To Pick-4 Master:
Once again, you are correct. Steve Player's systems are not tutorials on how to win the lottery. Rather, they are another way someone (Player) has developed to analyze past results in order to predict future winners. Many people can't win with a Steve Player system because they expect it to work right out of the box. If this were possible, the working class in this country would disappear. In his higher-end systems, such as the MoneyMap or CashOverlap, he emphasizes that the player needs to take the time necessary to become familiar with his methods before he or she actually invests any money in tickets. This is crucial, since Mr. Player is not very adept at explaining things clearly. A novice player reading one of his manuals is like a mathematician explaining the differences between integral and differential calculus to a liberal arts student. Before I get flamed for that comment, I should point out that I have two friends who are liberal arts majors. They're both very intelligent, but neither is technically savvy.
There are certain elements of Steve Player's systems that, while pricey, have proven to be very effective in various daily games. I'm not crazy about shelling out five hundred bucks for something I've never seen, but those are real checks and real tickets he shows in his newsletters. Admittedly, I was upset when I couldn't get a hit in Indiana with his MoneyMap, but it wasn't the system that didn't work, it was the game I was playing. Using it in Ohio, I won $6,800.00 in one night. The key to this system is listing your results from lowest to highest. This alone is a major innovation, especially in the Pick-4 game, since this forces the numbers to surrender to the law of averages. It also reduces the total number of pairs to keep track of to 45 in the Pick-4 game, since 38 is the same as 83 in a box bet. It's little things like these that Pick-4 Master is referring to when he says that he "uses" Steve Player systems. He studies the manuals, graphs and charts carefully, picks out the nuggets and ignores the fluff. The trick, my dear Sandy K, is to know the difference. That can only come from experience; it can't be explained in writing.
Any novice player who is interested in the lottery will initially lose money. I lost when I first began playing, and so did everyone else I know. Some of us became passionate about it, others stopped playing. Those of us who still play couldn't continue to do so without at least an occasional win but, fortunately, it's not about the money. It's a "David and Goliath Syndrome," I think, that keeps us in there swinging away, trying to beat the state at its own game, and there's no sweeter feeling than when you actually pull it off. The lottery is a game of percentages. The house has a decided advantage, but there are ways you can gain a few of their percentage points in your favor if you're willing to put in the time to learn the nuances and subtleties of your chosen game. Starting out, I would recommend you play the Pick-3 and concentrate on box bets. You won't get rich, but you'll probably win enough money to finance your lottery education, and that's what's important; that you don't get discouraged. As your level of experience grows, you will naturally begin to investigate other games in your state. You'll know when it's time to do this when you become bored with the money you're winning on Pick-3 box bets. By that time, you'll understand the game in ways that other, less experienced players couldn't hope to grasp it. If you're not passionate about it, though, if you think that all the scribbling and figuring and poring over endless charts and graphs is too much work, then maybe you should take up knitting, or some other passive hobby.
Lottery players are a committed bunch (and some of us probably should be committed); we have something to prove. Astronomical odds are merely an obstacle to be overcome; any online game an enigma to be unravelled. We stand united, with our charts and graphs, our pens, pencils, erasers and White-Out, our colored markers, our highlighters, even our last dollar, if that's what it takes to win. Yes, we stand united, in glory and in defeat, on the front lines of this war against the empirical state lotteries, and we will not rest until the blood of every state lottery commisioner paints the... uh... Sorry; Patton was on earlier tonight. I'll just go home now... and find my... um... pills...