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Lotto Master Professional Release 1.6 For Pick-5 And Pick-6 Lottos Shareware Version User's Guide Program and documentation (C) 1987-89 JPM Computer Products All Rights Reserved Copyright Notice This software package and documentation are copyright 1987-1989 by Joseph P. Masching and JPM Computer. All rights are reserved worldwide. JPM Computer licenses users to implement this software for their own use on a trial basis and to make copies for use by others on the same basis. If, after a trial period of thirty (30) days, the user wishes to continue using the program, he is required to register with JPM Computer and to pay a registration fee of $49.95 US. This version of LOTTO MASTER PROFESSIONAL is SHAREWARE and may be distributed via electronic bulletin boards or by any other medium as long as the original, unaltered documentation and all of the original files are distributed with it. Commercial resale is strictly prohibited without written permission of JPM Computer, P.O. Box 30742, Portland, OR 97230. Telephone number is (503)287-8952. Disclaimer JPM Computer makes no warranties as to the contents of this documentation or the LOTTO MASTER PRO program and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. In no event shall Joseph Masching or JPM Computer be liable for any loss of profit or any other loss or damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. JPM Computer further reserves the right to make changes to the specifications of the program and contents of the documentation without notice. NOTES ON THE SHAREWARE VERSION All SHAREWARE versions of Lotto Master Pro releases are full and complete versions of the program, and are furnished with complete documentation. Nothing has been left out and no features have been disabled or crippled. However, as an incentive for the user to register, we issue a program to SHAREWARE only after a new version has been developed. This means that any SHAREWARE version is a least one release behind the registered version. When the user registers his program with JPM COMPUTER, and pays the registration fee, he receives a copy of the latest version of the program and an up-to-date data module of the lotto history of his choice (if available). He is also guaranteed to receive advance notification of, and substantial discounts for, future new releases of the program. The registration form is located on the last page of this User's Guide, and the registration fee is $49.95. If you like this program, you will like the registered version even more. LOTTO MASTER PROFESSIONAL is a program designed to maintain and track LOTTO bets, check bets against the LOTTO drawings, maintain a history of winning numbers, analyze historical numbers for significant information, generate bets based on statistical history, and support bets based on user-selected numbers with statistical backup. It is an easy-to-use menu-driven utility for use as an aid to making decisions about placing Lotto bets. While the program was designed originally for use with the California LOTTO 6/49 lottery, it can now be used equally well with any five or six-number lottery, with or without a 'bonus' or 'alternate' number. Hardware Requirements and Installation LOTTO MASTER PRO is designed to run on any IBM or compatible computer with DOS 2.1 or higher and 256K of memory. It will run without problems on either a single floppy, dual floppy, or hard drive system. Before running Lotto Master Professional, make a working copy of the program disk. NEVER run the original program disk. The original should be stored away in a safe place and used only for making working copies. To run LOTTO MASTER PRO on a single floppy disk system, place the working copy of the program disk in drive A and from the A:> prompt, type 'LM' and press enter. This working copy of the program disk should not contain any documentation files or support files. To run the program on a dual-floppy disk system, you must first copy the data files from the program disk to a separate data disk. To do this, place a working copy of the program disk in drive A, and a fresh formatted disk in drive B. From the A:> prompt, type the following commands: copy *.rec b: <ENTER> copy *.dat b: <ENTER> copy *.cfg b: <ENTER> (If you are starting a brand new game for which you do not yet have history files on the disk, you will not need to copy any files to the B disk. They will be created the first time that you run the program.) The data files will be transferred to your working data disk. After transfer is complete, label your working data disk to identify the lottery information that it contains. be in drive A, and the data disk in drive B. Make the B drive current by typing and entering the following: b: <ENTER>. Now, from the B:> prompt type "PATH A:\" and <ENTER>. Then type "LM" and <ENTER>. The program will load and from this point will look for all data files on drive B and all program files on drive A. If the program detects upon loading that you are beginning a new game it will automatically send you to the Game Configuration sub-program. To use the program on a hard drive system, copy the entire program disk to a directory on your hard drive. Each lottery must be on its own directory on the hard drive; the data files cannot be mixed. (See your DOS manual for directions on creating a new directory and