johnph77's Blog

Was asked how we finished in Lake Harmony - 6th of 21, just out of the money.

New software is great but still doesn't solve the RI HotTrax problem. Reprogramming is the key, underway, progress there is good. I want to run a proof program before I post on site. Preliminary indications are that the game pays out about 62%. The new variations will also have to be computed.

Main thrust right now is working on Keno analysis pages. Progress good, transfer going well. Pages transferred look so much better without the ads.....

Also I took on a job as webmaster for a tournament in WA next April. I'll also be involved as one of the tournament directors when the day arrives.

Home - two days late. Reasons for same would be a long explanation and funny - if it hadn't happened to me. Oh, well, I got some good rest between disasters.

Have yet to sift through Email to find out when I can get back to the lottery page update.

FedEx delivered a new compiler today. Tests with the trial version indicated old programs run on it run anywhere from 5 to 10 times faster than with the old one, making it useful for lottery applications, especially with the larger lottery matrices. We'll see when I find a good use for the new program.

Life is good when one is laying back after a trip - replete with icy drink in hand.....

On the road starting tomorrow for a visit with some long-time friends - and, oh, yeah, a pinochle tournament. Will return about 05 Sep. Will cjeck in from time to time.

Will know shortly after I return if I can resolve the problem I was having detailing all the possibilities of RI's HotTrax game. I may have discovered a possible solution. That program needs to be rewritten.

Some Keno pages updated, more to come. Site switch on overanalysis page to occur gradually, going well, more to follow.

Heard from a long-time LP friend about changes in MN's Gopher 5, table updated.

Trip is over - got home earlier tonight. Didn't make the Top 16 in the Nationals but had good succcess in the consolation until the last game. We probably played as well as the cards allowed.

Desktop computer went down. May have to reload and reprogram the ISP software. This means if I can't easily transfer to and upload from the laptop it ain't gonna get done. Fortunately all the other software on the desktop is functioning normally.

I'm home for four days then it's back on the road again, this time to Lake Harmony PA.

Last weekend's tournament in Fayetteville NC went to show me what happens when the cards are generally bad and, when the cards get reasonably good, the distribution isn't worth beans.

We finished dead last amongst those who finished the tournament - took the Red Lantern award <g>.

And it'll go like this every once in a while - just have to roll with the punches, more or less. Just hope it isn't an omen of what is going to occur next weekend in Cleveland OH with much more at stake.

While I was at the base motel last week in Frankfort KY I was able to complete the work necessary to add an entry to the Keno analysis page - Arizona Charlie's in Las Vegas. I have the framework with me for six more but I won't complete them all. It's a good road project nonetheless.

Onward and forward to bigger and better things.....

Underway tomorrow PM for Frankfort KY (base) then Fayetteville NC and Cleveland OH for successive weekend pinochle tournaments. Then back home for five days, then back on the road again for Lake Harmony PA. The one in Cleveland is the big one - Nationals. Won't be online much - just often enough to check mail and forums. September is shot as far as work goes unless I can get it done on the laptop.

Keno page updating going well, if more slowly than expected. Some other work - see next - tripped me up, plus the co-generation of data for the overanalysis site doesn't proceed as well as it should - I'll eventually work on a template for a good portion of this.

Received a request for information on a 6/49 lottery matrix. I found out it is possible to list all drawing possibilities in a text file of about 312Mb with record numbers, a text file of about 195Mb without record numbers and nine excel files totalling 830Mb without line numbers. When (If!) I ever get time I want to explore possibilities in reducing the Excel file size and make the records easier to analyze. All bets are off when it comes to the 6/49+Bonus, though - multiply all those numbers by 43.

The update of the Keno analysis site won't get in the way of the lottery page update, though - that's next on the list, the top sheet in the inbox, whatever. The start of the second phase may get pushed back a couple of weeks, however.

The Lottery Payouts and Percentages page on my website has received the first of three scheduled updates. The Powerball game chart has been revised for the new matrix and payouts. Some of the other games have received changes in their chart format to reflect my current thinking on same. The word "Jackpot" has been eliminated from all U.S. charts and have been replaced by the minimum jackpot starting value. In some cases it took a bit of digging to find that value. Those game percentages have been adjusted accordingly. Some typos have been corrected, most notably missing percentage signs.

The second update will finish the update started earlier in the year and involve checking the current games not already updated since then. It will also involve bringing those games into the revised format developed before that update was started. This update will probably start in early October, as the Keno page update is ongoing now. The third update will simply be a refresh of the entire page and shouldn't take much effort or time.

