His research focuses on machine learning, games, and robotics, and he is particularly fascinated by the problem of how computers can learn to play games through experience. Michael is the leader of the Computer Poker Research Group, which has built some of the strongest poker playing programs in the world. In 2008, one of these programs, Polaris, defeated a team of top professional poker players in two-player, limit Texas Hold'em, becoming the first program to defeat poker pros in a meaningful competition. His research has been featured on the television programs Scientific American Frontiers, National Geographic Today, and Discovery Channel Canada; on radio programs for CBC, BBC, and NPR; in print articles in the New York Times and Wired, as well as newspapers around the world; and twice in exhibits at the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.