for use of the COPY command.) To run the program, make your Lotto Master directory the current directory and type-in and enter 'LM'. The program will load and run. Again, if you are starting a brand new game, just copy the file LM.EXE and the four .OBJ files to the new directory. The Program Files The LOTTO MASTER PRO program package contains sixty-seven files. They are as follows: LM.EXE The main program LIBB.OBJ Subroutine libraries LIBS.OBJ " " LIBP.OBJ " " LIBH.OBJ " " HISTORY.DAT History archives HITREC.DAT " " BONUSREC.DAT " " 1.REC - 54.REC " " LOTTO.DAT Bet archive LM.DOC This manual README.1ST update and startup information PRINTDOC.BAT A utility for printing this manual LOTTO.CFG Game configuration information Getting Started Getting started is simple. Set up your system by one of the methods described above under Hardware and Installation, type 'LM' and press <ENTER>. You will see the title screen first, followed after a few seconds by the LOTTO MASTER main menu (NOTE: if you are setting up a new game, the program will first ask you for configuration information). Using The Menus Lotto Master Professional is almost entirely 'menu-driven'. That is, each action that you can take is presented as one of a series of options on a screen 'menu'. Each menu has a highlighted bar that can be moved by an up or down arrow or 'cursor' key, and each choice on the menu is numbered on the left. To make a selection from the menu, either move the highlighted bar to your choice and press the ENTER key, or simply press a number key corresponding to the number to the left of your choice. Using The Speed-Keys When entering numeric data, it is usually not necessary to press the ENTER key to record your input. You will see that when a number field becomes full, the cursor will automatically drop down to the next field. In the case of entering single-digit numbers, you can either enter the digit and press the ENTER key, or you can preceed the digit with a zero and use the automatic feature. This feature facilitates the use of the keypad and speeds up input. Creating New Games Lotto Master Pro generally comes furnished with a lotto history on the program disk. You may, however, initiate a new game at any time. To accomplish this, simply establish a new disk or directory for the new game, place the directory or disk that contains the Lotto Master Pro program files in the DOS path (see your DOS manual for instructions on how to do this), and then type LM from the new data disk or directory. The program will see that no game files exist on the new disk and, after asking you a few questions about the new game, will create the necessary files. From this point you need only obtain the history data from the lottery office of your state and enter it into the history database through Option 1 on the History Management menu. Remember, you cannot run more than one game on the same disk or hard-drive directory. Playing Pick-5 Lottos Pick-5 lottos are handled the same way by the program as Pick-6 lottos except that wheeling is not available for them in the present version. It is planned that later versions of the program will support Pick-5 wheeling. As a registered user of the program, you will be contacted when new releases become available and you will be able to acquire them at a substantial discount. The Main Menu The main menu offers five options: You can WORK WITH BETS, WORK WITH HISTORY, go to UTILITIES, print REPORTS, or EXIT LOTTO MASTER. If you choose to exit you will be asked to verify that you really wish to do so, and upon verification you will be returned to the operating system prompt. To insure that all files are properly closed, you should exit the program only from this menu. WORK WITH HISTORY - THE HISTORY MENU History Management deals with the archive of numbers from all past lotto games that are stored on disk. It allows you to add new drawings to the archive, to edit or delete existing drawings to generate statistics from the drawn numbers, and to search the history files for information that you consider to be sig- nificant. Selecting the WORK WITH HISTORY option from the main menu will bring you to the following sub-menu: Option 1 - Add To History Select this option to enter new or missing drawings. You will be asked how many boards you wish to enter (each board consists of a date and five to seven numbers) and then you will be presented with each board in turn until all are filled in. The date is entered first, in mmddyy format; that is, simply type in the 6 digits representing the date without spaces, slashes, or dashes. For example January 1, 1987 would be typed in 010187. The program will check to see if the date is already on file and, if not, will allow you to continue. If it detects that the date already exists in the file, it will ask you to re-enter it. Next, type in and enter the numbers from the drawing for that date. You will only be allowed numbers between 1 and the maximum number accepted by the current game, and the numbers may be entered in any order. You may exit this option at any time by pressing the ESC key in the date field or in any number field. After all input has been entered, the program will sort it and return you to the History Management menu. Option 2 - Edit/Delete History After selecting this option you will be asked to enter the date of the drawing you are interested in. Enter the