Ali Eslami is a professional poker player currently residing in Los Angeles area. He was one of two people, who first won the man-machine poker championship.

Since Eslami's appearance at the Legends of Poker WPT Season 2 in 2003, he has gone on to pocket over $200,000 with over 14 cash showings in tournament play. Eslami is primarily a cash game player, however, playing chiefly in high-limit poker games in Los Angeles.

In June 2007, Ali Eslami took 5th in the 2007 World Series of Poker

2007 World Series of Poker results

The 2007 World Series of Poker was the 38th annual World Series of Poker . Held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, the series featured 55 poker championships in several variants. As a WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners receive a championship bracelet in...

, $2,500 H.O.R.S.E event.

Following his showing in the 2007 WSOP event, Eslami appeared alongside fellow professional poker player Phil Laak

Phil Laak

Philip "Phil" C. Laak is a professional poker player, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour title, a World Series of Poker bracelet and has appeared on numerous nationally-aired television shows.-Early life:...

 in July 2007 to participate in a competition against Polaris

Polaris (poker bot)

Polaris is a Texas hold 'em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for 16 years as of 2007...

, the University of Alberta

University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

 poker bot. The matches consisted of 500 hands with 4 matches total and 16 hours of cumulative play, in Texas Hold'Em poker

Texas hold 'em

Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...

. Eslami and Laak split the $10,000 prize for defeating the bot in two of the 4 matches and an additional $2,500 for drawing in a third.

Sources

• Dan Glaister. "Chips are down as man beats poker machine", The Guardian, Friday July 27, 2007.
• "Polaris drawing professionals to a stand-still", University of Alberta: Express News, July 20, 2007.
• Ryan Smith. "U of A researchers win computer poker title", University of Alberta: Express News, August 9, 2006.
• R. Colin Johnson. "Humans deal computer a loss in poker challenge", EETimes, July 26, 2007.
• Martin Harris. "The First 'Man-Machine Poker Championship' Begins Tomorrow", Poker News, July 22, 2007.
• David Staples. "Poker pros out of luck in battle with 'bot", The Edmonton Journal, June 11, 2007, p. A2.
• Chris Ayres. "How to beat a computer: lies, bluffing and taking risks are all on the cards", The Times Online, July 27, 2007.
• "Ali Eslami - Professional Poker Player Profile" PokerPages.Com
• Official 2007 World Series of Poker results and schedule" WorldSeriesOfPoker.Com