In game theory, a player's strategy in a game is a complete plan of action for whatever situation might arise; this fully determines the player's behaviour. A player's strategy will determine the action the player will take at any stage of the game, for every possible history of play up to that stage.

A strategy profile (sometimes called a strategy combination) is a set of strategies for each player which fully specifies all actions in a game. A strategy profile must include one and only one strategy for every player.

The strategy concept is sometimes (wrongly) confused with that of a move. A move is an action taken by a player at some point during the play of a game (e.g., in chess, moving white's Bishop a2 to b3). A strategy on the other hand is a complete algorithm for playing the game, telling a player what to do for every possible situation throughout the game.

Contents

• 1 Strategy set
  • 1.1 Choosing a strategy set
• 2 Pure and mixed strategies
• 3 Mixed strategy
  • 3.1 Illustration
  • 3.2 Significance
  • 3.3 A disputed meaning
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links