So I've been researching this lotto thing...

And I've learned a few new things.  I've mainly learned about wheeling, which sounds cool.  I've already understood the grasp of a full wheel - it basically takes all of your chosen numbers and provides every single combination out there.  It wasn't that hard to understand.

I haven't really put much thought into key wheels, but abbreviated wheels perplexed me until I sat down and read the formula.  If I understand correctly, it uses a formula called A-B, C if D in E (okay, my research didn't come up with that, but yeah).  A is the game number (would be six for Mega Millions, for example). B is the amount of numbers you want to put on the wheel (i.e., the numbers you're playing - we'll use 1 through 10 for simplicity's sake).  E is the number of plays you're going for (i.e., the number of tickets you're buying - let's say 50 here for a $50 investment).  C and D is the guarantee that you want, so D represents the numbers that end up being drawn, and C is the guaranteed win IF the numbers from any of the 10 numbers from B match D.  So if you want to get the second prize on MM, you'd need to do 5 if 5, meaning if five numbers match any of your 10 numbers that you played, you're guaranteed to have a 5 match on one of E (the fifty tickets).  Hope that wasn't confusing to other newbies and I hope I got that right.

Now the hard part of it all is figuring out what numbers to actually play.  I think that's where the whole math and analytical skills come into play.  Can anyone recommend any software to help me analyze numbers and give me an idea on what numbers to play?  Thanks in advance.

"Now the hard part of it all is figuring out what numbers to actually play."

You have reached the Final Plateau.

Welcome to Lottery Post, LottoPerro, and Good Luck!

Does anyone have any answers/confirmation?  Thanks in advance.

Appreciate it!  Can you or anyone recommend any software or books to help me analyze things and give me a good grasp at what numbers to play?

Oh Yeah,

There is one other choice. You can get in a pool with me and we can each spend $116. per draw on tickets. I like the idea of playing one line with all the bonus balls on both MM and PB on every draw, but its going to cost around $900 a month. If we split it its only $450. a month, but we will have the bonus ball on every draw.

ARE YOU IN???

And I've learned a few new things.  I've mainly learned about wheeling, which sounds cool.  I've already understood the grasp of a full wheel - it basically takes all of your chosen numbers and provides every single combination out there.  It wasn't that hard to understand.

I haven't really put much thought into key wheels, but abbreviated wheels perplexed me until I sat down and read the formula.  If I understand correctly, it uses a formula called A-B, C if D in E (okay, my research didn't come up with that, but yeah).  A is the game number (would be six for Mega Millions, for example). B is the amount of numbers you want to put on the wheel (i.e., the numbers you're playing - we'll use 1 through 10 for simplicity's sake).  E is the number of plays you're going for (i.e., the number of tickets you're buying - let's say 50 here for a $50 investment).  C and D is the guarantee that you want, so D represents the numbers that end up being drawn, and C is the guaranteed win IF the numbers from any of the 10 numbers from B match D.  So if you want to get the second prize on MM, you'd need to do 5 if 5, meaning if five numbers match any of your 10 numbers that you played, you're guaranteed to have a 5 match on one of E (the fifty tickets).  Hope that wasn't confusing to other newbies and I hope I got that right.

Now the hard part of it all is figuring out what numbers to actually play.  I think that's where the whole math and analytical skills come into play.  Can anyone recommend any software to help me analyze numbers and give me an idea on what numbers to play?  Thanks in advance.

From the beginning, and it was years ago, I found this way of describing wheels confusing. What disturbed me was, as you noticed yourself, that none of the wheels defined the number of tickets (lines) to play. So I modified (or designed) wheels in different way. I played Lotto 649.

Each wheel must have 4 defining parameters:

W - targeted level of win (in Lotto 649 that would be 3 to 6 numbers);

H - numers that I have to match (hit) in the wheel;

N - numbers in the wheels distributed into sets of six;

T - number of tickets;

Thus, for example, a wheel described as 4W 6H 18N 42T would mean that if I took 18(N) numbers (out of 49 in Lotto 649), distributed them into 42 6-number sets/tickets (T), and matched/hit (H) 6 out of 18 numbers selected I would be QUARANTEED at least 1 winning ticket with 4 numbers (W); there could be more than 1 4-number winning ticket and (hopefully) some 3-number winning tickets. On occasions I could win 3 or 4 numbers even if I only hit 5 of 18 numbers.

I only used full wheels which means no matter what 6 numbers out of selected 18 I hit I would be guaranteed the 4-number win. I never used abbreviated wheels as they do not quarantee wins.

Having the number of tickets defined in each wheel allows to compare their efficiency. I did optimize a number of wheels and during the process found out that many wheels had a number of redundant combinations. Optimization allowed to shrink them in size (reduce T) while preserving the win level (W).

Additionally, having the number of tickets defined in each wheel allows for easy (computerized) backtracking.

Wheels as described above can be designed for any level of win, for Lotto 649 - from 3 to 6.

Aquarius

YOU CANT WIN IF YOU DONT PLAY....

IM READY TO ROLL THE DICE ON THIS ACTION

Really?