date in the same format as above. Next, you will be shown the record and be given a choice of editing or of deleting it. If you delete, the record will be removed from the files and you will be returned to the menu. If you choose to edit the record you will go into the addmode described above and the old record will be over-written with the new information. When your edited record has been stored you will be asked for a new record date to look at. If you are finished with the Edit/Delete mode just press ESC and you will be returned to the History Management menu. Option 3 - Display History This option will give you a page-by-page listing in date-order of all past LOTTO drawings on file. The default starting and ending periods are the very first record and the very last record (in other words, the entire file). These periods may be changed by using Option 6 on the menu. The display option is valuable for reviewing historical data for a given period and for selecting entries to edit. To use the option, simply press '3'. You will be shown how many pages are in the listing and, if more than one, will be able to page through the listing in either direction. Option 4 - Statistics And Wheeling This option will calculate and display statistical information on all numbers picked in the lotto drawings. It will allow you to isolate and analyze any period between two valid dates, it will allow you to automatically generate bets, using any of the built-in wheeling systems, based on the 'Hot' numbers for any period, and it will allow you to generate bets with the wheeling systems from manual input. When you select option 4 from the History Management menu, you are presented with a sub-menu and another series of options. Sub-Option 1 - Game Summary This option provides the vital statistics of every number in the lotto game. Reading from left to right, the chart tells you: (Column 1) The number being summarized, (Column 2) The number of times that it has been drawn as a regular pick, (Column 3) The percentage of times it has been drawn as a regular pick in rel- ation to all of the games, (Column 4) The number of times it has been drawn as a 'bonus' or 'alternate' number (if applicable), (Column 5) The bonus number percentage, (Column 6) The number of games back since it was last drawn as a regular pick, (Column 7) The number of games back since it was last drawn as a bonus num- ber, (Column 8) The average number of games that elapse between picks for that number, and, (Column 9) The statistical status of the number. The statistical status states whether or not a number is statistically due to be drawn as a regular pick. At the bottom of the last screen of the summary is a calculation of the Even/Odd status of all of the games. That is, it shows the total hits for all even numbers and odd numbers and the percent- age that each hit total represents in relation to all of the games in the file. When you select this option you will be asked to enter the number that you wish to examine. After entering the number you will see displays that show the relationship of that number to every other number in the file. For example; if you select number 20 and look down the first page listing to number 5 and see that number 5 has received 10 hits for a percentage of 20.0%, it means that number 5 has been drawn in combination with number 20 ten times or a total of twenty percent. In other words, twenty percent of the time that number 20 is selected in a lotto drawing, number 5 is selected with it. The purpose of this feature is to quickly identify numbers that are frequently drawn in pairs, or, as lotto 'companion numbers'. Page two of this option is identical to page one except that the the same information is displayed in a different format for ease in finding the 'hottest' numbers, or numbers that most frequently show up as 'companions'. Note that on the top of the display are the vital statistics of the number being reviewed. These statistics are to remind you of the overall standing of selected number in relation to all of the games in the history file. Sub-Option 3 - Period Analysis And Wheeling Period Analysis generates statistics that relate only to a user-selected period. This allows you to analyze the statistics for any given period of time, with a view to detecting recurring patterns and trends. A further capability of this option is the ability to generate bets from the statistical information pre- sented. This 'hot number' feature will generate a series of bets, using any of the nine wheeling systems, without any active decision-making on the part of the user. However, as the bets are based on statistical data, they constitute more of an 'ed- ucated' guess than would a bet based solely on simple random number generation. The bets are formed by combining the top numbers for the period into various combinations, depending on the wheel being used. The wheel is a mathematical model composed in such a way as to guarantee that if a certain number of the same numbers that compose the wheel are picked in the lotto drawing, then you will obtain a minimum win of so many numbers. To make this less confusing I will use an example: The 'System 33' wheel uses a base of 14 numbers. If you select this wheel for automatic bet creation for the period currently set, it will pick out the 14 highest hitting numbers for the period and combine them in a