Everything you need to start is free.
Every article the camps send you to is free at the red and black chips. The forms are free to copy, the badges are free to earn, and the kits cost a promise, not money. The workbook is the full version of each camp. You don’t need it to try one.
“If you can use it for free, you don’t have to buy it.”Kevin Swinson
How every camp runs
- The parableA short story with no code in it.
- The jumpFrom the story to the real table.
- Four tracksThe same job at four levels. Do yours.
- Your turnDo it yourself.
- The AI lessonWhat it means outside poker.
- Bring it backWhich chip articles go deeper.
When a camp says “the AI player,” go to Dogs Playing Poker.
Any camp work with the AI player, in any track or on any workbook page, now goes to Dogs Playing Poker. Five AI players from five different companies sit at one table as five nameless duck dogs. You can see every card and read every thought, and you can pause on any decision. Nobody signs in, nobody needs a class code, and it costs nothing.
Pausing is what makes it work in class. Stop on a move, ask the room what they would do and why, then press play and read what the dog was thinking.
- It’s a replay. The hands were played on November 5, 2026, and 500 of 1,500 were picked afterward for excitement. While you watch, nobody is thinking.
- It’s five at a table, not heads-up. The five players are the ones from the Backroom tournament. Their names stay sealed.
- Peeker is the hack. Turn it on and the winner wears a crown before anyone bets. It’s the camp’s lesson on leaked information, made visible.
- The rules robots are still free. To play a hand yourself, the robots on HoldemRobots.AI need no code.
Shopping for AI
Which AI catches the cheat? Give free AIs the same job and grade them like a teacher, before anyone buys.
Graduation
The last night at camp, and a certificate for the badges you earned the hard way.
Next Year at Camp
This year your school sent a bot to the league. Next year, what if it sent its own AI?
The workbook: one copy per class
The paperback holds the parables and every step of every track, with the Camp Forms in the back. One copy is plenty for a class: the counselor keeps the book, and the campers work from this page, the forms and their hand journal.