Tip 07:   Positional Limits in Lotto

Among the Advanced Filters in your Lotto program are the ones called 'Positional Limits' filters.

When you wheel your numbers, you can apply these filters to your combinations.

When you wheel numbers in a Pick-6 game, you're making combinations with 6 numbers in each combination.  There are 6 number "positions" that you can place your numbers into.

Each Pick-5 combination has 5 positions that the numbers go into, and so on.

You can set limits that you want to allow your wheeled numbers to "fit" inside.  That is, you can set a lower limit and an upper limit for the numbers in each position.

The idea is to play a larger set of numbers, but to restrict the way in which they appear together inside each combination.  Usually, you do this for economy.

Applying Positional Filtering

This filtering is helpful when you find yourself in the following situation.

• You have numbers from all parts of the game's field.  That is, you have similar amounts of numbers from the low end, middle, and high end of the game's range of numbers.



• You consider that the numbers in any part of the field are more or less "equally good" picks.  You hope that one of them will 'hit' from that part of the field, but do not consider it likely that more than one will do so.



• You have a budget limit for your wheeling, and need to reduce the cost of wheeling so many numbers.

By setting your Positional Limits, you ensure that numbers in a chosen range will appear only once in any single combination of your wheel.

Example

Suppose you are wheeling these numbers:

   3 4 6 9 10 12 14 15 . . . etc.

Obviously you want to allow the numbers 3, 4, and 6 to go into yourwheeled combinations.  That is why you are playing them.  But suppose you do not want these numbers to appear together inside the same combination.  You want them to appear only once in any given combination.

That is, you will accept:   3 10 14 ... etc. in a combination.
Or: 4 10 14 ... etc.
Or: 6 10 14 ... etc.
-- because the numbers 3, 4, 6 appear only once in the combination.

But you will not accept:   3 4 6 ... etc.
Or: 3 4 14 ... etc.
Or: 3 6 14 ... etc.
Or: 4 6 14 ... and so on
-- because the numbers 3, 4, 6 appear more than once.

The idea is to not let the numbers 3, 4, or 6 appear together in the same combination.

To make this happen, just set your Positional Limits filtering so that "Position 2" has a minimum limit of "7".  In the example above, the numbers 3, 4, or 6 will appear in your first position only -- they will not appear in your second position, because they are below the limit of "7" you have set for that position.

Using 'Overlaps' Between Positions

What if you want to allow some numbers to appear in two positions?  Or three or more positions?

You can set the limits so that there is an "overlap" between positions.  Set the minimum-maximum ranges so they include some of your numbers in two or more positions.

For example:

• In Position 1, set the Maximum limit to 9.
• In Position 2, set the Minimum limit to 7.

In this example, the numbers 7, 8, or 9 could appear in either the first position or second position in your wheeled combinations.

Setting Rules for the Numbers

When you set Positional Limits, you are establishing "rules" for the numbers to follow.  Then you can decide how 'loosely' or 'tightly' you want those rules to be followed.

After you set your Positional Limits, you can specify "how many numbers" you will allow to "exceed" those limits.  For example, you might relax your rules a bit, if your budget allows -- and allow up to one number to go outside of the limits in a combination.  Or, you could force all of the numbers to remain strictly inside your limits.

You can use different rules, depending on the numbers you have chosen to play, and on your budget for wheeling them.  This gives you flexibility for controlling your playing cost on a draw-by-draw basis.

How to Set the Positional Filters

Setting the filters is easy.  You do it in two parts:

• Setting the Positional Limits:  After you wheel your numbers, you'll see your Filtering Menu.  Select  "Set Advanced Filters".  Then set the ranges you want for each position.



• Filtering Your Combinations:  At your Filtering Menu, select  "Custom Filtering".  One of your custom filters is your Positional Filter.  There, you choose how many (or none) of the numbers you will allow to exceed the limits you have set.

Your Filtering Preview shows you exactly how many combinations will pass each filtering range, in advance.  Also, if you wish, you'll be able to return to this filter after you see your final combinations, in case you want to use a different range.

Screen Samples

The screen samples below show your filtering menus for Positional Limits.

Advanced Filters Setup Menu
Positional Limits Filtering Menu

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