Completed a project early yesterday morning I had been working on for more than four years. Uploaded the last of the files at that time. Should be a lull in demands on my time for a while.

Everything else has fallen behind. The Keno pages need work, the lottery pages need updating and other long-term projects need some attention as well. It's been the last that I've been working on today, but the Keno update starts tomorrow. There are about 20 sections that need inserting/updating and possibly inclusion into the number-crunching site. I'll have to look at the work in that inbox.

The lottery paperwork on hand may be out-of-date - I'll have to look at the sites. One of the things that will happen is that the new Powerball matrix will be calculated and placed on site.

Occasionally a request for information will catch my eye, probably because it fits within my areas of (so-called) expertise as far as lottery games and math is concerned. So be it here. Someone asked for an analysis on the UK Thunderball game (5/34+1/14 matrix, 3,895,584 possibilities), I picked it up and it quickly grew into a monster. The requestor wanted to know how many times (or what were the chances of) a rightmost number would be duplicated in any draw. Taking into consideration that the numbers 1 through 4 would appear more often than 5 through 0, as the matrix indicates, I wrote some code and I was off to the races. He got his answers, and more. I took the opportunity to give some spreadsheet software some exercise and, with the help of a macro-writing friend, proved that what I had gotten as a result of the programming was correct. Really a nice piece of work if I do say so myself.

But it makes me wonder - the Excel spreadsheet containing all the possible results for this lottery took 219 Mb of disk space - not a lot when my (2-1/2 year) old computer has 1 Gb RAM and a 75 Gb hard drive of which less than a third is filled - for now. I view 500 Mb spreadsheets as an occasional replacement for full-scale databases, depending on requirements. But this sort of thing leaves those with computers containing only (!) 256 Mb RAM in the lurch and out of the picture.

My first office PC, back in 1989, had 540K RAM and a 20 Mb hard drive - which I filled in 6 weeks. Ain't modern technology wonderful?

And yet there are now USB-powered and -controlled transferrable hard disks with capacities of up to 250 Gb. So long floppies, so long CD R/Ws? We can talk.....

Who knows what the future may hold?

Home from Harrisburg - took gas. Out of contention after third round. Trip was well worth it, though - old and new friends, well-run, great time. Now back to work.....

Off to Harrisburg PA tomorrow AM for a tournament.

Lots of rain and flooding here yesterday - water mains broken, without water here for 21 hours.

Progress on lottery page update slow - by the time I finish it it'll be time to start all over again. Work geting in the way - again.

Started an analysis discussion with JKING re 5/xx lotteries and position frequency - piqued my interest so I took some time off to so some spreadsheet work. Posted in Lottery Systems Forum.

Keno and lottery page updates underway - at last. Updated MegaMillions, removed WA's Lucky For Life, as it has been changed to a scratch-off game.

I (think I) need to finish off RI, then do VA, WA and a couple of others, check the earlier updates and emend as necessary, then check the Canadian lotteries. Formatting still looking reasonably good.

RI's Hot Trax still giving me a problem - I just may post the data without formulas.

Hope to continue, but there's always the threat of work lurking in the background.....

Have generated enough data and files to keep clients reasonably happy, at least through the end of the month. I can go to Harrisburg with a clear slate - and mind.

Keno page update underway tomorrow. Bellagio (Las Vegas) has dropped the game, need to take that data off the pages. Several casinos from which I've received data need to be added. I'll review the templates as well.

Some lottery updates will take place as well - starting to get some spare time. I still need to complete the general update started last spring.

Personal projects also proceeding along nicely.

All is well.

Back home. My East Coast pard and I won the Charlotte tournament.

Still hacking away at work, but making good progress on what was originally a long-term project. In just over a month there has been more accomplished than in the last four years.

Lottery page updates needed - on my conscience, if not my schedule for now.

Off to Charlotte NC in the AM. Tournament next weekend, visit with friends along the way. Taking more than enough work with me to stay out of trouble.

Need to redo MegaMillions and Powerball tables for new matrices and payouts - at the top of the list on my return. Still trying to program RI HotTrax when I have time but have been unable to reduce size. What I may have to do is a little old-fashioned arithmetic - when I get back - I'll have to see.

I'll be checking in when I get to Charlotte next weekend - will be using Todd's new Daily Topics feature, which will prove to be a real timesaver for me.