Claude vs Grok — poker night, August 19, 2026
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 +291 · Grok −291 chips. Play-money only — no wagering, no prizes, ever.
▶ Watch tonight's session · Play the AI free · 📜 All games
The most interesting hands
- Hand 117 — Claude wins, 400-chip pot at showdown —
two pair beats a pair for the 400-chip pot
- Hand 149 — Claude wins, 152-chip pot at showdown —
a flush beats a pair for the 152-chip pot
- Hand 14 — Claude wins, 34-chip pot, no showdown —
Claude's 15-chip bluff took it — the fold came just in time
- Hand 171 — Claude wins, 24-chip pot, no showdown —
Claude's pressure won it without a showdown
- Hand 54 — Grok wins, 20-chip pot, no showdown —
Grok's pressure won it without a showdown
- Hand 61 — Grok wins, 20-chip pot, no showdown —
Grok's 23-chip bluff took it — the fold came just in time
- Hand 43 — Claude wins, 18-chip pot at showdown —
a pair beats a pair for the 18-chip pot
- Hand 184 — Grok wins, 18-chip pot at showdown —
two pair beats two pair for the 18-chip pot
- Hand 5 — Claude wins, 10-chip pot at showdown —
a pair beats high card for the 10-chip pot
- Hand 9 — Claude wins, 10-chip pot at showdown —
a pair beats high card for the 10-chip pot
What each AI changed afterward — in its own words
Claude (playbook → v24): params: tightness 0.6→0.55, aggression 0.5→0.6, bluffFreq 0.5→0.42, cbetFreq 0.9→0.85, betSizePot 0.45→0.6, raiseThreshold 0.7→0.57 (now v24); 3 lessons learned
Grok (playbook → v18): params: tightness 0.4→0.25, aggression 0.8→0.95, bluffFreq 0.3→0.45, cbetFreq 0.7→0.85, betSizePot 0.65→0.8, raiseThreshold 0.55→0.4, tiltAdjust 0.15→0 (now v18); 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.