I like solving puzzles. So when one of my daughters brought me a combination bicycle lock and said she had forgotten the numbers to open it, I was secretly thrilled.

As a kid I had a reputation for opening these locks. It was part of a pre-adolescent hobby and interest in magic. And back then by chance I had found a way to open these locks that no-one else had discovered. I'm going to tell you how I did it in a minute.

While she went to fill the jug for a coffee, I sat down and started to work on the lock. This type hasn't changed in 50 years - they are still effective and the code is still hard to break.

Would I be able to open it?

Ping! In less than 30 seconds it clicked apart! A record for me too.

She was delighted. It saved her buying another lock for her daughter's bike - this stuff can get expensive after a while.

The important part of solving this puzzle was the clue she gave me.

"I can remember that '5' was part of the combination," she said. "But I can't remember where."

So it could have been in any of the four sets of 10 numbers. The good part was that I now had a small clue which I could use to help get the lock open.

And I'm going to give you similar clues that will help you predict whether to play any lottery game - without using my LottoPredict or PRO System.

They will be enough to get you winning if the LottoPredict is putting up a NO or low chance for your next game. Now you'll be able to predict when to play.

OK, you might have noticed some of your past games had some peculiar winning number patterns.

This is quite common, and it's why I developed the Silver Lotto PRO. The PRO is the best way because this clever method predicts the skewed patterns, and adjusts for them to give you up to 98% winning odds.

But maybe you don't have PRO yet. So this is how you can do your own prediction for free:

STEP 1. You'll first need to check out the results of your last game. Use the GAMES menu above to find the official website.

STEP 2. Then look to see if your game has unusual number combinations, like these examples:

- Three consecutive numbers together like 3, 4, 5, or 25, 26, 27.

- Or numbers concentrated together at one end of the range, like 33, 35, 36, 38 or 2, 4, 5, 7, 8.

 Not those exact numbers - just a pattern like that.

STEP 3. When you find this kind of pattern, then make sure you play the very NEXT game. It might be this weekend's game, or you might have to wait a few games. But make sure you play the very next game after the unusual patterns.

Here's how it works:

Your winning chances improve because it's highly unlikely these unusual number patterns will appear again in the very NEXT game. So the chances of 'ordinary' numbers falling due is very high. That's when you play.

The Silver Lotto PRO System works in the same way because it removes these 'bad' number patterns in a very sophisticated manner.

But you can replicate it by following my free method.

Just like magic!

Here's the lowdown on how I opened the impossible bike lock.

When I was opening older locks like this, they were worn which made it easier.

The ring would slide round easier when the opening number was selected, because the spring was slightly loose from wear at that point.

And if you had enough sensitivity in your fingers, you could feel it. My daughter's lock was new, so it became a lot harder. That's why having the 5 was a real help. When I was stuck, I would leave it at the clue my daughter gave me - the number 5.

So I started on the ring at one end of the lock and turned it until I found that sweet spot. I repeated this for the other numbers, and bingo - the lock sprang open.

I was lucky that day, because I was able to keep my reputation for doing many things that other people couldn't. Including winning the lottery!