Cracking Blackjack

Hi!

If you haven’t done so already, please read Parts 1–4 before continuing. The rest of this article will assume you have read and understood the previous articles.

Outline for this Article

• Learn how the run_mc() function facilitates the algorithm.
• Dive deep into Step 6 of the First-Visit MC algorithm, which is where the Q-table and Prob-table are updated after each episode.

10,000 ft Overview of First-Visit MC from Part 4

1. Initialize the Blackjack environment from Part 2.
2. Define the Q-table, Prob-table, alpha (α), epsilon (ε), ε-decay, ε-min, and gamma (γ) explained in Part 3.
3. Define how many episodes you would like your agent to learn from. …

Cracking Blackjack

Hi!

If you haven’t done so already, please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 before continuing. The rest of this article will assume you have read and understood the previous articles.

Outline for this Article

In this article, I will be explaining how the First-Visit Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm works, and how we can apply that to Blackjack to teach an AI agent to maximize returns. Here is how this article is structured:

1. Explaining the algorithm at a high level.
2. Implementing the algorithm in the context of our OpenAI Gym Blackjack environment from Part 2.

While reading, remember that the main impact…

Cracking Blackjack

Hi!

If you haven’t done so already, please read Part 1 and Part 2 before continuing. The rest of this article will assume you have read and understood the previous articles.

Outline for this Article

In this article, I will be explaining the key building blocks that are used in the Reinforcement Learning algorithm we will use to maximize Blackjack returns. These building blocks are also used in many other Reinforcement Learning algorithms, so it is worthwhile to understand them in a context we know and love: Blackjack!

Always keep this diagram of the Reinforcement Learning Cycle from Part 2 in your head as…

Cracking Blackjack

Hi!

If you haven’t done so already, please read Part 1 before continuing. The rest of this article will assume you have read and understood Part 1.

The Reinforcement Learning Cycle

Cracking Blackjack

Hi!

I am writing this “Cracking Blackjack” blog series as a way of consolidating the knowledge I have gained in the Reinforcement Learning space. I needed to combine the info of 30+ articles and blog posts when I was creating this Blackjack project, and I want to make it easier for the next person.

I am by no means an expert on this stuff. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns about the information I am about to present! My contact info is at the bottom.

Quick Summary of Blackjack

Blackjack is a card game played against a…

Introduction to Foreign Exchange Trading

by Michael Grainger

What are Exchange Rates

Exchange rates are defined as the ratio at which a unit of the currency of one country can be exchanged for that of another country. A basic example is one United States dollar being worth about 0.91 Euros on 4/30.

There are many different parameters that affect exchange rates. Floating exchange rates can constantly change in comparison to other currencies, while fixed rates are tied to some other currency or to gold.

A currency peg creates a fixed range of of what the exchange rate can be. For example, if Hong Kong dollar to USD has a…

Before reading any further, make sure to check out Part One of this mini-series here!

Last week, we gave an intro to technical analysis and explained how volume indicators can be used in this security analysis strategy. Since support and resistance are at the core of many technical analysis concepts and strategies, we will be focusing on this topic today.

The Basics of Support & Resistance

by Adithya Solai

Overall, the concept of support and resistance relies on the belief that the price of a stock will reverse at certain price levels. The graphs below will help show these patterns more clearly:

Market Update

by Adam Mirsky

Its been a wild ride this week for U.S. Equities with one concept dominating the news cycle: Oil.