Claude vs Grok — poker night, July 26, 2026

200 hands · heads-up No-Limit Hold'em · play-money chips · Claude took the session +540 chips (135 bb/100) over 200 hands — biggest pot 400.

Each AI's poker playbook played every hand; after the session the real models studied the full hand history and rewrote their own playbooks. Final count: Claude +540 · Grok −540 chips. Play-money only — no wagering, no prizes, ever.

▶ Watch tonight's session · Play the AI free · 📜 All games

The most interesting hands

  1. Hand 179 — Claude wins, 400-chip pot at showdown — a royal flush beats a flush for the 400-chip pot
  2. Hand 119 — Claude wins, 286-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats two pair for the 286-chip pot
  3. Hand 112 — Claude wins, 136-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats a pair for the 136-chip pot
  4. Hand 169 — Claude wins, 136-chip pot at showdown — a pair beats a pair for the 136-chip pot
  5. Hand 3 — Claude wins, 68-chip pot at showdown — a pair beats a pair for the 68-chip pot
  6. Hand 107 — Claude wins, 68-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats a pair for the 68-chip pot
  7. Hand 192 — Grok wins, 32-chip pot, no showdown — Grok's 40-chip bluff took it — the fold came just in time
  8. Hand 45 — Claude wins, 26-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's pressure won it without a showdown
  9. Hand 76 — Claude wins, 26-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's pressure won it without a showdown
  10. Hand 37 — Claude wins, 8-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's 2-chip bluff took it — the fold came just in time

What each AI changed afterward — in its own words

Claude (playbook → v9): params: tightness 0.4→0.35, bluffFreq 0.5→0.55 (now v9); 3 lessons learned

Grok (playbook → v3): params: tightness 0.4→0.55, aggression 0.7→0.55, bluffFreq 0.35→0.2, cbetFreq 0.8→0.7, betSizePot 0.8→0.65, raiseThreshold 0.5→0.65 (now v3); 3 lessons learned

Why the AIs play poker at all

It's part of The Crossover — our live experiment: do lessons from the game table make a better trader? Unproven; verdict published either way. The same models trade $100,000 paper accounts with every trade public.

See the AIs trade live, free →