WinPicks Reference Manual
Section 1. Introduction to WinPicks
Thank you for purchasing WinPicks! The WinPicks family consists of four statistical database and handicapping packages (Pro Football Analyst, College Football Analyst, Pro Basketball Analyst, and College Basketball Analyst). Whether you purchased just one package or all four, you'll find that WinPicks is an invaluable handicapping tool. If you like statistics, you'll love WinPicks. And if you bet on the games, WinPicks can give you the winner's edge.
We've made WinPicks as professional and powerful as software in any genre. With its colorful graphics, powerful handicapping engine, and sophisticated interface, WinPicks makes full use of the Microsoft Windows environment. We designed WinPicks using the knowledge and experience gained from more than two decades of writing and publishing sports handicapping software. The result is a sleek, versatile, and powerful family of handicapping software that beats the competition hands down.
All members of the WinPicks family share a common user interface. If you know how to use one package, you know how to use them all. In fact, WinPicks is so intuitive to use that you may not need this manual. If you do, however, this manual is a comprehensive reference. It explains how each feature of the WinPicks series works, and discusses the differences and similarities between the three packages.
To give you an idea of the power of WinPicks, here are just a few of the features that WinPicks has to offer:
- Automatic downloading of stat files from the Internet.
This guarantees that your database is always completely up to date. - A huge database of past game results and point spread information.
Pro Football Analyst also contains the complete boxscores from every game, and lets you track each team's performance in over 60 statistical categories. - WinPicks predicts the outcome of games in a variety of formats.
It picks the straight-up winner, and recommends certain picks against the point spread. Plus, it predicts the point total of every game (the over/under). - You can create your own prediction formulas.
WinPicks doesn't limit you to using "built-in" formulas. Instead, it lets you experiment with handicapping methods that you create. - You can analyze your prediction formulas.
After you create a formula, you can analyze its performance (straight-up, against the spread, and against the total), so you can test a formula before you actually use it. You can even run and analyze all of your formulas at one time! - You decide which stats are used to make predictions.
For example, you can base predictions on stats from the entire season, the past 10 weeks, the past 3 weeks, or any other combination. - The best trend analysis engine in the business.
WinPicks has a huge database containing thousands of trends. You can see how any team has performed straight-up, against the spread, or against the total in a variety of situations. For example, you can see a team's record as a favorite or underdog, as the home team or the visitor. You can also see their record in postseason games, in games after a loss or win, in division, conference, and non-conference games, or in head-to-head matchups with any other team. You can see how they fared when favored by more than 5, by less than 5, or by any possible number. You can combine multiple trends to get as specific as you wish, or even look at general trends that apply to every team in the database. The bottom line is this: If you can think of an angle, WinPicks can check it out for you! The amazing "Trend Seeker" will even find and list all possible trend combinations!
WinPicks requires Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7/8/10). An Internet connection is highly recommended for keeping WinPicks updated during the season, but if you are away from the Internet, all necessary data can be obtained from your newspaper and keyed in manually.
