Power Behind IPE Training Suite's Poker Engines

If you don't already know, IPE Training Suite is a study and learning tool suitable for beginning, intermediate, and advanced Texas Hold'em players.  We wanted to learn more about this new poker training software and, lucky for us, IPE provided us with an inside look.
 
IPE did not want to do what many other poker software providers have and make the same type of educational program already in abundance on the market.  Instead, its developers set out to make something both different and impactful.
 
When deciding what to develop, IPE's programmers put a lot of thought into how poker players have many different styles of play and are at different points on their personal learning curves.  With that in mind, IPE dedicated a good amount of time to building two algorithms: a heuristic engine (HE) and an inferential engine (IE).
 
IPE Training Suite's first volume, which was just released, focuses mostly on the HE, with subsequent volumes employing the more powerful IE.  IPE explained to us about the heuristic engine: "The heuristic engine was necessary to make the program understand a basic system of play.  So, while someone was writing the HE, someone else was storing and classifying information about play systems from every media available.  This information was often redundant or contrasting or incomplete, so HE grouped them into a logical system by simplifying the redundancies."

Its developers continued, "The result was a clear and logical play system (basis) with dynamic rules that use the most recent tactics, including all types of bluffs.  We joined this system with a virtual poker room and built the first volume that just launched.  The statistical and mathematical data are used as a support for the HE system to understand the actual scenario, while another sub-algorithm, called the Simulation Engine (SE), performs powerful simulations to build virtual scenarios for the next streets.  All of this information comes back to the HE that used them to make the correct decision."
 
The HE just starts here, as it is also used to define opponent range calculations, which are needed for more complex decisions.  This is especially true for pre-flop decision-making, but is also helpful post-flop since ranging your opponents' hands can help the software determine the real potential strength of your hand.  Ranging also is essential for understanding when to float, lead, semi-bluff, value-bet, etc.
 
While the HE takes into account many different variables and uses them in a decision-making tree, the IE is where things really get interesting starting in IPE Volume 2.  The IE allows the HE to be more dynamic by adding or updating rules for the HE to follow based off your play and outcomes using the software.

IPE explained how the IE works hand-in-hand with the HE. "Let's say the HE identifies a specific situation and, therefore, explores its decisional tree to find the right move.  The IE deduced this was indeed the right move by using the rules the HE provided for that specific situation.  The IE gives the answer to the user and the IE stores the result."

Its developers continued, "If the result is wrong (the player loses or earns much less than he expected, etc.), the IE sets some alerts.  If it happens again and again the IE is inducted to think that the rules are wrong, the IE will start to change the rules by copying the entire decisional branch in many other possible branches.  The simulation engine sorts this list by putting the most effective decision on the top.  The next time the same situation occurs, the IE engine will use the new or top branch.  If the results were continuously optimal, the IE will confirm the use of these new rules, but the previous one will not be deleted, so it will be possible to perform a historical view."

As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless with where the first and future volumes of IPE will take you.  Why not see the power of IPE for yourself today?

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