The world’s smartest people worry that Artificial Intelligence will turn the human race into paper clips, but as PokerStars show in their latest innovation, they will never crack poker commentary.
I was always a Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) man myself. Due to rights issues, none of the players bore their real name, and I would spend the first week in ‘Edit Mode’ updating all the squad names.
I preferred PES over FIFA because of the quality of gameplay, but soon FIFA caught up, and EASports turned me. One of the things I loved about FIFA was the quality of the replays. I was hooked on watching the post match action, and the only thing that let it down was the commentary.
From watching your replays on FIFA to begging the byline bystander for a copy of the VHS he created of your U12 Cup Final, people love to receive an injection of ego crack by reliving the past, and PokerStars have picked up on it.
Beginning with the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) PokerStars are rolling out a new feature called PokerStars Winning Moments. Working alongside the team at Treepodia (the same outfit that worked with 888Poker on their personalised weekly videos), using algorithms and logic trees, PokerStars will provide you with a personalised video of your deep run.
PokerStars will create the videos for people who make the final table of particular WCOOP No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) final tables. Each video indicates winnings, participants, and what your ITM position was.
The cream of the content is the way AI manages to select the key hands and then using a combination of online and live production, gives you a rerun of the action.
First Thoughts?
I took a look at a video created for Jaime Staples after beating 1,623 entrants to win $7,024 in the Hot $33, and think it’s a brilliant idea. The recreational players will find great value in them, although I don’t think the grinders will give a monkey’s.
My only gripe, like FIFA, is the commentary. The voice over provided by James Hartigan is seamless, but Joe Stapleton sounds like a cross between a Dalek and Stephen Hawking. I started to peel my fingernails off after two minutes.
But it’s early doors, and PokerStars is encouraging people to provide feedback so they can test and fine tune the product.
Here is how it works:
When you qualify for a PokerStars Winning Moment, you receive a social media friendly link via email directing you to your video.
Going forward, the plan is to provide everybody with a video if they cash in an event 100 times the buy-in. All videos are in English, and the software only works on NLHE games.
Here is an example of the Staples video, what do you think?
