Not sure if anyone's come up with this before. I tried searching but couldn't find anything. Anyway, so far I've opened 3 master locks with a skill of 28 and no perks using this method.

1. Save your game, of course.
2. Determine how many picks you're willing to break before reloading.
3. Start the lockpicking mini-game. Nudge the pick.
4. If the pick breaks, immediately back out of the mini-game and start again.
5. Continue doing this until the pick moves or you reach your reload point.

The unlock point is randomly determined every time you start the mini-game. Eventually, it will be near the starting point of the pick. With each of the three locks that I've done so far, it took me between 5 and 10 picks before I got movement at the starting point. Then it took me around 10 more to actually find the sweet spot; your results may vary depending on your skill at the mini-game. Very slight movements and a good memory for the pick's position are key.

I would add that developing a very light touch when moving the lock is key. Your picks will last for more tries until they break.

On one of my characters I made it all the way to 100 and didn't put any perks into lockpicking at all. When the mini game loads your pick will be at the 12 o'clock position; you should always try at that position, just in case. Then try to the right at approx. the 1 o'clock position and again at the 2 o'clock position if it doesn't move. If none of those work, try in the same spots on the left. Guaranteed your pick will start to move in one of those 5 positions. If you've got a light enough touch you can usually get three tries out of each lockpick before it breaks. Good luck!

I just scan for the spot using light touch and I am usually able to open master locks with 3 or 4 picks, expert with 2 or 3 picks, and lower locks with 0 or 1 pick. I don't mind breaking picks because I have a lot of them and and it helps level up lockpicking a bit. As you level up, picking locks become easier. Eord's way of picking locks may save a few lockpicks here and there but it makes the process slower and more boring.

I've found that most of the Master Locks' sweet spot is either around 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock.

I just buy every lockpick I see and just go random on the locks. Once you have nearly 500 locks, it doesn't matter anymore.

This!

LOL NOOBS...

I just cheat and kept the skeleton key

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0oU1DWzaBE

You know what. I need to remove that video and replace it with a better one that doesn't have extra crap in it..