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WhatAreTheOdds

Ontario
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Sep 24, 2021, 10:58 am

In Canada, our jackpot draws have Bonus numbers. In our 6/49 game, you can select 6 numbers to play, but there will be 7 numbers drawn from the same drum (in the same color, with the same ball set). There are 6 regular numbers drawn, plus 1 extra number which is called the Bonus number.

If you have the 6 regular numbers, you win the big jackpot of millions (last week I think it was 20 million). If you have 5 regular numbers plus the Bonus number, you might win around $100,000. Having the Bonus number never brings you the big payout.

I am wondering whether or not to include the Bonus number in my analysis/history tracking? Using it or not would make a difference. Perhaps the number 27 has come up 4 times in the last month, as both a Bonus number and a regular number. I might want to play it harder, cause it's hot. But if I was not looking at Bonus numbers for my analysis, then I might see that the number 27 only came up once in the last month as a regular number. Looking at it that way, the number 27 is not of much importance, and I might not make an effort to play it at all. On the same note, including or excluding the Bonus number in the Skip & Hit Chart 6 would really change the patterns there. So, including Bonus numbers (or not) in my analysis could entirely change my outcomes.

This question seems similar to the question about whether or not to separate or combine your history data when you're looking at a PICK-3/4 game that occurs twice a day - is the game energy the same, so you should combine your history in one file, or is the game energy different, so you should track the history of the 2 draws a day separately?

Back to the Bonus number. . . .

On one hand, the Bonus number comes from the same drum and same ball set – no delay in time between when it is drawn and when the other regular numbers are drawn. On the other hand, the Bonus number has a separate name (does that make it a different entity?), has a different payout, and I can’t even select a number for it, because I can only play 6 numbers (not the 7th).

Gail Howard said to use the Bonus number when analyzing Long-Term trends, and to exclude it when analyzing Short-Term trends. I don’t know about the Medium-Term charts. Plus she automatically excluded the Bonus number from Sum Checking (which is Short-Term).

Anybody have any helpful opinions on this? Should the Bonus number be included in my analysis/history tracking or not?
Speler

Belgium
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Sep 24, 2021, 12:00 pm

6/49? With or without extra or/and reserve, no thanks.
KY Floyd

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Sep 25, 2021, 3:46 pm

In an analysis of how often numbers are selected you're not sure if you should include all of the numbers that are selected?
garyo1954

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Sep 25, 2021, 5:28 pm

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Sep 25, 2021
In an analysis of how often numbers are selected you're not sure if you should include all of the numbers that are selected?

Agreed. I withheld any comments since this is GH stuff. Figured there was something in the system to explain how they handled it.

G

I'm probably here unless I'm not.
Dreaming would be a perfectly useless function if it's only purpose was to entertain.
WhatAreTheOdds

Ontario
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Sep 25, 2021, 6:24 pm

Quote: Originally posted by garyo1954 on Sep 25, 2021
Agreed. I withheld any comments since this is GH stuff. Figured there was something in the system to explain how they handled it.

G

Nope, it's not really "Gail Howard stuff".

It is part of the lottery game, in a similar way to how the red power ball is part of the lottery game. GH may offer advice on Bonus numbers and red power balls, but it's not a GH thing.

Unlike Powerball, you can't select a Bonus number. And getting the Bonus number leads to a different payout than the "regular" balls. But it is drawn from the same ball set.

Some people believe that the data for their PICK-3 mid-day draws should be kept separate from the data for their PICK-3 evening draws. By the same token, some people may believe that the data for the Bonus numbers drawn should be kept separate from the regular numbers that are drawn.

So I'm simply asking why? Or why not? Is there a good reason to go one way or the other? ? ?
garyo1954

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Sep 25, 2021, 7:11 pm

Quote: Originally posted by WhatAreTheOdds on Sep 25, 2021
Nope, it's not really "Gail Howard stuff".

It is part of the lottery game, in a similar way to how the red power ball is part of the lottery game. GH may offer advice on Bonus numbers and red power balls, but it's not a GH thing.

Unlike Powerball, you can't select a Bonus number. And getting the Bonus number leads to a different payout than the "regular" balls. But it is drawn from the same ball set.

Some people believe that the data for their PICK-3 mid-day draws should be kept separate from the data for their PICK-3 evening draws. By the same token, some people may believe that the data for the Bonus numbers drawn should be kept separate from the regular numbers that are drawn.

So I'm simply asking why? Or why not? Is there a good reason to go one way or the other? ? ?

