Game Theory

Game Theory is the study of games, or abstract systems with competitors.  Game theory determines the optimal way to play a game, assuming that your opponents are also playing optimally.  Game theory has been used in poker in various ways.  Poker is too complex to solve exactly, but you can solve it in various special cases and with some simple assumptions.  The things that Game Theory tells us about poker are good to know, but it's usually not that useful in real games.  The reason is that your opponents usually are not playing optimally.  When you play poker, you need to play correctly for your current opponents and how they are playing.  You can make a lot more money if you adjust your play to your opponents.  In a sense, the Game Theory tells you how to play safely so that no possible opponent play can take advantage of you too much.  It's a reasonable way to play when you first start playing against someone and don't know anything about them.