Three names immediately spring to mind, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch and Vanessa Rousso.
All three have said a part of their game has splintered from game theory, however, can one use "pure" mathematics to play a profittable game of poker.
I've started working on this and have no doubts it can be done, however, will need data, so this will take a long time to complete.
The reason I'm posting this is to ask, does anyone use a varient of game theory in their game and if so, to what end, (winning, losing, or breaking even.)
From this, I hope to deduce whether just a fleeting knowledge of the whole puzzle is necessary, of if one can only play successfully when one can see the whole picture.

I feel the games afoot.

There are mathematical theory and statistics to help in decision making, but no math can tell you when you should check/bet/raise/fold. What I mean is that math can help determine the value of a hand and probability of card(s) to come, but it cannot tell you that another player is already holding the nuts and you are drawing dead.

Use the math as a guide but not as a sole way to play. Intuition and the ability to make good reads are more important than a math game. Use them together to make rational decisions about the current situation.



http://pokernaut.blogspot.com/

In any given situation in poker, if your opponents cards are known, then the correct decision boils down to pure mathematics. The difficult part is you have to assign unknown likelihoods of what your opponents actions will be, but if you can make a decent estimate based on your opponents style of play and the given situation, then the mathematics will tell you the correct play. The validity of the calculation rests on how accurate your behavior and hand range estimates are, which is the most difficult part.

I do not work out these calculations while at the table, but use it to evaluate whether certain plays in common situations are profitable or not (e.g. pushing random cards on SNG bubbles or short stack calls).

In Brunson's super system, he talks about a mathematical aspect to analyzing what decision to make on hands, but this only affects a certain percent of hands like weak tight was referring too. If you do not know FORSURE what hand your opponent may have, then mathematics will only work to a certain extent. Brunson's bottom line is that no machine programmed to always play to mathematical certainty will ever be profitable against good players because the machine will never know what other player's cards are and poker still always has a bit of probability to it.

Take a look at WiltOnTilt's series: Mathematics of NL Hold'em on DC.

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Math in poker is over rated in many situations but can be extremely important in some areas of sng and tourney poker.

There is some kind of maths in poker, but mostly is the skill to be able to read the player's hand and handle him correctly and winning the hand

In poker maths is very important for making the decision.

Intuition is more important than math.

A person good in math is good in poker.