Using Game Theory to Optimize Performance in a Best-of-N Set Match
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Tristan Barnett
This paper analyzes the situation in a best-of-N set match, where both players/teams are given the opportunity to increase their probability of winning a set (increase in effort) on one particular set. To gain insight to the problem, a best-of-3 set match (as typically used in tennis) is analyzed. Using game theory to obtain an optimal solution, the results indicate that both players should use a mixed strategy, by applying their increase in effort at each set with a probability of one third. A conjecture is devised to obtain an optimal solution for a best-of-N set match. Some applications are given to the theoretical results, which could be used by coaches and players to optimize performance.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Conference Paper
- Predicting Overtime with the Pythagorean Formula
- Using Game Theory to Optimize Performance in a Best-of-N Set Match
- A Spatial Multidimensional Unfolding Choice Model for Examining the Heterogeneous Expressions of Sports Fan Avidity
- Anomalies in Tournament Design: The Madness of March Madness
- Skill Importance in Women's Volleyball
- Quantifying the Effect of Performance-Enhancing Drug Use on Fastball Velocity in Major League Baseball
- A New Iterative Method for Ranking College Football Teams
- Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curves for Measuring the Quality of Decisions in Cricket
- Visualization of Crew Race Performance: Drives and Duels
- Valuations of Soccer Players from Statistical Performance Data
- Measuring Risk in NFL Playcalling
- Using Random Forests and Simulated Annealing to Predict Probabilities of Election to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- The 2009 New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports
