hypersoniq's Blog

Had I played the highest all neutral line in the last cycle, I would have caught the rare evening pick 3 hit...

Hindsight is always 20/20...

As much as it would be fun to take another crack at the Cash 4 Life on a pick 3 win between now and December 31st, my goal is to have the state pay for 2026. A $500 straight hit will cover 68% of the year, or 35 weeks.

2 hits still cover the whole 12 months of play with $272 left over. That would be enough to add a shot at the Cash 4 Life and cut that 2025 loss to under $150.

The reason I am so focused on a fully funded attempt next year is that any win, be it $2 on Match 6 or $50,000 on Pick 5 will be 100% profit!

But this is why I took the time to properly review the last cycle. Each iteration provides new information.

Phase 1 brings the sets down to the neutrals and about 300 or less possible combos.

Phase 2 presents 10 combos from HHH to CCC

What I will call Phase 3 is selecting just 1 of those 10 combos.

The selection process is similar for any game.

Other than winning, the goal of coding going forward is

1. Make all of the scripts into a desktop application

2. Convert that desktop app into a mobile app so I can update draws from anywhere and look at output without needing to be anchored to a traditional computer.

This project is no small undertaking, and will be in the works for many months. Keeping the draw histories as csv files will not even put a dent in the memory on this phone... it has as much memory on it as my initial hard drive on my laptop... 256 GB.

So from now through the end of 2026 the goals are set.

1. Win within the budget.

2. Develop the app so this party can go mobile.

3. Get a $50,000 pre tax hit so I can reward myself with a full year of LP Platinum membership.

Seems like a worthwhile pursuit. Win or lose, gaining the ability to engineer and develop both a desktop application AND a mobile application will be worth the time investment alone... gotta keep pushing past that comfort zone!

I need to properly analyze the last cycle, so taking a full week to do so. Still playing, and the coin flip determined 666 for this week.

Need to follow a few different avenues with the past data this week to better make a selection in the next cycle. Win or lose, playing every day in 2026.

Same combo for twice the fun? Hope someone had it, I did not. My 390 ends a 3 week stretch winless.

Yesterday the PA Millionaire raffle tickets started their sales, so I bought one. It was later in the afternoon, but was still among the first 5,000 sold.

That was $20

The last 4 numbers were 2 pair, so I played those 2 pair for 50 cents boxed day and evening for 7 days

That was $7

I also have to start a new cycle on the pick 3 tomorrow,

That will be $14

So this week I will spend $41 instead of $14.

Adding $27 to my projected year end loss still keeps it below $200

I have had worse loss years... but it isn't over yet... one win on p3 or p4 erases the loss.

Starting with pick 3, since that is the "simplest".

Numbers are random, they form a discrete uniform distribution when looking at past draws.

Frequencies, however, run from high to low (or low to high, depending on perspective)... frequencies are almost linear (almost but not quite)

By rigid inter quartile classification, I am sorting the numbers in the 150 draw sample into bins.

Every time I add new draws and run the script, the numbers change, but the frequencies stay in close proximity to previous runs.

So I am NOT looking at specific numbers, just targeting a specific frequency range to pick from, playing whatever numbers happen to populate that frequency range on that particular run. This is why I do not look at individual numbers... skips won't matter, even or odd won't matter, high or low won't matter, pairs won't matter... it is still trying to find a needle in a haystack, but based on the classifications, the haystack got smaller... 1:~300 vs. 1:1,000.

It is also why I make smaller history samples, because full history does not contain that volatility that changes the numbers with each run.

I know I might be using a wrong sample size, or a wrong window size, but it is not like there is a resource for determining such things.

To simplify, I have created a filter based on frequency. Classification is phase 1

I am still experimenting how to interpret the data and make a better pick... this is phase 2.

I have applied this idea to multiple games so far. Pick 3, Pick 5, Match 6 and Cash 4 Life.

The other key element in this is play cycle... it is never going to give the next draw with any accuracy, so a range was determined for each game...

Pick N plays the same combo for 21 draws

Match 6 plays the same combo for 28 draws

Cash 4 Life plays the same combo for 30 draws.

What drives development is back test results... if picking from the 300ish possible neutral combos, there is over a 90% chance that at least 1 will appear straight in the next 21 draws... that is over the entire draw history of the pa pick 3 evening, with 17,000+ draws to look at.

My level of difficulty is still high, as I am only playing one of those combos. Watching how the numbers churn through the frequency filter feels like almost seeing the mechanics of randomness itself. When pulling 17,000 randomly generated 3 digit combos from random.org, the same 90%+ is exhibited... this means that regardless of the source, ball draws, computer draws, or actual random numbers... the observation holds that frequency better explains the churn than the numbers themselves.

Finding that needle is still vexing, but it is some progress with each cycle. I may never win anything big, but IF I do, this will be the way.

As I was looking at the script for Cash 4 Life, after a successful update to multi level sort, I realized that I can't just add in the bonus balls alongside the white balls, the variables change... Mega and PB will require a separate bonus ball script for each.

The brute force approach to Cash 4 Life's cash ball, which is to play all 4 with the same white balls, becomes prohibitively expensive... even on their money!

One draw of Cash 4 Life, a $2 ticket, is $8... trying to cover all of the Mega Balls at $5 a ticket would be $120 PER DRAW!

The "cycle" for Cash 4 Life is 30 draws, which is why I need a pick 3 straight win to try it. Total cost is $240

The jackpot game cycle will be 26 draws (selected based on advanced plays) and therefore the costs would be staggering...

Mega Millions for 26 draws covering all 24 mega balls = $3,120

Power Ball for 26 draws covering all 26 bonus balls = $2,704

So it becomes more imperative to create a bonus ball classifier...

Power Ball (@ $4 per ticket) for 26 draws = $104

Mega Millions (@ $5 per ticket) for 26 draws = $130

The combination would be $234...  cheaper than an attempt at Cash 4 Life to play BOTH games...

Since Cash 4 Life disappears near the end of February 2026, an alternative is needed when house money becomes available.

The cycle would stagger because there are 2 MM draws a week to PBs 3.

As I am stitching the gui together, the functions for white balls and bonus balls can be ran sequentially in the same run.

It seems like I am getting ahead of myself again... still need a Pick 3 win to do anything... but even these scripts that I have written for several games take time to dial in and verify.

Tomorrow is the last draw of this pick 3 cycle... moving to the highest all neutral line for the next one. Going to stick with the 21 day cycle. 2 hits @ $1 straight needed to fund next year... 3 to turn a profit for this year.

So, this tweak to the strategy will be in play... IF there is a hit on one game, say the mid day, in week 1 or 2, the remaining weeks will be skipped and I will double down on the other game for the rest of the cycle... still the same $14/week... if they both happen to hit early, then subsequent weeks in the cycle will be skipped... that is certainly a budget friendly option...

The one that jumps out first is the one that imagines the draw to draw differences by position onto a grid, measuring both the angle (positive or negative) and the line length to connect those points.

I honestly had no idea what was going to be done next... but it was a valuable lesson in using the index/match formula. The angles and line lengths were pre calculated from every pair from 0-0 to 9-9. A lookup table was created, but instead of using Xlookup I went with index/match. Turns out each approach has it's use.

Another one was a literal manual version of machine learning, where I had generated a guess for each draw using follower data, then added weights based on measuring the error from my pick vs. the next draw, feeding the error measurement back into the pick system on a per column basis. That hit 2 weeks in but not again.

These are all for pick 3.

My old power ball sheet (the one lost in the old laptop) had a grid and lines connected for a simple visualization by position, I remember the first attempt tracked all on 1 sheet and was visually a nightmare... so i separated it into 6 sheets, one per position.

The sheets that I made macros in VBA for were replaced with Python scripts. I was never a fan of VBA. Back testing was not a pleasant experience when the picks were complex.

From the old python scripts, there was the "buddy system", where you would generate the pick based on followers and then this script would analyze each follower and display the numbers that most frequently appeared with each position's follower. This one was for the PA match 6... it also did not win.

