Hi, I'm Ellek Linton! 👋
Software Engineer
Data Science @ UC Berkeley
About Me

Hey there! 👋
I'm Ellek, an (aspiring) professional poker player who loves classic rock, hypoallergenic doggos, David Lynch movies, and software. I graduated in 2020 from UC Berkeley with a Data Science degree and a whole lotta love for coding.
I currently work on the Machine Learning Infrastructure team at Snap. Previous to this, I worked on the Apple Pay team at PayPal. At the crossroads of coding and creativity, that's where you'll find me. Whether at PayPal, Snap, or on a personal project, I aim to create digital magic.
Dive in, and let's have some fun!
Projects
In between professional commitments and the craziness of life, I love diving deep into personal projects. They’re my playground – spaces where I experiment, innovate, and get to just create something super cool! Below are some of the creations I'm particularly proud of. Let's take a journey through them.
Pied PokerPython Package
Enter the world of "Pied Poker," a sophisticated poker probability engine I meticulously crafted from scratch. Driven by the powerful Monte-Carlo simulation, it's not just another poker calculator — it's a game-changer. The tool delves deep, calculating probabilities that would traditionally be computationally intensive or downright impossible to derive in real time.
Yet, with optimized hand calculations and nimble simulation performance, "Pied Poker" delivers these statistics at lightning speed, all within seconds. Beyond its capabilities, I took it a step further by launching the engine as a Python package on PyPI. Now, not only can I boast about its prowess, but developers and poker enthusiasts worldwide can seamlessly integrate and benefit from it. With over 21,000 installs, this project stands as a testament to the blend of my love for data, coding, and the intricate game of poker.
Check out the GitHub and Google Colab notebook I created to play around with Pied Poker for yourself!
A8 Poker SimulatorReact Web App (Work In Progress)
At its core, the A8 Poker Simulator leverages the power of the ChatGPT API to create a dynamic and unpredictable poker environment. You're not just playing against algorithms; you're facing off against nine distinct AI personalities, each with its own style and strategy. From the daring bluffs of the aggressive player to the calculated risks of the cautious strategist, every game unfolds in its own unpredictable narrative, just like a real poker tournament! But A8 isn't just about playing poker; it's about understanding it and exploring how well different playing strategies work.
With a bit more development work, I want to turn A8 into a simulator that allows you to delve into the nuances of each hand, offering insights and strategies that go beyond the basics. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a curious newcomer, I aim for A8 to provide a rich, engaging platform to hone your skills, test different theories, and explore the infinite complexities of poker.
I have many exciting ideas for the future of A8, including:
- - Undo Functionality: This feature would allow you to revisit your previous moves, providing an invaluable learning opportunity. Whether you're second-guessing a fold or reconsidering a bet, the undo functionality would offer a chance to see how different decisions could impact the game, offering a unique layer of strategic depth and introspection.
- - Customizable AI Opponents: This enhancement would let you tailor the virtual competition to your preference, creating scenarios with varying degrees of difficulty and strategic styles. Whether you wish to face a table of aggressive bettors or test your patience against defensive players, this feature would enable a personalized poker experience, enriching your tactical understanding and adaptability.
- - Interactive Gameplay Dialogue: Envision engaging in psychological tactics not just through your bets and folds, but through dialogue with AI opponents. This feature would introduce an element of communication, where you could bluff, taunt, or express surprise, influencing the AI players' reactions and decisions. It would add a new dimension to the game, mirroring the human elements of poker strategy and interaction.
- - Advanced Analytics Dashboard: By leveraging my Pied Poker poker probability calculator, I could easily create a robust analytics dashboard for your current situation. By leveraging Pied Poker's powerful simulation engine, A8 would offer a nuanced understanding of each game scenario. Users could analyze potential outcomes, understand the likelihood of various hands, and evaluate strategic decisions with unprecedented depth. This integration would not only enrich the user's experience by providing detailed insights into the statistical landscape, but also empower players to use real-time data to refine their strategies and decision-making processes.

A8 is very much still a work-in-progress, but I'm excited to continue developing it to create a powerful poker simulator. Check out the App Website and GitHub source code to play around for yourself!
Note: As it is still under active development, A8 requires you to input your OpenAI API key at the top of the simulator, if you wish to utilize the ChatGPT integration.
Baus Playlist MakeriOS App
Meet "Baus Playlist Maker," my brainchild that blends the realms of music and machine learning. Have you ever heard a song and wished you had an entire playlist emanating the same vibe? That’s the premise I started with. By engineering a unique machine learning model, this app takes in a single "seed" song and, like a musical alchemist, curates a playlist echoing its essence.
The challenges? Navigating the curse of dimensionality (with data spanning across 13 dimensions) and optimizing the runtime. But with a blend of innovation and tenacity, I was able to leap over these hurdles, taking the efficiency from Θ(n) to a slick Θ(log(n)). This allows users to create unique and incredible playlists in a matter of a split-second.
The app, now available on the iOS App Store, seamlessly integrates with Spotify API, ensuring users are just a tap away from their next favorite playlist. With a database enriched with over 800,000 songs, each featuring quantified attributes, "Baus Playlist Maker" isn’t just an app; it's a musical journey tailored for every user.
You can view more details about Baus Playlist Maker on the project website.
Authentic8r Counterfeit Sneaker DetectioniOS App
Navigating the bustling world of sneaker culture, I realized there's an undeniable need: distinguishing the genuine from the counterfeit. The counterfeits had gotten so close to the real-thing, that even experts were often unable to distinguish real from fake. That's when "Authentic8r" was born. It's not just an app; it's a fusion of my sneaker passion with cutting-edge tech. Delving deep into the intricate details of sneaker designs, I built a robust convolutional neural network using Tensorflow to meticulously analyze and predict the authenticity of a sneaker.
Manually gathering and labeling a whopping 12,000 images was not the most fun I've ever had, but it allowed me to train my model and achieve an impressive 85% validation accuracy. This might sound all tech, but the real magic? Giving users an instant verdict on their sneakers' legitimacy right from their phones. With thousands of verified users and a continuous influx of images aiding model refinement, "Authentic8r" stands as a testament to the potential of machine learning in the everyday world.
Since launching the "Authentic8r" app in 2018, I have attainer over 2,000 users and have collected over 20,000 additional self-labeled images from users, enabling me to improve the accuracy of the model further.
Authentic8r is available on the iOS App Store.
Experience
Tech
Awards
- 2 Spot Awards ...were given by leadership for exemplary work on the Apple Pay team for my work to redesign and rebuild our test tool and to clean up/modernize our API Swagger schema.
- 5 "Bravo" Awards ...were given by peers to recognize exceptional dedication, collaboration, and problem-solving efforts beyond the usual scope of work.
Awards
- 4 "Bravo" Awards ...were given by peers to recognize exceptional dedication, collaboration, and problem-solving efforts beyond the usual scope of work.