How does the ALPHA setting in BART affect the outcome?
ALPHA has a default value of 0.5 but it can be set to any of the following values:
0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, 1.
Every session of baccarat has an optimized value of ALPHA that will result in the maximum number of WINS. Very often 2 of the ALPHA values will have the same W/L result but the pattern of W/Lmay not necessarily be the same.
In this real session case study below, the session was started with the default ALPHA setting of 0.5 but as the session progressed, the ALPHA value was changed and eventually settled on 1.0 as it was giving a consistently higher W/L ratio.
At the end of the session, screenshots were captured for various values of ALPHA for purposes of illustration to show you how the value of ALPHA can affect the overall outcome of the session.
ALPHA = 0 resulted in 19 Wins and 27 Losses
ALPHA = 0.2 resulted in 20 Wins and 26 Losses (ALPHA = 0.1 resulted in 21 Wins and 25 Losses)
ALPHA = 0.5 resulted in 23 Wins and 23 Losses (which was the same if ALPHA was set to 0.6)
ALPHA = 1 resulted in 28 Wins and 18 Losses, the clear winner!
So for any session, always start with ALPHA = 0.5 and after say 12 hands, check the outcome for various values of ALPHA to see which is the best and monitor it as your play progresses.
Switching to a different ALPHA is quite a common practice since you are trying to maximize the number of WINS. It is also not uncommon to switch back to a previous value of ALPHA should the trend change drastically.
It is not advisable to switch too often as you can become confused. If you find that you are switching to different ALPHA values too often because the trend had changed drastically, it is probably best to abandon the session and start a new one where the ALPHA value is consistently delivering Wins without the need to keep switching.