Then there was the latent follower sheets, and subsequent Python scripts... this looked at delayed followers in 2 ways... 

1. LRS (Latent Repeating Sequences)

2. LOOPRS (Latent Out Of Position Sequences)

LOOPRS was too complex to manage in just Excel, the Python script proved via back testing that it did not operate at a profit.

LRS was the one I used to get a straight hit on the pick 4 ONCE. Was $1 st/$1 box for $5,400. Back testing showed it only worked 10 times in ALL of the game history, I was just lucky when it worked while I was on it... third pick! Gave up playing it after 1 month of losses.

My pick N sheets had a permutation checker, so I could enter a combo and see how many times it hit both straight and boxed.

What were the lessons learned? That numbers really have no value other than it is the symbol painted on the ball. Trying to base everything on the numbers alone was not helping. Hence my shift toward patterns of frequency.

It is sometimes interesting to see where you have been to help steer where you are going.

This... I do not have a better way to describe it. I notice it most prominently lately as I cycle the same combo for weeks at a time.

This is what I am trying to figure out! The Match 6 in PA is a great example of the churn... you can watch night after night and see the results come from everywhere all at once... hots/colds/neutrals/evens/odds/high and low... but they shift within a few dozen draws to show a different set of hots and colds.

Now we could chalk it up to randomness, but the churn is the only consistent part of the results. My classification experiment hoped to model some of this by mapping out the hots, colds and neutrals over a limited subset of draw history.

This churn, different groups of numbers cycling through in some "as yet to be deciphered" process are noticeable! Some weeks a 48 might come up 3 out of 7 draws, sometimes it is mixed that same week with something like a 21 or an 8, that also shows up 2 to 4 times in the same 7 draws, then BOOM... they vanish for awhile.

I am able to pull all sorts of stats for individual numbers, but have no concept of where to start trying to model this "churn"...

It is there from the power ball down to the pick 2..i have a feeling part of it will come down to sample size, which will have a different value for each game type (pick N, pick 5/60, pick 6/49 etc...)

I need a mathematical basis to describe this churn, only then can I begin to truly craft an algorithmic solution...

Though there is still the better part of a week remaining on this pick 3 cycle, the middle of the neutral numbers is not working. Day had nothing close to 390, eve's 155 was closest on 10/29 with 135. Will have time for 3 more pick 3 cycles this year.

So time to decide on the strategy changes for those cycles.

Next week I will take the highest frequency all neutral line. There is fill from the middle, but logically the ones at the edge of the hot threshold should have a better shot.

The following cycle will use the reverse, taking the lowest frequency all neutral line. Having numbers at the edge of the cold cutoff.

In the last 2025 cycle, I have yet to determine the strategy.

I will start off 2026 with a Match 6 cycle. Which ever strategy gets closest on the pick 3 will be used.

However I slice it, just need 2 wins between now and 12/31 to have next year 100% on the house... all the while remaining in budget! Cutting the 50/50 straight/box in favor of $1 straight feels like the right move, won't be playing pick 5 cycles with boxes...

The GUI version is starting to take shape, at least from a planning perspective. This can roll the pick N and Match 6 into the same program, adding the ability to plot graphs.

Turns out GUI Python programs are ran in a loop, similar to how game loops are made, only without constant redraws for the graphics... the loop is triggered by user input alone. In this way, a main screen where you choose your game and history file set up the rest of the run, including a dynamic layout based on the columns in the history file. Working through some Python web scraping tutorials now to finally get automated history updates going, that is a long term goal. Since I am not dealing with the matrix changes yet, there is no need to worry about the power ball or mega millions... by the time I am ready for them, I will just be able to create a history scraper that can go back to a specific start point and fill forward. I can then use an appropriate separate function to deal with the bonus balls, as they will have different settings than the white ball pools.

The cost of the 26 draw cycle for the jackpot games...

