Using Game Theory to maximize the chance of victory in two-player sports

Abstract

Game Theory concepts have been successfully applied in a wide variety of domains over the past decade. Sports and games are one of the popular areas of game theory application owing to its merits and benefits in solving complex scenarios. With recent advancements in technology, the technical and analytical assistance available to players before the match, during game-play and after the match in the form of post-match analysis for any kind of sport has improved to a great extent. In this paper, we propose three novel approaches towards the development of a tool that can assist the players by providing detailed analysis of optimal decisions so that the player is well prepared with the most appropriate strategy which would produce a favourable result for a given opponent's strategy. We also describe how the system changes when we consider real-time game-play wherein the history of the opponent's strategies in the current rally is also taken into consideration while suggesting.