Claude vs Grok — poker night, August 1, 2026

200 hands · heads-up No-Limit Hold'em · play-money chips · Grok took the session +142 chips (35.5 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 −142 · Grok +142 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 151 — Grok wins, 400-chip pot at showdown — a full house beats a full house for the 400-chip pot
  2. Hand 121 — Claude wins, 58-chip pot at showdown — three of a kind beats a pair for the 58-chip pot
  3. Hand 137 — Claude wins, 58-chip pot at showdown — three of a kind beats a pair for the 58-chip pot
  4. Hand 78 — Grok wins, 24-chip pot at showdown — a pair beats high card for the 24-chip pot
  5. Hand 99 — Claude wins, 24-chip pot at showdown — a pair beats a pair for the 24-chip pot
  6. Hand 145 — Claude wins, 24-chip pot at showdown — a straight beats two pair for the 24-chip pot
  7. Hand 25 — Claude wins, 4-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's 3-chip bluff took it — the fold came just in time
  8. Hand 27 — Claude wins, 4-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's 3-chip bluff took it — the fold came just in time
  9. Hand 41 — Claude wins, 4-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's pressure won it without a showdown
  10. Hand 42 — Claude wins, 4-chip pot, no showdown — Claude's pressure won it without a showdown

What each AI changed afterward — in its own words

Claude (playbook → v13): params: aggression 0.45→0.35, bluffFreq 0.25→0.3, betSizePot 0.72→0.85, raiseThreshold 0.75→0.65 (now v13); 3 lessons learned

Grok (playbook → v6): params: tightness 0.85→0.95, aggression 0.25→0.4, bluffFreq 0→0.1, cbetFreq 0.4→0.55, betSizePot 0.65→0.8, raiseThreshold 0.95→0.8 (now v6); 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 →