In that case, I still agree with KY Floyd. I'd count it as a regular number just as the Canadian lottery does.

But then I'd get anal and track it both ways to see if there was an advantage to either.
Best case scenario you find some number or pairs hit more often when certain number(s) fall as the bonus ball. Or vice versa, some pairs bring a certain bonus ball.

Your choice.

G

I'm probably here unless I'm not.
Dreaming would be a perfectly useless function if it's only purpose was to entertain.
BobP

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Sep 26, 2021, 1:56 am

As the ball comes from the same pot I would include it in the analysis. It's like a free additional ball draw, with the understand it may throw some things off like sums. My Dos GH allows me to toggle the bonus ball on and off so I can see what difference it makes, like in Followers. At least your bonus balls are helpful rather then in there to make it harder to win. Before the U.S. went nuts I used to play the Au game with two bonus balls, it was a good game to play.

BobP
Speler

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Sep 26, 2021, 6:04 am

This isn't only a game of luck but also and mainly of money. You should work on what pays. If that extraball doesn't pay and it doesn't help anywhere, then drop it. If you have a purpose yes, and if you use all 7 but check with 6 next, then your 6 or 7 n. analysis is not it. So you have multiple cases, but 6/49? A 6/45 already is a struggle. Using 7 numbers to get 6 numbers? Load the db with 6 first, 7 first, or 7th alone, isolate the 7th and look with which numbers that combined, find the 7th number alone ... . See your payouts table first, don't ask in the wild.
WhatAreTheOdds

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Sep 26, 2021, 7:20 am

Speler,

I hear you. The money is not in the Bonus number, the big payout is in the regular numbers. It sounds easy to just drop the Bonus number from my analysis, but will I possibly be shooting myself in the foot because my data will no longer show the "complete" picture?

GaryO,

Of course you're right. I have no way of knowing which way to go, unless I test each option thoroughly. I was hoping someone here may have already done that, to save me the effort. Cause it's gonna take a lot of programming to simulate what might have happened had I gone one way vs the other way.

BobP,

Yes, I can toggle the Bonus number in my Gail Howard SLAG going forward, though that would mean doing twice the amount of analysis work. I need to make a decision one way or the other, cause I'm already spending way too much TIME on analysis as it is.

Thanks guys, for your input. I guess I've got a lot of programming and testing ahead of me, to see which option better highlights the numbers that tend to win the most often.
KY Floyd

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Sep 27, 2021, 2:06 am

"Some people believe that the data for their PICK-3 mid-day draws should be kept separate from the data for their PICK-3 evening draws."

Some people aren't very good at thinking logically or critically. Tracking mid-day and evening games separately would make sense (insofar as there's any sense to tracking past results) if they were drawn using totally independent equipment that's not used for both drawings. OTOH, if they're drawn using the same equipment (meaning multiple ball sets and multiple drawing machines, randomly selected for the individual drawings ) then there's no rational reason to treat the numbers in one drawing as if they're not the same numbers as the ones in the other drawing. Do any of the people who think they should analyze mid-day and evening drawings separately also think they should analyze Monday drawings separately from Tuesday drawings, and so on?

In theory tracking past results could offer some advantage in guessing future results if the selection process isn't random. That's still very different than the possibility of guessing when a particular number will be selected. Whether it's tracking the bonus number separately or mid-day and evening drawings separately, you're adding the when to the mix.

And of course there's the faulty thinking that tells people that a 10% advantage (as if they were anywhere near that lucky) isn't still a losing proposition in a game where the payout is only 50% of the odds against you. Even a 0.0001% advantage in a jackpot game would be worth using (at least if we don't consider the cost of the advantage) because wining in a jackpot game will change your life. OTOH, and "advantage" that lets you win pick 3 or 4 once out of 900 or once out of 9000 times won't change your life. At best if will put a modest sum in your pocket if you win within 499 or 4999 drawings and then stop playing.
WhatAreTheOdds

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Sep 27, 2021, 10:36 am

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Sep 27, 2021
"Some people believe that the data for their PICK-3 mid-day draws should be kept separate from the data for their PICK-3 evening draws."

Some people aren't very good at thinking logically or critically. Tracking mid-day and evening games separately would make sense (insofar as there's any sense to tracking past results) if they were drawn using totally independent equipment that's not used for both drawings. OTOH, if they're drawn using the same equipment (meaning multiple ball sets and multiple drawing machines, randomly selected for the individual drawings ) then there's no rational reason to treat the numbers in one drawing as if they're not the same numbers as the ones in the other drawing. Do any of the people who think they should analyze mid-day and evening drawings separately also think they should analyze Monday drawings separately from Tuesday drawings, and so on?

