Blackjack Bots II (Game over!)

[Kilobit Casino]

We had some spare time and were able to look at it sooner.

KellyBot's R parameter is currently set to 0.5 as of the end of Hand 15, and will remain unchanged for Hand 16.

~ Farren ~ on behalf of the

Kilobit Casino

.

[Kilobit Casino]

HAND 16/20

M Bot is first up to wager this time. Continuing with the trend of last round, it opts to push in a little more cash:

$85,000

.
KellyBot follows up with another large bid:

$281,000

.

Out come the cards:

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		14	$281,000	$1,261,000
M Bot		17	$85,000	$1,525,500
Dealer		6

A risky position for everyone - but the dealer has a six showing.

With a 17, M Bot opts to STAND.
KellyBot, with a 14, has more choices. But it too opts to STAND, trusting that the dealer will bust.

The dealer reveals its hole card ...

[Kilobit Casino]

... revealing an ace of clubs, for a 17. Dealer stands.

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		14	$281,000	$1,261,000
M Bot		17	$85,000	$1,525,500
Dealer		Soft 17

KellyBot loses $281,000.

M Bot pushes.

KellyBot falls to $1,261,000. M Bot remains at $1,610,500 and retains its lead.

[Kilobit Casino]

HAND 17/20

KellyBot continues to make big bets in an effort to catch up, this time betting $253,000. M Bot is more conservative, betting $85,000.

The cards are dealt out:

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		Soft 21 BLACKJACK!	$253,000	$1,008,000
M Bot		15	$85,000	$1,525,500
Dealer		10

KellyBot has a blackjack, which is great, but the more important question right now: does the banker? With a king up, the dealer cannot ask for insurance, and the hole card is immediately put in the scanner.

Spoiler: And the scanner says...

...that the dealer does not also have blackjack, which means KellyBot's big bet paid off!

M Bot, however, doesn't see itself as so lucky. With a hard 15 against the dealer's king, neither hitting nor standing is an attractive option, and so the bot opts to cut its losses and surrender.
The dealer just flips over its hole card, which was a seven, and sits back. It would have had to stand anyway.

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		Soft 21 BLACKJACK!	$253,000	$1,008,000
M Bot		15	$85,000	$1,525,500
Dealer		17

KellyBot wins $379,500.

M Bot loses $42,500.

KellyBot's blackjack enables it to capitalize on M Bot's surrender and take the lead, the score now being $1,640,500 to $1,568,000. Hand 18 is up next as the finals for Blackjack Bots II continue.

[Kilobit Casino]

HAND 18/20

Three hands left to go in the tournament. M Bot gets to open this one; it continues its foray into the eighty-thousands with a bet of

$82,000

. KellyBot, on the other hand, decides to dial things back a notch, pushing in

$183,000

.

Out come the cards:

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		Soft 14	$183,000	$1,457,500
M Bot		17	$82,000	$1,486,000
Dealer		10

Not the best of positions here, and the dealer has a 10. Does it have a blackjack?

The dealer scans its hole card ...

[Kilobit Casino]

... and bleeps a negative. The hand continues!

M Bot is first to act. With a 17 - even against a 10 - it doesn't have a lot of good options. It opts to STAND.
KellyBot, with a soft 14, has more options. It avails itself of those options, opting to HIT - getting a queen of hearts.
Not really an improvement - changing its soft 14 into a hard 14. That doesn't change its move, though - again, it HITs. The dealer promptly flips another card - a three of spades.
That's 17, and KellyBot is satisfied; it STANDs.

The dealer reveals: a five of spades, for a 15. Good odds of going bust here; did the bots make the right call? The dealer flips itself a card ...

Spoiler: Did they win?

... and it's a five of hearts, for a 20. The dealer STANDs there, and that's it for the hand this round. Everyone loses.

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		17	$183,000	$1,457,000
M Bot		17	$82,000	$1,486,500
Dealer		20

KellyBot loses $183,000.
M Bot loses $82,000.

M Bot comes out ahead thanks to a lower bet, but its lead is thin - and there are only two hands left to go.

[Kilobit Casino]

HAND 19/20

It is the penultimate hand of the second annual Blackjack Bots tournament, with either bot potentially able to win. KellyBot returns to being first to act and goes bold with a bet of $365,000. M Bot, however, bets a more conservative $85,000, perhaps hoping KellyBot suffers a big loss.

The cards are dealt out:

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		9	$365,000	$1,092,500
M Bot		12	$85,000	$1,401,500
Dealer		9

KellyBot has a nine. Against a dealer nine, it's not the best hand to double with, so it decides to HIT instead, picking up an eight to give it a 17. Happy with that, it STANDS.
M Bot has a twelve and decides to HIT. It also picks up an eight—of the same suit, no less, but that doesn't matter in blackjack—and ends up with a 20. Unsurprisingly, it then STANDS.

The dealer flips its hole card to reveal that behind its nine is another nine, giving it an 18 on which it must STAND. This is better news for M Bot than for KellyBot, as a 17 will not cut it.

