FFG - gambling formula

[Rosebud]

I'm interested in learning about FFG, the gambling formula. I saw a website where they gave an example using an N to the left of something in parenthesis of DC over P?

I live in Oklahoma but play the Texas Pick 3 and am trying to learn the strategy behind it. I have played pick 6 off and on for years with no luck of ever getting usually more than 1 or 2 numbers, with either my own guesses or quick-pics, so I've decided even though I won't win in the millions my chances are better with a 1:167 ratio as opposed to 1 in some odd hundreds of millions.

I've looked up so many websites about learning to win at Pick 3 and it seems most are sales pitches for buying systems, and even though I haven't tried one of these systems you buy yet I'm afraid they are most likely scams just to get money. No one can predict with 100% guarantee what numbers are going to come up, and that's what some of these people are promising is 100% guarantee of hits nearly every time.

If you show me the mechanics of the FFG, would you please use numbers instead of N, DC, or P, and what you divide or multiply with what to get the final sum. In other words if you use FFG show me how you calculate it with numbers. Thanks.

 

[PAB]

Hi Rosebud,

Welcome to the Board.
Here is a Link that Explains the Theory of FFG ( Fundamental Formula of Gambling ) in Some Detail.
It is a Site Maintained by Ion Saliu and has a Lot of Interesting Material.

http://www.saliu.com/Saliu2.htm

Hope this Helps.
All the Best.
PAB

 

[Rosebud]

Thanks for the link PAB. I had been to that site a few times before, but I think I'm going to do a little experimenting on my own and see what happens.

Just a point of interest I decided the last time I played Texas Pick 3 to try a Quick Pic, but won't be doing that again. The numbers 961 were picked by the machine, and I decided to do a little investigating to see if these three numbers had ever been drawn before and when. The numbers were drawn in the exact order on May 28, 2004, then again as 169 on June 8, 2004, never again for the remainder of 2004 were they ever drawn in any order and have never been drawn to date this year. The numbers 9 and 6 have been drawn, but never with the 1.

So, like I said I'm going to experiment and see what happens. Another point of interest I came across was in 2004 on two different occasions of studying the winning numbers for that year I found that the same three numbers in the same order had been picked on two consecutive days. Makes you wonder ..........?

 

[mirage]

Thanks for the link PAB. I had been to that site a few times before, but I think I'm going to do a little experimenting on my own and see what happens.

Just a point of interest I decided the last time I played Texas Pick 3 to try a Quick Pic, but won't be doing that again. The numbers 961 were picked by the machine, and I decided to do a little investigating to see if these three numbers had ever been drawn before and when. The numbers were drawn in the exact order on May 28, 2004, then again as 169 on June 8, 2004, never again for the remainder of 2004 were they ever drawn in any order and have never been drawn to date this year. The numbers 9 and 6 have been drawn, but never with the 1.

So, like I said I'm going to experiment and see what happens. Another point of interest I came across was in 2004 on two different occasions of studying the winning numbers for that year I found that the same three numbers in the same order had been picked on two consecutive days. Makes you wonder ..........?

The exact same numbers for pick 3 drawn on two consecutive days has happened here in Ontario, Canada a number of times. Over many draws over many years it's bound to happen now and again. Just a statistical thing. Nothing to be suspicious about.

 

[Rosebud]

Hi Mirage, I'm glad to know that getting duplicate numbers on consecutive days has happened elsewhere, so it is not impossible.

I know the lottery is a game of chance, however, like you say a given set of numbers is bound to come up more than once. But for instance the numbers in the Quick Pick 961 I bought recently were drawn in that order in May of 2004, then as 169 in June 2004, but as far as I can tell have never been drawn together in any order since then but the 9 and 6 have been drawn with other numbers, wouldn't one think the three numbers in any order of 961 would have been drawn again by now? And it's not just pertaining to the numbers 961 but any three sets of numbers come up once or twice in a year, then no more. Just seems a little strange to me, especially since there must be multiples of balls with the same numbers on them hence you get the doubles such as 556, etc. I don't know if anyone agrees with me or perhaps it's just I don't understand the odds of what numbers come up and how often.

