Not many months ago I had about as much interest in the lottery and the numbers as I had about the mating habits of, say, dung beetles (tumble-bugs).  I'd occasionally play a number that came to me, or play a QP when I'd be in a convenience store and see someone buying a ticket to remind me the lotteries exist.

Then I ran into the guy I began the "A strange Experience" thread telling the story about a couple of months ago.

The guy, to make a long story short, was a chance encounter over a cup of coffee, began telling me he moved around all over playing various lotteries, making a living at it.  Naturally, I didn't believe him.  But I passed a while listening across a table, him meandering on about how the numbers behaved, writing and making diagrams on napkins.  He made it clear what he was telling me was just a tiny piece of the methods he used, a short-course.  He said he spent several days working up his numbers for each draw.

When we parted he left me with that wad of napkins, which I intended to pursue out of curiosity, just to satisfy myself the guy was BSing me.  Eventually, I did and demonstrated to my own satisfaction that, at least, part of what he told me was true.  The numbers did seem to follow the patterns he said they did, that part of the 'rules' he'd explained appeared to work.

I started buying five tickets per draw with the power play option, breaking even over several months using his rudimentary methods.  But that got me interested enough to try to figure out what his other 'rules', the ones he told me he had, but didn't explain, might be.

That brought me, eventually, to LP.

Then, about the time I began trying to really get down to brass tacks understanding the numbers, I quit winning.  Partly, it was because the 'rules' he'd told me about appeared to cease to be rules for a while.  Partly, it was because, when they did begin to behave in those ways again, I'd lost faith in them and had become certain there were better ways to nail them down on all the corners.  Back testing those methods they generally looked good, but when it came to the coming draws they crashed and burned.

In fact, the kiss of death for a particular set frequently coincided with having posted that set on LP.  Caused me to wonder aloud on the forums whether these numbers weren't behaving somehow like subatomic particals when they get caught in the act of doing something they weren't  supposed to... in this case, behaving in non-random patterns.  Which is to say, when they find themselves the focus of human attention, they hop back into the behavior humans have assigned as correct for them.

I'm still not convinced that isn't happening, though I'm willing to believe it isn't.

Meanwhile, this guy, Big Loooser popped up on LP and appeared to confirm what the guy had told me about over coffee.... that the numbers behave in understandable ways.  I still believe they do.

Anyway, lately I've observed those lotteries, MM and PB, seem to be doing the things the guy the guy in the restaurant told me about, doing them on a fairly consistent basis.  I'm backing off all my fancy methods I've been working at and feeling fairly smug and smart-alec about, going back to the first day after I unwadded those napkins and looked up number histories. The day I discovered what he'd said happens sometimes does.  Frequently does.

I still believe the numbers can be understood, but it's clear to me I sure as hell don't understand them with my current methodologies.

Here are some numbers, using his methods, that ought to stand a fair shot for MM tonight:

Redball, Megaball, Bonus ball, whatever:  7 or 35

Maybe they'll work for someone if the numbers don't catch you looking at them. (I'm smiling as I write that).

Jack