The algorithm keeps track of two values, Alpha and Beta, and assigns "points" to possible moves where the greater the amount of points a move has, the higher chance that choosing that move will lead to victory. Alpha represents the minimum amount of points the player the algorithm wants to win can have(the maximizing player), while beta is the maximum amount of points the algorithm wants to lose can have(the minimizing player). Alpha and Beta start as negative infinity and infinity respectively. Whenever a move is found such that the maximizing player's score improves or the minimizing player's score decreases, then Alpha and Beta will be replaced with those new values.