PokerStars integrates new AI-powered technology to assist players

PokerStars’ global ambassador, Lex Veldhuis, is fronting the operator’s latest initiative, a training tool known as Level Up With Lex.

The new function, which uses AI to analyse poker hands, features a uniquely tailored training video starring Veldhuis, a Dutch professional poker player and popular streamer who has amassed 289,000 followers on Twitch.

Level up with Lex is designed to provide advice based on users’ real money Spin & Go games, the lottery-style jackpot games involving three players where the cash prize is randomly assigned before the contest begins.

The personalised videos inform the user what hands they should have played and those they should have folded. The video will also analyse the strength of a player’s hand through the flop, the turn and the river card.

PokerStars, which claims this is the “first large-scale, consumer-facing use of AI for online poker of its kind”, says the videos – based on proprietary machine learning – are designed to help educate players as to whether their actions were correct or not.

Lex, who has career earnings of $2.8m on PokerStars according to online poker ranking site PocketFives, insists the technology is a gamechanger and could help new people get into the game as well as assisting those who already have knowledge.

“Learning poker strategy as a beginner can be challenging as there’s so many resources out there, but Level Up With Lex gives clear and simple advice that’s easy to take on board, meaning players get the most out of their time at the tables.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work and effort and I’m looking forward to seeing players benefiting from this technology.”

Level Up With Lex follows a trend in recent years of poker operators deploying tools to educate online players in a bid to protect the poker ecosystem so that the less skilled players aren’t simply devoured by the so-called sharks.