English
Related papers

Related papers: $O(T^{-1})$ Convergence of Optimistic-Follow-the-R…

200 papers

An ideal strategy in zero-sum games should not only grant the player an average reward no less than the value of Nash equilibrium, but also exploit the (adaptive) opponents when they are suboptimal. While most existing works in Markov games…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-06-15 Qinghua Liu , Yuanhao Wang , Chi Jin

Last-iterate convergence of learning dynamics in games has attracted significant recent attention. In two-player zero-sum games with bandit feedback, where only the loss of the selected action pair is observed, Fiegel et al. (2025) show a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-12 Soumita Hait , Ping Li , Haipeng Luo , Mengxiao Zhang

We study multi-player general-sum Markov games with one of the players designated as the leader and the other players regarded as followers. In particular, we focus on the class of games where the followers are myopic, i.e., they aim to…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-28 Han Zhong , Zhuoran Yang , Zhaoran Wang , Michael I. Jordan

We investigate the strategic surplus obtainable against a Follow-the-Regularized-Leader (FTRL) learner with constant step size $\eta$ in $n\times m$ two-player zero-sum games played over $T$ rounds against a clairvoyant optimizer. In…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-05-25 Yiheng Su , Emmanouil-Vasileios Vlatakis-Gkaragkounis

A recent line of work has established uncoupled learning dynamics such that, when employed by all players in a game, each player's \emph{regret} after $T$ repetitions grows polylogarithmically in $T$, an exponential improvement over the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-10-18 Gabriele Farina , Ioannis Anagnostides , Haipeng Luo , Chung-Wei Lee , Christian Kroer , Tuomas Sandholm

We study the problem of learning in zero-sum matrix games with repeated play and bandit feedback. Specifically, we focus on developing uncoupled algorithms that guarantee, without communication between players, the convergence of the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Côme Fiegel , Pierre Ménard , Tadashi Kozuno , Michal Valko , Vianney Perchet

We study online learning in two-player uninformed Markov games, where the opponent's actions and policies are unobserved. In this setting, Tian et al. (2021) show that achieving no-external-regret is impossible without incurring an…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-10 Junyan Liu , Haipeng Luo , Zihan Zhang , Lillian J. Ratliff

This paper introduces the new concept of (follower) satisfaction in Stackelberg games and compares the standard Stackelberg game with its satisfaction version. Simulation results are presented which suggest that the follower adopting…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-08-22 Langford White , Duong Nguyen , Hung Nguyen

In two-player zero-sum games, the learning dynamic based on optimistic Hedge achieves one of the best-known regret upper bounds among strongly-uncoupled learning dynamics. With an appropriately chosen learning rate, the social and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-10-14 Taira Tsuchiya

We study the question of obtaining last-iterate convergence rates for no-regret learning algorithms in multi-player games. We show that the optimistic gradient (OG) algorithm with a constant step-size, which is no-regret, achieves a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-10-27 Noah Golowich , Sarath Pattathil , Constantinos Daskalakis

We study the problem of no-regret learning algorithms for general monotone and smooth games and their last-iterate convergence properties. Specifically, we investigate the problem under bandit feedback and strongly uncoupled dynamics, which…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-08-19 Jing Dong , Baoxiang Wang , Yaoliang Yu

This paper considers the problem of designing optimal algorithms for reinforcement learning in two-player zero-sum games. We focus on self-play algorithms which learn the optimal policy by playing against itself without any direct…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-07-15 Yu Bai , Chi Jin , Tiancheng Yu

This paper investigates the impact of feedback quantization on multi-agent learning. In particular, we analyze the equilibrium convergence properties of the well-known "follow the regularized leader" (FTRL) class of algorithms when players…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-09-13 Kyriakos Lotidis , Panayotis Mertikopoulos , Nicholas Bambos

Regret-based algorithms are highly efficient at finding approximate Nash equilibria in sequential games such as poker games. However, most regret-based algorithms, including counterfactual regret minimization (CFR) and its variants, rely on…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-10-28 Chung-Wei Lee , Christian Kroer , Haipeng Luo

We investigate the accuracy of prediction in deterministic learning dynamics of zero-sum games with random initializations, specifically focusing on observer uncertainty and its relationship to the evolution of covariances. Zero-sum games…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-06-18 Yi Feng , Georgios Piliouras , Xiao Wang

Solving strategic games with huge action space is a critical yet under-explored topic in economics, operations research and artificial intelligence. This paper proposes new learning algorithms for solving two-player zero-sum normal-form…

We consider the use of no-regret algorithms to compute equilibria for particular classes of convex-concave games. While standard regret bounds would lead to convergence rates on the order of $O(T^{-1/2})$, recent work \citep{RS13,SALS15}…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-05-18 Jacob Abernethy , Kevin A. Lai , Kfir Y. Levy , Jun-Kun Wang

Regret matching (RM) -- and its modern variants -- is a foundational online algorithm that has been at the heart of many AI breakthrough results in solving benchmark zero-sum games, such as poker. Yet, surprisingly little is known so far in…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-11-18 Ioannis Anagnostides , Emanuel Tewolde , Brian Hu Zhang , Ioannis Panageas , Vincent Conitzer , Tuomas Sandholm

Follow-the-Regularized-Leader (FTRL) algorithms are a popular class of learning algorithms for online linear optimization (OLO) that guarantee sub-linear regret, but the choice of regularizer can significantly impact dimension-dependent…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-10-24 Khashayar Gatmiry , Jon Schneider , Stefanie Jegelka

Aligning large language models (LLMs) with human preferences has proven effective for enhancing model capabilities, yet standard preference modeling using the Bradley-Terry model assumes transitivity, overlooking the inherent complexity of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-05 Shulun Chen , Runlong Zhou , Zihan Zhang , Maryam Fazel , Simon S. Du