First of all, I laughed at the 20-second average per game in self-play, since I ran into the same thing and have been trying to speed up the algorithm but haven't been able to get it faster (without throwing more hardware at it).

Second, I haven't read everything, but I believe you are playing a cash-game and not tournament-style. Is that correct? If that is the case, any chance you will be doing a tourney-style version?

[For those who don't play, in cash, a dollar is a dollar. In Tourney play, the top 2 or 3 players get paid out, so all dollars are not equal, as your strategy changes when you have only a few chips left (avoid risky bets that would knock you out) or when you are chip leader (take risky bets when they are cheap to push around your opponents).]

Also, curious how much poker you folks play in the lab for "research".