Power Ball with a $4 ticket = $104

Mega Millions with it's $5 ticket = $130

Not important now, it will be when the butt heads at MUSL trash the Cash 4 Life game. At a combined cost of $234, it is $6 cheaper than the Cash 4 Life "brute force" attack cost of $240. Plus both can be played on 26 advance draws unlike Cash 4 Life which only allows 10 advanced plays. Either require a pick 3 win to be played on house money... which is the only way they will be played. I did manage a go at the cash 4 life on the house this year.

The 2 wins required to pay for 2026 will also leave enough for another go at the Cash 4 Life. Having the ability to deal with history updates will be important for getting the jackpot games set up.

I will most likely end 2025 in the red... -$154. Not bad for how much I played in the last few months. Anything won will be put toward next year, so I'll take that loss, which sits at about $0.42 / day. Cheap hobby!

So, the money would be enough that you never had to work for an employer again.

What would you do to fill the time that you would get back from commuting and working 40+ hours a week?

I have several plans that I would pursue.

1. Go back to school full time for a Masters Degree in comp sci with a focus on AI. Same online school I went to for my Bachelor's in CS.

2. Build a home recording studio. Learning not just multiple instruments, bit how to get a pro quality recording.

3. Build a research lab to explore topics in alternative energy that I have been rolling around my head for decades.

Between rolling out those 3, 1 first then the other 2... I would have plenty to keep busy and keep learning. Rather than rushing headlong into each and spending a ton of money, it would be research and learning each new piece of equipment added.

But my first purchase would be a new laptop. Not any random one, but an ASUS R.O.G. Strick Scar 18. Currently way out of my budget range.

With more time for family and vacations, I think I could be set with all of that time being found!

Staring down the barrel of birthday #57 soon (11/5), I have to keep an eye on the why... I get a great deal more work done in a coding session than I used to only using spreadsheets, but I have a heavy procrastination issue, particularly when it comes to solving impossible problems. So I need to occasionally remind myself that the goal is not just money, but the freedom that comes with it...

How would you invest your newfound time?

The mid day passed the halfway point with no wins yet. Evening will do the same tonight, and also winless as of last night.

The observations from the back test point to an interesting concept... only play week 3... that would lead to a new set of combos each week.

There are two ways to do this...

1. Hold the history updates by 14 days. Seems a simple enough solution, but there is a better way...

2. Set the classify variable to 14. This would make the pick virtually 2 weeks ago AND classify the first 2 weeks of results. Why this would be better is that I do not have to modify the history file and can continue to update as normal. This solution would also be applicable to any of the other games... though I do not back test the jackpot games as rigorously as the pick N games as they only need to work once.

Why I might not... the live test is only halfway done. It is most likely to complete without any win, so maybe observations are subconsciously tinted by what I wanted to see...

So, ride the test out and see what happens in week 3... if there is a win it would mark 2 cycles in a row with a week 3 win (even if the first was paper play).

That makes the plan hinge entirely on week 3...

IF there is no win... don't change anything

IF there is a week 3 win... implement the above changes.

Next year, the pick 5 showed no such quirk, so that cycle will be business as usual.

I can't even believe that they will be taking away the Cash 4 Life in February! This changes the allocation of any hit on pick 3 to $260 towards funding next year and $240 for a shot at the C4L.

System wise, everything is finally synchronized... the method, the software, the budget... all that remains is to actually win... same as any other system or year...

First you give lucky numbers a go. Sometimes you get lucky, but rarely. Eventually these get boring.

Then you discover spreadsheets... hey, maybe I can do this... see something every one else is missing...

Eventually, you want to do more than the standard functions provide, so you may learn enough VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) to make a few simple macros. You soon discover that you have ideas your limited experience with VBA is unable to explore.

Enter the programming languages... there are many and each serves a purpose, but in my case it is Python. Of the languages I have studied, Python is closer to how I think... easier to go from idea to results. There is a learning curve, but it is a powerful tool to bring ideas to realization.

Many along the path find a comfort zone and stay there. Some push further...

I am at my comfort zone with Excel and Python.

