Practice Mode dissapointing matching flaws

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Alpha322
Posts: 931
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:45 pm

The idea was great but a lot of thought has not gone into it where other things such as in play and automation. I have used the practice mode on numerous occasions and recently found out it is more unrealistic than I first thought. If you have used this mode and wondered why when you go into the live mode you get washed out with the washing this is why, I still get my 10 tick swings in the live mode but they are not as easy as in the practice mode. I recently tested practice mode on other software and I was disappointed to see that they were more realistic to the core than the BA one is. You could push say £500 (which are realistic stakes for me in the odds on markets) though the market against say £150 waiting on the other side, it will get matched but only £150 of it will, fair do,s it will not push the market forward, but the other £350 will be waiting in the queue, where,s with BA the lot will get matched. I know Peter said if you make money on practice mode you will not on live mode which IMHO defeats the whole object, because if it is for strategy purposes, when you form a strategy or practice good entry points, they are not the same in the real thing. I will not use practice mode anymore, I think its better to use the old regime of small stakes and improve that way. Although I have a large bank I have had to reduce my staking as what I performed in practice mode, does not work in the live mode. I am just so disappointed that BA could of put a bit more effort into that mode especially when it is in favour for newbie traders

Rant over :(
mister man
Posts: 363
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:10 pm

as you and indeed peter have said, practice mode cannot ever really replicate, live real trading.
whilst it might be helpful in certain circumstances, the other thing it will never do is replicate how you feel and react to real gains or losses, in practice mode you know its not actual money and react or dont react accordingly,which is very different to a true reaction.
Alpha322
Posts: 931
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:45 pm

mister man wrote:as you and indeed peter have said, practice mode cannot ever really replicate, live real trading.
whilst it might be helpful in certain circumstances, the other thing it will never do is replicate how you feel and react to real gains or losses, in practice mode you know its not actual money and react or dont react accordingly,which is very different to a true reaction.
Cant agree there, if your seriously diciplined you will react the same, its a mind over matter thing because you tell your head its real money, where as in fact its the same, it isnt real money till its in your pocket via your bank
mister man
Posts: 363
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:10 pm

cant agree alpha

its why in football league champions often lose games, after securing the title early with a game or three to go.
why at safety level of 3-0, teams often dont score again..

because they just arent trying quite as hard, even though they think they are, they tell themselves it really matters just as much, but in reality they know it doesnt.
thats the real mind over matter
Alpha322
Posts: 931
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:45 pm

mister man wrote:cant agree alpha

its why in football league champions often lose games, after securing the title early with a game or three to go.
why at safety level of 3-0, teams often dont score again..

because they just arent trying quite as hard, even though they think they are, they tell themselves it really matters just as much, but in reality they know it doesnt.
thats the real mind over matter
Ok good point but lets look at it this way, if you fear losing the money you have in your BF account you are not ready to trade because you have not detached yourself from it. Am not dissapointed about the money i lost in live mode that practice mode made, its the fact that the strategy doesnt operate that well within a mode that was created in a mode for building strategies.What ever happens in a simulation should be taken seriously, when i trained for my day Job, what happens in the simulator on training happened live and i had to deal with it the same way.
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Euler
Posts: 26431
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm

There were very lengthy discussions on the forum for and against practice modes. For a long time we held off implementing one for the reasons that are well known, but we could see the benefit, especially for people getting used to the software or underlying characteristics of operation.

I don't think any software is better than another or one implementation better than another. All practice modes work best using small stakes, but fail when using larger stakes. For some strategies you need to know when you hit the front of the queue, or you rely on being there. So an instant match is perfect. If you are trading another way then that isn't so great. No realy substitute for using real money. Try ideas first in practice mode then small stakes on the main market, but it will never be able to replicate that for the simple fact that the process of putting money in the market shapes it.

There are other things we do in practice mode that enchance the realism, that are not implemented elsewhere. Nobody has spotted those characteristics yet, but they are very subtle!

We can modify the behaviour of the practice mode, so if it's a feature request, we can look at it. ;)
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mugsgame
Posts: 1235
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:41 pm

It's well documented that practice modes (whichever software vendor you use) are totally unrealistic for many reasons. So it should come as no surprise when they do not work in "real time".

Practice mode IMHO should only be used to test out how the software works, so when you are using a new feature for the 1st few times it stops you losing money because you ticked the wrong box, or did not have the settings as they needed to be.
Testing out strategies is unlikely to work.
Alpha322 wrote:. I am just so disappointed that BA could of put a bit more effort into that mode especially when it is in favour for newbie traders
Alpha, I think that quote is unduly harsh and unfair to the Bet Angel team. You said yourself that PW has warned of it's worth. As a long term user and respected forum member I didn't expect that from you.
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LeTiss
Posts: 5485
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

I think BA's practice mode works fine, but I've always been critical of such a model anyway

You cannot replicate exactly what happens in real markets, especially with regards to being stuck in a queue and money only being partially matched, or not matched at all. Also, it doesn't reflect the change in somebody's personality or decision making when they are playing with real money

I think it's useful for trying out bots, or automation strategies, but as a general rule it's not for me
Alpha322
Posts: 931
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:45 pm

mugsgame wrote:It's well documented that practice modes (whichever software vendor you use) are totally unrealistic for many reasons. So it should come as no surprise when they do not work in "real time".

Practice mode IMHO should only be used to test out how the software works, so when you are using a new feature for the 1st few times it stops you losing money because you ticked the wrong box, or did not have the settings as they needed to be.
Testing out strategies is unlikely to work.
Alpha322 wrote:. I am just so disappointed that BA could of put a bit more effort into that mode especially when it is in favour for newbie traders
Alpha, I think that quote is unduly harsh and unfair to the Bet Angel team. You said yourself that PW has warned of it's worth. As a long term user and respected forum member I didn't expect that from you.
Hi
MG i only said that because i created a strategy within it, tested the same strategy which went totally goh ga, but as you said it should only be used to teach controls within the software, but IMHO it could do with tweeking on the matching of bets
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Euler
Posts: 26431
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm

You may be interested to know that some strategies that work in the real world, just can't be done in practice mode, no matter how clever the matching simulation. Something to think about!
Alpha322
Posts: 931
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:45 pm

Euler wrote:You may be interested to know that some strategies that work in the real world, just can't be done in practice mode, no matter how clever the matching simulation. Something to think about!
Yes agree, i tried with smaller stakes, and it behaved relatevley the same in the market, so i suppose i was wrong re large stakes, it works edges with small stakes. Got to work it out in the live markets with live money i can afford to lose if it go,s belly up
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