In theory tracking past results could offer some advantage in guessing future results if the selection process isn't random. That's still very different than the possibility of guessing when a particular number will be selected. Whether it's tracking the bonus number separately or mid-day and evening drawings separately, you're adding the when to the mix.

And of course there's the faulty thinking that tells people that a 10% advantage (as if they were anywhere near that lucky) isn't still a losing proposition in a game where the payout is only 50% of the odds against you. Even a 0.0001% advantage in a jackpot game would be worth using (at least if we don't consider the cost of the advantage) because wining in a jackpot game will change your life. OTOH, and "advantage" that lets you win pick 3 or 4 once out of 900 or once out of 9000 times won't change your life. At best if will put a modest sum in your pocket if you win within 499 or 4999 drawings and then stop playing.

KY Floyd,

I guess I should not tell you then, that I've read on this forum, that there ARE people who track and analyze their Wednesday numbers separate from their Saturday numbers (for the same lottery game).

And I guess I should also not tell you that there are some people who believe that because everything in this universe it energy, that the energetic effect on the numbers drawn in a lottery game can go beyond just what is happening in the mechanical lottery machine. Quantum physics has shown us that the energy/mindset of the person/people doing an experiment can affect the outcome of the experiment (which is why we now have double and triple blind studies). And the effect of energy is why things happen like the occurrence of the numbers 9-1-1 in the New York lottery on the evening of the first anniversary of the attack.

And I probably should not mention that there are people in this group who believe that the numbers that are drawn in one state, will fall in other states within just a few days. Yes, they have lists of which states hit, and then which states will follow. And they've seen this "flow" of numbers from state to state happen repeatedly.

Perhaps these people do not have "faulty thinking". Perhaps they just see some things differently. . . We all have that right.
Speler

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Sep 27, 2021, 1:11 pm

it's crazy how many post for pick 3 and how few realize a full payback. Nobody doubled.
Speler

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Sep 27, 2021, 2:26 pm

There is one now:

1. Steven Thompson 218.54% $151 $330

If I look at my pick 5.

2. Speler 329.78% $94 $310

(With some $'s missing in the payouts.)
KY Floyd

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Sep 29, 2021, 2:24 am

"there ARE people who track and analyze their Wednesday numbers separate from their Saturday numbers (for the same lottery game)"

I'd love to hear their logic reasoning for doing that.

"energy/mindset of the person/people doing an experiment can affect the outcome of the experiment (which is why we now have double and triple blind studies)."

You might want to ask Google about the very simple reason for double blind studies that's based on something far more simple than quantum physics.

"And the effect of energy is why things happen like the occurrence of the numbers 9-1-1 in the New York lottery on the evening of the first anniversary of the attack. "

While you're Googling maybe you'd be kind enough to share a link to the double and triple blind studies revealing why those numbers were drawn.

"numbers that are drawn in one state, will fall in other states within just a few days."

Wow. What are the odds?
Speler

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Sep 29, 2021, 2:10 pm

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Sep 29, 2021
"there ARE people who track and analyze their Wednesday numbers separate from their Saturday numbers (for the same lottery game)"

I'd love to hear their logic reasoning for doing that.

"energy/mindset of the person/people doing an experiment can affect the outcome of the experiment (which is why we now have double and triple blind studies)."

You might want to ask Google about the very simple reason for double blind studies that's based on something far more simple than quantum physics.

"And the effect of energy is why things happen like the occurrence of the numbers 9-1-1 in the New York lottery on the evening of the first anniversary of the attack. "

While you're Googling maybe you'd be kind enough to share a link to the double and triple blind studies revealing why those numbers were drawn.

"numbers that are drawn in one state, will fall in other states within just a few days."

Wow. What are the odds?

"there ARE people who track and analyze their Wednesday numbers separate from their Saturday numbers (for the same lottery game)"

People use their software or filters with what the filter can do. For example using Monday & Friday, or only for the months Septemper and January, or only the 1st day or last day of every month. They generally do what they can do with the software. Some ask you if you coded this or that option, not because they had that idea, but because they saw this in other software.

So, they do it because the software has the option. - Other websites or programs might come with separated data, like there is no option of viewing for example day and night drawings in one table.

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