BrownBag, 11th of Nov 2008 at 13h - Mental poker and semi-advanced cryptographic concepts

Mitja Trampuš - Mental poker and semi-advanced cryptographic concepts

We will discuss mental poker, i.e. a game of poker played without the aid of physical cards, most commonly on the internet. A branch of cryptography deals with ensuring fairness and security in online poker and similar games. This is a problem that becomes particularly interesting if we wish to play without a trusted third party which would deal the cards. Which player should shuffle the deck in this case?

To add some practical value to the topic, we will also quickly review some cryptographic primitives which are useful for accomplishing more complex goals than simple encryption. These concepts, e.g. oblivious transfer, bit commitment and zero-knowledge proofs, can come handy with even only mildly exotic security requirements; as an illustration, we will apply them to those of mental poker.

We will also touch upon the implications of this research area for the multi-billion industry of online gaming.

Slides are available here.