 

[mirage]

Hi Mirage, I'm glad to know that getting duplicate numbers on consecutive days has happened elsewhere, so it is not impossible.

I know the lottery is a game of chance, however, like you say a given set of numbers is bound to come up more than once. But for instance the numbers in the Quick Pick 961 I bought recently were drawn in that order in May of 2004, then as 169 in June 2004, but as far as I can tell have never been drawn together in any order since then but the 9 and 6 have been drawn with other numbers, wouldn't one think the three numbers in any order of 961 would have been drawn again by now? And it's not just pertaining to the numbers 961 but any three sets of numbers come up once or twice in a year, then no more. Just seems a little strange to me, especially since there must be multiples of balls with the same numbers on them hence you get the doubles such as 556, etc. I don't know if anyone agrees with me or perhaps it's just I don't understand the odds of what numbers come up and how often.

Hi Rosebud,

Don't know where you live. If you live in the US, some states pay prizes on match 2 out of 3.

I used to follow the pick 3 a lot--years ago anyway. I even considered myself something of a specialist at the time. Seems to me it was easier to win then (a decade ago) in Ontario than it is now. Perhaps they have better machines now, I don't know.

I do know your odds of a straight 3 out of 3 match is 1 in 1000, odds of 3 of 3 in any order (boxed) is 1 in 167, and the odds of 2 numbers same and one different in any order is 1 in 333.

Three sets of numbers coming up twice in a year not necessarily in the same order does not seem that unusual as if the odds are 1 in 167 and there are 365 days in a year, twice 167 = 334 - that's pretty close to statistical expectation. How many years have you looked at? If it's just a couple of years it's nothing more than one might expect. If it happens always then its almost too close to expected odds to seem totally natural. Usually there is more "randomness" observed in reality.

961 and 169 a month apart sounds more than normal to me--I've seen such combinations a lot in less than 2 weeks apart, all the time.

Re: Double balls from one machine. I don't think they can produce the draws that way. To do the draws for a Pick 3 draw they have to use 3 separate machines. I have never watched a Pick 3 draw except ones broadcast by TV from the US. In those draws they use 3 separate machines. Each machine produces one ball per draw. The 3 balls each from a separate machine produces the 3 numbers for the draw.

 

[Rosebud]

Correct me if I'm wrong and have misunderstood you but from what I'm getting you are saying that the 1:167 refers to a set of numbers coming out perhaps every 334 days if it came out twice in the 1:167 ratio? I am under the belief that the ratio refers to one person in a given number of people (meaning 1 person in 167 might win).

Sorry if I've misread what you stated but to me that's how it appeared.

I live in Oklahoma not that far from the Texas border, but due to gas prices I'm not going to be able to go back and forth like I used to to buy tickets. Therefore I may try playing a certain set of numbers for 12 consecutive days about once or twice a month when I do play and see what happens. Perhaps I should let the numbers come to me instead of me chasing them like I've been doing.

If nothing works after a while I may try the casino and see where that goes.

 

[mirage]

Correct me if I'm wrong and have misunderstood you but from what I'm getting you are saying that the 1:167 refers to a set of numbers coming out perhaps every 334 days if it came out twice in the 1:167 ratio? I am under the belief that the ratio refers to one person in a given number of people (meaning 1 person in 167 might win).

NO, i did not mean that at all-I just meant your odds of winning. Period. That's all.

I don't know how the game is played in your state (I have some things to do today-maybe you can tell me or maybe if I have time I
can search the web to try to find this info.

Here in Canada, you play the Pick 3 like this:
For example I will use some of your formerly stated winning numbers, 169.
You choose 3 numbers, one for each colunm, from 0 to 9 inclusive (or 1 to 0).
So if you chose 1 for the first number in your picks, you chose 1 for the first column, mark the square for box for #1,
So if you chose 6 for the second number, you mark the square in the box beside #6.
So if you chose #9 for the third number then you mark the square or box beside number #9.

