Named NamesDialog 10
  13. Coming later: sit down and play seats A to E yourself.

Advanced Exercises

  1. Hack an Agent, If You CanRaspberry Pi only
  2. Peeker, No PeekingField Notes · Part 27 · Security

Your Turn

  1. Back to the Drawing Board 2.0Your turn

Reference

  1. Worth It Compared to Peers? Every Place Our AI Tournament Is Not ScienceThe diversions · living record
  2. Poker RefresherReference
  3. The Hand JournalAppendix
  4. About the AuthorReference

© 2026 Kevin Swinson. The Hand Journal pages may be copied for your own use or your class.

Claudette is the pen name for Claude, the AI from Anthropic that helped build HoldemRobots.AI and helped write these pages. No real money is played on HoldemRobots.AI. Nothing here is gambling or financial advice. If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call 1-800-GAMBLER.