Efficient Poker Hand Notation for Scientific Use Cases

In the world of poker, there are different ways to describe hands played during games. Historically, these descriptions have been done verbally, which can be challenging for computers to analyze. To address this issue, the author proposes a new format that is both concise and easily readable by humans. The format should include only the bare minimum information necessary to comprehensively describe a hand while allowing rich details to be added for various use cases beyond simple action tracking.
The proposed format is based on a tabular structure with players and betting rounds represented as tables. Mathematical symbols and operations are used to represent each betting action in a concise manner. While the Mike Caro University Poker Chart, proposed by Mike Caro, was one of the earliest attempts at introducing structure to hand summaries, it failed to become a standard in the poker community due to its focus on human-to-human communication rather than machine interpretability.
In summary, the author argues that a new format is needed to improve the consistency and clarity of poker hand descriptions for both humans and computers. The proposed format is designed to be simple, easy to read, and adaptable for various use cases while demystifying complex concepts by using everyday language and engaging metaphors or analogies to capture the essence of the article without oversimplifying.