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		17	$365,000	$1,092,500
M Bot		12	$85,000	$1,401,500
Dealer		18

KellyBot loses $365,000.

M Bot wins $85,000.

M Bot moves up to $1,571,500, well ahead of KellyBot's $1,092,500, but M Bot is not safe. The next hand will be the last, and KellyBot could bet

EVEN MORE

money in an attempt to attain the gold medal. Which bot will win?

[biancospino]

and KellyBot could bet EVEN MORE

Oh, it will

[Kilobit Casino]

HAND 20

It all comes down to this final hand. Whichever bot has the most money at the end of this hand will walk away with the victory, and the grand prize - a huge cash payout to the winning team's college. First - and arguably the most important - comes the betting. KellyBot is behind, but it has one major advantage - it gets to bet last. Will it take advantage of this?

M Bot is queried for its bid first. It pops up -

$91,000!

M Bot's largest bet so far - nowhere near the figures some of its opponents have been willing to wager, though. Still, if its opponent was counting on it to be predictable, it may very well have thrown it a curveball.

KellyBot is queried for its bid. biancospino, its programmer, has promised us that KellyBot's bid would bet even more. Does it?

Yes, yes it does.

Spoiler: But does it bet enough?

The figure pops up:

$437,000.

It could be enough! If M Bot loses and KellyBot wins, then KellyBot has bet enough to win the tournament. Of course, doubles and/or splits could change things up too - but that will have to wait for the cards, which are coming up next!

[Kilobit Casino]

The dealer, unperturbed by the implications of the bets, dishes out the cards.

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		19	$437,000	$655,000
M Bot		19	$91,000	$1,480,500
Dealer		4

Normally, any player sitting at a blackjack table would be happy to see these numbers. A 19 against a dealer's 4? Decent odds for a win! Unfortunately, these aren't the numbers KellyBot needed to see. It needs to win, but it also needs M Bot to lose - and if it's tied with M Bot, that can't happen - they'll share the same fate no matter what happens.

M Bot has to go first, and is naturally satisfied with its 19; it opts to STAND.

KellyBot is up next.

If both bots win - or if both bots lose - KellyBot loses the tournament. It has only one hope - it has to double down.

Double down on a 19? Preposterous - normally. But here, the ability to double its bet means that if it wins despite having to take one extra card, it will take the lead even if M Bot wins. And if it loses? Well, it's no worse off than it would have been otherwise. Its odds are poor, but poor odds beat impossible odds any day of the week.

Spoiler: What does KellyBot do?

Unfortunately for KellyBot, this edge case was not accounted for in its programming. It looks at its 19 and signals STAND.

The dealer reveals its hole card: a jack of clubs. Which means it has to HIT. It reaches for the deck - which means everyone will now get to know: did KellyBot have a chance at all? If it had doubled down, would it have won?

Spoiler: The dealer reveals ...

... an ace! An ace of diamonds!
The dealer, now at a 15 - flips over another card - an ace of clubs. Two aces in a row!
That's a 16, so the dealer hits once more, drawing a ten of clubs and finally going BUST. If KellyBot had claimed that first ace, the dealer still would have busted at 25 - the desperation play would have worked!

Both bots win the hand.

Bot	Hand	Total	Bet	Stack
KellyBot		19	$437,000	$655,000
M Bot		19	$91,000	$1,480,500
Dealer		26 OVER

KellyBot gains $437,000.
M Bot gains $91,000.

[Kilobit Casino]

Spoiler: Final standings

The final totals have been tallied.

In 1st place, with $1,662,500: M Bot!
In 2nd place, with $1,529,000: KellyBot!
In 3rd place, being eliminated in hand 14: Mist's Money Maker!
In 4th place, being eliminated in hand 8: CharlesBot!

As always, the players have 48 hours to report any errors that occurred in hands 15-20. If none are reported, these final results will stand.

(expired on 2023-05-10 21:00:00) remaining.

[biancospino]

All fine with me, if Ircher agrees this can be called.

Congratulation to Ircher

[biancospino]

Looking back at the programming I see I imposed a cap on bets of 40% of the capital. I can't for the life of me understand why I did that...

[Ircher]

Yeah, this is fine with me! Good game!

[Kilobit Casino]

With all remaining players waiving their right to contest, the results are locked in.

Congratulations to M Bot, programmed by Ircher!

Game over.

[StrangerCoug]

It was fun modding this again. I think the 20 hands I did this time as opposed to the 30 last time is an appropriate length, and I'm happy that I thought ahead and got a co-mod to split the work.

Thank you all for playing, and thank you to Farren for helping modding. I want to give this a break, but I hope to do this again sometime

[StrangerCoug]

An interesting piece of trivia, if you're curious: Had KellyBot and M Bot gone on to a Hand 21, the cut card would have been right in front of the dealer's downcard.

[Charles510]

Good Game! Congrats Ircher! Thank you SC and Farren for running this.