Now we have the vibe coders who can pull software out of thin air with the use of AI. They may or may not understand the results, but it is a more accessible route to bringing an idea to life than the steep learning curve of direct coding.

Yet here we all are with years put in to solving an impossible problem via many routes... yet it remains unsolved.

Some play more tickets, some are cheap and stick to strict budgets (my take), some just have dumb luck and win regularly without any of the time invested in understanding the process...

Yet here we are continuing...

I wonder sometimes why?

After some diving for info on Python GUIs, there are several that pop out as front runners for the first experiment... most notably PySimpleGUI.

They recommend having the logic encapsulated in functions and bypassing direct user input with widgets that will ensure the proper range and values. Already done! The current functions are atomic and ready for use.

There is a great tutorial about also including matplotlib in the code to make graphs on the fly... even better!

Then there is kivy, a Python library I can use to make things mobile! That one is for later...

The cycle is 21 draws for the pick 3, I started last Thursday 10/16 and will continue through Wednesday 11/5 with the same combo for the evening and the day.

The cost @ $1 straight for both mid and eve games is $14/week.

The same script was used, once with mid day data, and again with evening data. For the entire 21 days, the combo stays the same.

Since BOTH sets contained 2 hots, 6 neutrals and 2 colds, I picked one combo from the 216 available per game.

Those picks are

PA Pick 3 Mid Day = 390

PA Pick 3 Evening = 155

The cycle being 21 days means 3 weeks of play for a grand total of $42 spent. That is the cost regardless of a hit. And only a straight hit counts... if either comes out BOX, that means I was wrong with the guess.... if one comes out for the wrong game, such as 155 in the day or 390 in the evening, I was still wrong... if one would hit if I had the wild ball... still wrong.

Though I could cut it to a 50 cent ticket, I also have a 28 draw cycle of PA Match 6 starting on 11/6, and that is $14 per week as well, so the $14 budget is not random, it is the cheapest way to play multiple games... pick 3, pick 5 and Match 6 all cost $14 per week. While I could easily play all 3 concurrently for $42 per week, this budget is more sensible. In 2026 I roll in 3 weeks of pick 5 for a 10 week cycle covering the 3 games. $140 for 10 weeks of daily play is surely a conservative budget by anyone's standards. Plus, a single hit on the pick 3 covers the cost of 3.5 full 10 week cycles. At $14 per week, there is a very possible chance to have 2026 be "on the house". I may still finish out this year only with the pick 3, much of that depends on if there is a hit in this cycle.

2026 will go Match 6, then pick 3 then pick 5... repeat cycles.

The last day of this pick 3 cycle happens to be my birthday... $500 would be a nice present...

For today, I will take the successful update to the Match 6 script, which was the multi level sort from the pick N script, and apply it to the Cash 4 Life script.

Also, after watching a few weeks go by, I am discontinuing the practice of cutting the head of the draw samples to remove the window... that means the scripts will no longer remove 21 draws from the sample in pick N, 28 draws from Match 6 or 30 draws from Cash 4 Life. It was an idea that did not yield any positive (or negative) result.

Over time, I will be moving forward with a GUI version for these scripts, with the ultimate goal of having all games in one program. Variables entered from a settings page rather than direct script editing. I believe I have followed the best path by making sure all functions for all games work and display the desired information. The GUI transform will be a puzzle put together with verified working pieces! This will also allow for graphs to be incorporated without running a different script. 

I still have to figure out how to update the draw histories by scraping the data from the PA website (The RSS feed does not provide reliable or consistent data). That consists of automating what I do manually... so I already know the steps in the process...

But then I will have a single desktop app that can handle everything I do with the lottery. It will be another chance to apply industry best practices and branch out into another new area of Python coding for me. One of the design challenges I have already started exploring is the reading of the input file to create a dynamic layout, just like the pick N script can auto configure side by side output for pick2 through pick5.

Once that is done, then the ultimate goal can be started... a mobile app! Everything in one place for calculations on the fly without needing all the time currently required to set things up.

But for today, I am sticking with the Cash 4 Life update... one step at a time...