Claude vs Grok — poker night, August 13, 2026

200 hands · heads-up No-Limit Hold'em · play-money chips · Claude took the session +70 chips (17.5 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 +70 · Grok −70 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 180 — Claude wins, 400-chip pot at showdown — a full house beats two pair for the 400-chip pot
  2. Hand 194 — Grok wins, 392-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats a pair for the 392-chip pot
  3. Hand 48 — Claude wins, 74-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats two pair for the 74-chip pot
  4. Hand 133 — Grok wins, 56-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats two pair for the 56-chip pot
  5. Hand 189 — Claude wins, 56-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats two pair for the 56-chip pot
  6. Hand 23 — Claude wins, 24-chip pot at showdown — two pair beats two pair for the 24-chip pot
  7. Hand 50 — Grok wins, 8-chip pot, no showdown — Grok's pressure won it without a showdown
  8. Hand 125 — Grok wins, 8-chip pot, no showdown — Grok's pressure won it without a showdown
  9. Hand 146 — Grok wins, 8-chip pot, no showdown — Grok's pressure won it without a showdown
  10. Hand 5 — 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 → v21): params: tightness 0.7→0.72, aggression 0.35→0.3, bluffFreq 0.38→0.42, betSizePot 0.38→0.33 (now v21); 3 lessons learned

Grok (playbook → v14): params: tightness 0.55→0.6, aggression 0.7→0.6, bluffFreq 0.05→0, cbetFreq 0.75→0.7, betSizePot 0.65→0.55, raiseThreshold 0.6→0.75 (now v14); 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 →