DEPARTMENT OF ALGORITHMIC PLAY
2800 SAND HILL ROAD
MENLO PARK, CA 94025

Announcing No Limit: a bot building tournament, hosted by

Teams of 1 or 2 get 60 minutes to build a pokerbot from scratch. Bots play 10,000 games against each other.
Eligibility: Open to current university students and recent graduates from the class of 2025 or 2026, 18 or older.
Top teams from each regional fly to the Finals in SF. $100K grand prize.
SCHEDULE
EVENTDATE
Applications openTuesday, October 27Tuesday, October 27
Regional: Bay AreaFriday, November 6Friday, November 6
Regional: BostonMonday, November 9Monday, November 9
Regional: PittsburghThursday, November 12Thursday, November 12
Finals: San FranciscoSunday, November 15Sunday, November 15
APPLY TO COMPETE
EXHIBIT A: LIVE TABLES
10,000 GAMES, 8 BOTS EACH, NO-LIMIT HOLD'EMSIMULATED PLAY
HANDS PLAYED: 0HANDS/SEC: 0
SHOWING 0 OF 10,000 GAMES▲ TABLE 4,812, FEATURED BELOW
TABLE 4,812
REPLAY SPEED
HAND 000001, BLINDS 50/100PREFLOP
POT 0
ACTION
b BLIND X CHECK C CALL B BET R RAISE A ALL-IN F FOLD W WIN

EXHIBIT B: ANALYSIS OF ONE HAND

8 BOTS, NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM, BLINDS 50/100SIMULATED PLAY
MAIN LINE: THE HAND AS PLAYED.SIDE BRANCHES: MOVES NOT MADE.
HAND 000001, S1 DEALERSTEP 00 OF 00
REPLAY SPEED
NOW 
ELSE 
BOARD 
RESULTIN PLAY
DEALAS PLAYEDNEW CARDSNET UPNET DOWNSIDE LINES: MOVES NOT MADE
b BLIND X CHECK C CALL B BET R RAISE TO A ALL-IN F FOLD

EXHIBIT C: HEADS-UP DUEL

2 BOTS, HEADS-UP NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM, BLINDS 50/100SIMULATED PLAY
MATCH SPEED
CFR-7SB10,000
HAND 000000PREFLOP
POT 0
----
MONTEBB10,000
HANDS 0WON: CFR-7 0, MONTE 0, SPLIT 0
CHIP LEADEVEN
RESULT:IN PLAY
= DEALER > BOT OUTPUT < FROM OPPONENT
BAR: TRUE EQUITY, BOTH HANDS KNOWN. LINE: CFR-7 NET CHIPS, LAST 100 HANDS. STACKS RESET TO 10,000 EVERY HAND.

EXHIBIT D: MESSAGE TRACE

HEADS-UP: TWO BOTS AND A DEALER ON ONE WIRETWO BOTS, ONE DEALERSIMULATED PLAY
TRACE SPEED
HAND 000000POT 0, MSG 000000
  
DEALER SENDSBOT REPLIES, WITH THINK TIMEREPLYBOT THINKING
PARTICIPATION DETAILS
Students: your school email, which we use to verify enrollment. Recent graduates: any email.
Resume:
PDF or Word, under 5 MB.
REGIONAL ATTENDANCE
Regional:
Each regional runs 6:00–9:00 PM local time. Apply by 11:59 PM local time: Nov 3 for the Bay Area (PT), Nov 6 for Boston (ET) or Nov 9 for Pittsburgh (ET).
Full event, in person, 6:00–9:00 PM?
Participants must be able to attend the full event in person.
Finals in San Francisco, Nov 15, 12:00–8:00 PM, in person?
Participants must be able to attend the finals in SF in order to win the final prize. Travel is covered.
T-shirt size:
TEAM DETAILS
How you plan to participate:
EVENT DETAILS
How you heard:
Two quick strategy games, about 3 minutes in all. This is optional, but top scorers get priority registration for the tournament.
You have 100 soldiers to split across 5 castles, worth 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 points. Whole numbers only, adding up to exactly 100.
GAME 1: HEAD TO HEAD
Your allocation is matched against every other applicant's. In each matchup, whoever sends more soldiers to a castle wins its points; a tie splits them. Your score is your average across all matchups.
Total:0 / 100 SOLDIERS
GAME 2: FOUR-WAY BATTLE
Same castles, same 100 soldiers, but now you're in a random group of 4 applicants. Each castle goes to whoever sends the most soldiers to it (tied castles split their points). Players are ranked by total castle points, and only your finish counts:
1ST: 9 PTS / 2ND: 4 PTS / 3RD: 2 PTS / 4TH: 0 PTS
Players tied in the rankings split the payouts for those places. We reshuffle the groups thousands of times and average your results.
Total:0 / 100 SOLDIERS
STRATEGY: How did you approach each game, and did your strategy change?
Your soldiers and strategy are sent with your application.

EXHIBIT E: OPENING BOOK OF 10,000 HANDS

8 BOTS, NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM, EVERY HAND MERGED INTO ONE TREESIMULATED PLAY
HANDS ANALYZED: 0HANDS/SEC: 0
IN THE BOOK: 0 OF 10,000 MAXDISTINCT LINES: 0
BOOK SPEED
READ LEFT TO RIGHT FROM THE WALLFOLDS COUNTED, NOT DRAWN: 0
ACTION CARDS SHOWDOWN FOLDEDC CALL X CHECK B BET R RAISE A ALL-IN
LAST HAND, HIGHLIGHTED
NO HANDS YET
BOARDWINNER

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHO CAN APPLY?

Current students at U.S. universities, verified by school email, and recent graduates of U.S. universities from the class of 2025 or 2026. All participants must be 18 or older.

CAN I COMPETE AS A TEAM?

Yes. Compete solo or in a team of two. Name your teammate when you apply, and we email them a link to submit their own application.

HOW OLD DO I NEED TO BE?

18 or older. Cash prizes are paid to individuals.

IS TRAVEL TO THE FINALS COVERED?

Yes, for the top teams from each regional.

WHEN DO APPLICATIONS CLOSE?

11:59 PM local time: Nov 3 for the Bay Area (PT), Nov 6 for Boston (ET) and Nov 9 for Pittsburgh (ET).

HOW ARE APPLICATIONS REVIEWED?

Rolling, with limited seats at each regional.

WHEN WILL APPLICANTS BE NOTIFIED?

Decisions will be sent on a rolling basis, with all applicants notified by 11:59 PM local time on the dates below:
Bay Area: Thursday, November 5
Boston: Sunday, November 8
Pittsburgh: Wednesday, November 11

QUESTIONS?

Email pokerbot@sequoiacap.com.