Gap Strategy
New Way to Play Powerball - Clarification.
Gap strategy is an alternative way of choosing numbers to play a lottery game.
The initial step, called Alphanumeric Substitution, is placing the winning numbers in numerical order. The number combination is then then converted to an alphabetical sequence, in alphabetical order, using the following key:
Numbers 1 to 9 are represented by letter A.
Numbers 10 to 19 are represented by letter B.
Numbers 20 to 29 are represented by letter C.
Numbers 30 to 39 are represented by letter D.
Numbers 40 to 49 are represented by letter E.
Numbers 50 to 59 are represented by letter F.
The same key is used for bonus balls.
For example:
01.42.39.16.22+34 becomes 01.16.22.39.42+34, which, in turn, becomes ABCDE+D.
38.02.40.17.09+09 becomes 02.09.17.38.40+09, which, in turn, becomes AABDE+A.
19.10.56.33.14+14 becomes 10.14.19.33.56+14, which, in turn, becomes BBBDF+B
Benefits:
ALPHABETICAL SEQUENCES:
In the MegaMillions 5/56 1/46 matrix, there are 3,904,701 five-number combinations.
When the 46 Mega balls are added, the total number of combinations is 175,711,536.
(It's generally accepted that the total number of combinations refers to combinations that
are in numerical order.)
In the Powerball 5/55 1/42 matrix, there are 3,563,608 five-number combinations.
When the 42 Powerballs are added, the total number of combinations is 146,107,962.
Alphanumeric substitution reduces the total number of 5-number combinations down to 252 alphabetical sequences.
This is true for both jackpot games.
If a log is kept for the alphabetical sequences, without the bonus ball numbers, it would begin with AAAAA, AAAAB, AAAAC, AAAAD, AAAAE, AAAAF, AAABB, AAABC ..... to EEEEE, EEEEF, EEEFF, EEFFF, EFFFF, FFFFF)
POINT STRUCTURES:
The 252 alphabetical sequences can be further reduced to 62 Point Structures by eliminating repeat letters.
(Points are the number of different letters in an alphabetical sequences. Repeats are not counted.)
For example:
AABCD becomes ABCD, a 4-point structure.
ABBBE becomes ABE, a 3-point structure.
BCDFF becomes BCDF, a 4-point structure.
CCCCC becomes C, a 1-point structure.
ABBBB becomes AB, a 2-point structure.
ABCDE has no repeats. Therefore, it is a 5-point structure.
Here is a breakdown of the point structures in the jackpot games.
1-point - 6 (A, B, C, D, E, F)
2-point - 15 (AB thru EF)
3-point - 20 (ABC thru DEF)
4-point - 15 (ABCD thru CDEF)
5-point - 6 (ABCDE thru BCDEF)
The Point Structure inventory for the Powerball game as of 101808 are:
1 point - 1
2 point - 15
3 point - 95
4 point - 151
5 point - 21
The Point Structure inventory for the MegaMillions game as of 102108 are:
1 point - None
2 point - 15
3 point - 99
4 point - 194
5 point - 36
Benefits:
As can be seen from the above point structure breakdowns, 4-point structures (an alphabetical sequence having four different letters) have come up more frequently. In other words, most winning combinations have only 4 of the 6 possible number groups.
For example:
Powerball: (Date, winning combination in numerical order, alphabetical sequence in alphabetical order, point structure and point number)
1015 03.13.32.38.48+13 ABDDE+B ABDE 4
1018 10.14.32.40.49+15 BBDEE+B BDE 3
MegaMillions: (Date, winning combination in numerical order, alphabetical sequence in alphabetical order, point structure and point number)
1017 07.15.27.28.31+35 ABCCD+D ABCD 4
1021 16.19.39.42.44+38 BBDEE+D BDE 3
This information is useful when a running log is initiated and maintained.
(I call my log a 'in order of occurrence log' or 'a hot sheet')
Having such a log, on graph paper, allows a player an opportunity to track and see at a glance which sequences and point structures have come up in recent drawings.
Some of the point structures come up more frequently than others.
For example, in Powerball, the 4-point structure BCDE has come up 20 times since 072606. ABDE has come up 19 times.
The least frequent is ABDF. which has come up twice.
ACD and BCD are the most frequent 3-point structures.
In MegaMillions, BCDF has come up 19 times, followed by ABCD and BCDE, which have come up 18 times, each.
This data, along with any other data a player may have, is helpful in determining what combinations might have a better chance of winning, Keeping in mind that it's all GUESSWORK.
My Gap Strategy workouts can be used to generate numbers. (Do a search of Gap Strategy for basic information and examples).
Other Uses:
Other ways to use the alphabetical data discussed here is to break the alphabetical sequences down into parts and maintain In order of Occurrence and corresponding inventories:
For example:
Break the alphabetical sequences into tripes - First 3 letters and corresponding numbers. Last 3 letters and corresponding numbers.
Use graph paper and list the numbers, in numerical order, under a 3-letter group in the order that they occur. Over time, the inventory log will show that certain triples seem to come up more often than others. Knowing what the winning numbers (F3 or L3) were in the past, can help future guesswork.
The First 3 triple, ABB, is very popular in almost all Pick 5 and Pick 6 lottery games.
I hope this clarification will be useful. There were some strategic 'typos' in the earlier version.
Thanks for your interest.
Bobby