You can the chose to play the numbers in any order (odds one in 167), or in exact order (odds one in 1000) after you've chosen your three numbers.

If 169 comes up in any order then there was a one in 167 chance that it will do that.

If the same numbers come up twice to my simple logic the chance of that (am I using the wrong math terminology here?) you would expect to see that 1 in 167 X 2 = 334.

Does this explanation help make it clearer? Maybe in your state the method of playing is done differently.


Sorry if I've misread what you stated but to me that's how it appeared.

I live in Oklahoma not that far from the Texas border, but due to gas prices I'm not going to be able to go back and forth like I used to to buy tickets. Therefore I may try playing a certain set of numbers for 12 consecutive days about once or twice a month when I do play and see what happens. Perhaps I should let the numbers come to me instead of me chasing them like I've been doing.

Oh god I pity everone, those in the American S.E especially re gas prices. They've gone up here as well. We've seen gas more than double in the past 6 months and we hear there's worse to come.


If nothing works after a while I may try the casino and see where that goes.

Well good luck with that!

 

[Rosebud]

I've never played at a casino and won't know what my luck will be till I try it. I'd like to see how I'd come out if I played bingo on the computer. I knew a woman years ago who regularly went to a bingo hall where she played it on the computer mostly. She was always coming to work saying she won some odd hundred of dollars here or there, and her family told her she should quit work and just play bingo because she made more money doing that.

There is a casino only about 20 miles from me, whereas going to buy tickets for the Pick 3 is at least 35 or so miles.

Anyway, I'm not giving up on the Pick 3 altogether, just going to pursue other avenues besides it.

 

[johnph77]

Rosebud -

You cannot count on the fact that all 1,000 possibilities in a Pick-3 drawing will be drawn in 1,000 consecutive draws. In every drawing the last number drawn has the same chance of being drawn again as any other 3-number combination.

What you're dealing with then is probability, not odds or possibility. And what has the chance of occuring with probability is that, in 1,000 consecutive Pick-3 draws, one number can appear 5 or 6 times, while others will never be drawn. In doing a quick probability chart on P3, it seems that one can go through just over 7,400 draws before the non-appearance of one three-number combination (out of all 1,000 possibilities) becomes unusual.

Casinos will almost always return a higher payout percentage on bets than will state-controlled lotteries.

gl

John

 

[Rosebud]

I see what you both, Mirage and Johnph77 are saying, and like you in Canada, Mirage we play Pick 3 that same way in Texas.

I think it's best probably not to take the game too seriously, for after all it's just a game of chance, therefore that's why it's called gambling.

In the future I'm going to keep track somewhat of what numbers seem to come up most often, and when I do play again play a combination of those numbers. Perhaps I'll have some luck at times.

Thanks for the info.

 

[madam]

pick 3

Rosebud:- why not print out a page or two or whatever length you think that you think you can handle before you fall asleep and set up an excell sheet to show whatever you want it to show you. Such as which number shows up first more often, which is the middle number and which is the last number. You can set up whichever criteria you want. You may be able to get some of the more knowledgeable members to help you with the formulas of searching what you want to know or you can set up for a few nights with pencil and paper to get what you want and then hopefully you more than likely see a trend in the choice of numbers. I know that it works but it takes one H---- of a long time and tired eyes before you get a very good idea of what to play. I will not guarantee that you get the big ones but you will get enuff of the little ones to at least make a smile come to your face.

 

[Rosebud]

That sounds like a good idea what you are talking about. For a while I was printing out a copy of both the winning numbers and the numbers they say come up most frequently, and trying to keep track of them a little that way. Actually some of the combinations I figured might come up after studying the list of the most frequent numbers or draws that I did play had in fact already come up within just a few days earlier, so if I had played them at that time perhaps I would have hit it.

Oh well, I haven't got a chance to play in several days but I haven't given up on it completely, but think I'll try the strategy of playing a few of the same combinations for a while and see if the numbers come to me instead of me chasing them all the time, using the numbers that come up frequently.