way that creates 40 different bets. If any 5 of the 14 numbers that form the wheel are picked in the lotto drawing, you are guaranteed at least one four-number win. In many cases, because of the way the numbers are combined, a fivenumber match would result in a series of three and four-number wins. As you can see, betting this way tends to bend the odds a little more in your favor. Of course some of the wheel bets can get fairly expensive and if you would like to use the wheeling techniques regularly, you might consider joining with other players to help defray costs. That's how lotto club and syn- dicate betting works. See the section on Manual Wheeling below for a description of the wheels. Automatic bet creation is accomplished by selecting the <B> option from page 2 of the period display. The bets are created and then displayed for review. If you are satisfied with the bets, then you have two saving options. If you choose the <R> option, the bets will be saved to your bet file and any existing bets will be removed. If you choose the <A> option, then the bets will be added to any bets existing in the bet file. If you do no wish to save the bets, just press the <M> option or the ESC key and you will exit to the History Management menu. A further word should be offered here on the setting of display periods. When entering Period Analysis you are given the op- portunity to verify or change the current display period. Try to keep the period as small as possible as this not only speeds up calculations, but offers more meaningful trend information. Lotto Master will examine the entire history file through this option if you wish, and this can be useful for automatic bet generation based on hot numbers derived from the entire history, but more significant information can usually be obtained by narrowing periods down and examining them closely for patterns. Sub-Option 4 - Manual Wheeling The explanation above of Period Analysis shows one method by which wheeling can be implemented. The alternate method is to select certain numbers, using the various analytical tools provided by the program, and then to enter them manually into the wheel. Once the wheel has been created and displayed, you will have the same save and exit options described above. Here are descriptions of the wheeling systems that the program uses: System 7 7 number base, 7 bets. Contains all possible 6-number comb- inations of the 7 number base. Guarantees a six-number win if six of the seven numbers are drawn. System 8 8 number base, 28 bets. Contains all possible 6-number comb- inations of the 8 number base. Guarantees a six-number win if six of the eight numbers are drawn. System 33 14 number base, 40 bets. Guarantees a 4 number match if 5 of the 14 numbers are picked in the drawing. System 37 12 number base, 6 bets. Guarantees a 4 number match if 6 of the 12 numbers are picked in the drawing. System 41 16 number base, 38 bets. Guarantees a 4 number match if 6 of the 16 numbers are picked in the drawing. System 42 18 number base, 42 bets. Guarantees a 4 number match if 6 of the 18 numbers are picked in the drawing. System 43 20 number base, 100 bets. Guarantees a 4 number match if 6 of the 20 numbers are picked in the drawing. System 55 11 number base, 26 bets. Guarantees a 5 number match if 6 of the 11 numbers are picked in the drawing. System 56 12 number base, 42 bets. Guarantees a 5 number match if 6 of the 12 numbers are picked in the drawing. Sub-Option 5 - Exit This Menu This option returns you from the Statistics And Wheeling menu to the History Management menu. Option 5 - Search History This option allows you to enter any number, combination of numbers or complete bets, and check them for 'hits' against any period of interest. This is an extremely useful and very powerful tool for pattern detection, and a method for determining if a potential bet falls within an historically successful range of numbers. You can use this option to check numbers or sets of numbers for current trends (A series of hits clustered together is a pretty fair indication of a trend in progress). An ad- ditional use for this option is for 'skip tracing'. Skip tracing is an analysis of the number of games between hits of a given number or combination of numbers. To use this option, simply enter the numbers that you are interested in researching. When you have filled all number fields, or if you have pressed enter on an empty field, the program will start hunting for the number or combination that you have entered. Each game will be displayed in turn and the numbers that are hit for that game will be highlighted. To the right of the history numbers, columns will show how many of the numbers entered showed up as picks for the date shown, and how many showed up as bonus numbers (if applicable to your game). Option 6 - Set Display Period This unique option allows you to limit the display and the period to be analyzed to any two valid dates in the history file. This feature allows for a very refined trend analysis and speeds up calculations and searches significantly. When you select Option 6, you will be presented with an input screen that asks for both a starting and ending period. To set the starting period to the very first record (the default value) simply press the ENTER key on the blank field. To set the ending period to the very last record, again press ENTER on