Strengths
Extremely solid play
In the learning process, bad moves and very unsuccessful betting lines that cost a lot of EV have a big impact on the neural network. At all costs the neural network tries to avoid playing blunders (big errors) and will adapt accordingly. As a result, PokerSnowie is very aware of situations where one certain action is absolutely right or where one certain action absolutely must not be played. PokerSnowie will not make bad calls or raises out of despair, and is not susceptible to 'tilt'.
It plays a very disciplined game and does not give away EV to its opponents easily.
This alone is a big advantage over human players. Even pros make big errors quite regularly. Sometimes they play on too many tables at the same time, ending up unable to concentrate 100% on every single hand. Other times they make their decisions in the few seconds available, and only upon longer reflection would they agree with PokerSnowie's advice.
Very balanced play
PokerSnowie has to defend itself against exploiting agents all the time. Each time a part of PokerSnowie's strategy is not correctly balanced, it is punished by the agents. PokerSnowie cannot focus on a single hand and how to play it; it has to construct proper hand ranges for every game decision. In any situation, for example, the fold percentage over the whole hand range should not be so high that opponents could just run over PokerSnowie and profitably raise with garbage. At the same time, PokerSnowie should avoid paying off too much to the opponents' strong hands. The same balance is needed for bets and raises: if the ratio between bluffs and values is not correct, a hefty punishment is the reward.
We think it's safe to say that PokerSnowie plays an extremely well balanced game.
Difficult to read
There are two factors concerning why PokerSnowie is so difficult to read. It keeps you guessing all the time: does PokerSnowie really hold a strong hand or will I end up folding the best hand?
First of all, there is no tell given by the bet size. The same bet size is used for the whole hand range. Whether the actual hand is a bluff or a monster has no effect on the bet size.
The second factor is PokerSnowie's balance. If PokerSnowie checks, it does so with a range that leaves you in the dark. If it bets or raises, it holds a good mixture between bluff and value hands.
Strengths
PokerSnowie has the freedom to learn whatever strategy it can come up with. There are no limitations given by expert rules or anything else. As it turns out, PokerSnowie has successfully learned all theoretically known concepts and strategies, and has built up an impressive repertoire of strategic weapons!
Here is an incomplete list of learned strategies:
Bluffing
an obvious concept for PokerSnowie. As bluffing often works, it was one of the first things PokerSnowie learned
Check-raising
a basic principle that can be well applied if the checking range is correctly balanced
Slow-play
knowing that fast play often scares away the opponent, PokerSnowie sometimes slow-plays strong hands
Semi-bluffs
if there is a choice of hands to use for bluffing, PokerSnowie always prefers hands with outs to improve to the best hand and makes semi-bluffs instead of pure bluffs
Inducing bluffs
PokerSnowie checks more often than most humans and so creates bigger pots when the opponent is weak
Controlling the pot size
out of position with medium hands, PokerSnowie often plays passive, but therefore maintains good control of the pot size
Implied odds
PokerSnowie is aware of implied odds and sometimes prefers hands with a lower winning percentage but higher implied odds
Positional awareness
full ring game pre-flop is quite a positional game, and PokerSnowie shows quite drastic strategy changes depending on the position
Floats
in certain situations, PokerSnowie calls with surprisingly weak hands. The reason is that many times a bluff on the next street will be successful
Bet sizing
PokerSnowie adapts the bet sizes according to the exact situation. Different sizes are chosen if PokerSnowie sits in or out of position, if it's a probe bet ...