A Fresh Look at Lotto Filtering (Part 2)

Two Related Techniques:  Lotto Wheels and Lotto Filters

In general, players use two techniques to control their play. The two techniques are: wheeling and filtering.

They are not the same techniques -- but their purposes are similar.

The purpose of playing a filter is not materially different from that of playing a Key number wheel, or for that matter playing an Abbreviated wheel.

From the player's point of view, there are usually four steps:

1. Define the prize goal to be played for.



2. Define the financial budget for playing.



3. Make combinations which address the prize, within the budget.



4. Know the likelihood of winning the prize, with those combinations.

The idea is to aim for a specific prize level in the game, at a cost the player can afford, with a known chance for getting that prize if the winning combination 'fits' the combinations that the player has selected.

The person begins by stating some matching criteria which the winning combination must meet, and then reduces (or 'filters') all of the possible combinations (millions of them) down to the minimum set which satisfies just that matching criteria. If the set of combinations is still too large for the budget, then more reductions are made until the budget is satisfied.

The main choice is whether to do this up front when handling the numbers (wheeling), or afterward when handling the combinations (filtering). The goal is the same: to control the cost by using just the minimum amount of combinations that can match a desired prize. The two processes (wheeling and filtering) are not clones, but they do share some of the same DNA.

Here are two examples of how they work.

Example 1:  Managing the Playing Cost

In a 6/49 game, a winning Sum between 135 and 165 occurs approximately once in three draws. Here is how this information could be used in a filter to meet a financial budget.

A Wheeling choice might be stated like this:

"I'm playing 20 numbers in a Pick-6 game. I have a 100% likelihood of a minimum 4-number win, if any 6 of my 20 numbers are drawn. My total playing cost is $103.00."

A Filtering choice might be stated like this:

"I'm playing 20 numbers in a Pick-6 game. I have a 100% likelihood of a minimum 4-number win, if any 6 of my 20 numbers are drawn, and if their Sum is anywhere between 135 and 165. My total playing cost is $33.00."

In the first case above (wheeling without filtering), the player has a maximum of $103.00 in the playing budget. In the second case (wheeling with filtering), the player has a maximum of $33.00 in the playing budget.

If the player feels that a Sum in this range might win in the next draw, the cost for that play can be lowered by $70.00 ($103 minus $33).

Viewed another way, the player could play for three consecutive draws at a cost of $99.00 ($33.00 times three plays). In any event, if the player's budget is $33.00 for any play, then the filtering gives the player the option of meeting that limit.

Example 2:  Playing a Larger Field of Numbers

Here's an example of how a Sums filter could be used to put more numbers into play.

The Wheeling choice:

"I'm playing 14 numbers in a Pick-6 game. I have a 100% likelihood of a minimum 4-number win, if any 6 of my 14 numbers are drawn. My total playing cost is $16.00."

The Filtering choice:

"I'm playing 18 numbers in a Pick-6 game. I have a 100% likelihood of a minimum 4-number win, if any 6 of my 18 numbers are drawn, and if their Sum is between 135 and 165. My total playing cost is $16.00."

In both of these cases, the playing cost is exactly the same: $16.00.

In the first case (wheeling without filtering), the player is putting 14 numbers into play.

In the second case (wheeling with filtering), the player is putting 4 more numbers into play (18 numbers, instead of 14). It will be easier to match the game's 6 winning numbers out of this larger field of 18 numbers than out of 14 numbers.

Because it costs more to wheel 18 numbers than to wheel 14 numbers, the player is applying a filter to control the cost.

It's worth noting -- both of these players have exactly the same Jackpot chances, because both are playing the same total amount of combinations. The main difference is in how the 4-number win is to be matched.

Filtering is not a "prediction" tool.  There are no prediction tools -- not in any software, no matter how you see it advertised.

Filtering is simply a way to focus your combinations.  The combinations you are playing -- and paying for -- work together.  If you are lucky enough to be right about the numbers you have chosen, you know you have concentrated your limited playing budget to cover as many combinations of those numbers as possible, toward your prize goal.

Putting it Together

When a player understands the roles of wheeling and filtering more clearly, both of these techniques can be used together in a coordinated way. This makes it easy to manage the playing goal and financial budget.

CDEX