the blank field. To set either of these periods to any date between the first and last record, simply enter the date in mmddyy format; i.e., 010188 for January 1, 1988. The date need not be exact; if the date you have entered is not a drawing date on file, the program will set the period to the next valid date that it finds. This option should be used when examining data for specific periods through Option 3 (Display History), when searching for patterns through Option 5 (Search History), and for analyzing trends. Sub-Options 1 and 2 under Statistics And Wheeling are not effected by changes in the period but always relate to the entire file. IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember that once set, the period remains in effect until it is changed or until the computer is re-booted. If you enter new draws into the history file and then are not able to see them when you display the file, it's probably because you forgot to change the period setting.Option 7 - Exit This option returns you to the Main Menu. You can also get back to the Main Menu by pressing the ESC key. WORK WITH BETS - THE BET MANAGEMENT MENU Bet Management deals with the archive of numbers relating to active bets stored on disk. It allows you to add new bets to the archive, to edit or delete existing bets, to display all bets, and to search the bet file for winning matches when the lotto picks are drawn. Selecting the WORK WITH BETS option from the main menu will bring you to the Bet Management Menu shown below. Options 1-3 These options work identically to those in History Management except that they apply only to your current bets. Your bets can be entered, edited , and viewed. You will notice that dates are not used here and that bets are separated into, and selected by, numbered 'boards'. Option 4 - Clear Bets This option clears the bet file and allows you to enter a new set of boards and numbers. NOTE: Be careful here. If you in- advertently clear the bet file you will have to reconstruct the bets that it contained. Option 5 - Search/Check Bets This option allows you to enter the numbers drawn in the latest LOTTO drawing and compare them to your bets. If a winning board is found it is flagged to catch your attention. After the check is complete, you are given the option of saving the drawing numbers to the history file. The Check for Wins option can also be used to avoid duplication of bets by first running them through this option before saving to the bet file. Option 6 - Exit This option returns you to the Main Menu from which you may exit the program or select another menu. The ESC key can also be used to exit the menu. UTILITIES - THE UTILITIES MENU The Utilities menu offers two main options and an exit option. Option 1 (Set Game ID) allows you to set or change the name of the lottery that you are currently working in and to show the type of lottery that it is. This is important because of the fact that each lottery that you play must reside on a separate disk or directory from every other lottery. Setting the name will eliminate the problem of possibly updating the wrong history file. Option 2 (Set Color Off) is for hardware systems using a mono- chrome display. Turning the color signal off can sometimes make for a clearer display. Option 3 (Exit) Or the ESC key, returns you to the main menu. REPORTS - THE REPORTS MENU The Reports menu enables you to get printed reports on your line printer. Select an option below and follow the screen prompts: 1. History: This will give you a printout of all records in the history file. 2. Active Bets: This will print out any bets that currently are stored in the bet file. 3. Summary: This is a printed version of the on-screen summary described in the section above under Statistics and Wheeling. 4. Frequency Chart: This report lists the number of games between 'hits' for every number used by the lotto for the entire history of the game. The number under review is shown at the left, and each number to the right represents the number of games played before a 'hit' was made. Zeros indicate that the number was hit in the next game. For example, if you see 5 5 3 0 0, etc, this means that five games elapsed before a hit, then another five games, then three games, then a hit, then another hit, etc. Option 5 on this menu, as well as the ESC key, will return you to the Main menu. SUMMARY Whether you are a serious LOTTO player or just enjoy the occassional game, we believe that you will find this program to be useful and enjoyable. Let us know what you think of it, and any suggestions as to how it might be improved will be greatly appreciated. We can be reached at: JPM Computer Products P.O. Box 30742 Portland, OR 97230 Tel (503) 287-8952 Registration Form For Lotto Master Professional Release 1.6 SHAREWARE VERSION Name_____________________________ Date_________ Address __________________________________________ City _________________ State _____ Zip _________ Phone ( ) ____________________ Date Purchased ______________ Where Obtained ___________________________________ Where did you hear about Lotto Master? __________________________________________________ To be listed as a registered user for assistance, and to receive the latest version as well as future product update information, please detach and mail with your check for $49.95 US to: JPM Computer Products PO Box 30742 Portland, OR 97230