The Poker Game

[Ghost Post]

Cast your mind back to 1997, and the fiasco of the 'Poker Game' puzzle (see archive). I'm new here, so maybe I missed all the discussion about this puzzle when it first appeared, but the solution page invites us to submit our 'bullet-proof opener' for Player One. How about:
Choose four Tens and any other card. Then the best hand Player Two can possibly get is a 9-8-7-6-5 straight flush, and whatever happens, Player One can get a 10-9-8-7-6 straight flush or better.
So you definitely should accept the bet.

[Andy]

Nice try - but it doesn't quite work. If you are not holding an ace, you may draw only 3 cards - thus your four tens must be accompanied by a card that can help your straight flush, such as a 9. The second player can then draw four kings and the 8 of the suit in which you drew two cards (or the 9 if you drew the 8).
Note a possible flaw in the wording of the puzzle - the card sharp says "I'll wager $20 that I can beat you..." so if you take the bet, and he can't beat you, you win the bet. If this interpretation is accepted, you only need to draw and hold a royal flush - true, he can draw an equal hand, but he's betting that he can beat you. Since he can't, he loses the bet (and you win $20).

[Evil Empire]

The rules of the game also state that a tie causes a re-ante and a change of first player.

I remember that the counter for the 4A 10 hand was posted in the old forum but that appears to be a thing of the past. Could someone post the counter so I can quit wasting valuable notepad paper.

[Murray]

Four Kings and one Queen would be the counter.

Wait, that doesn't work, does it? I remember screwing with this back when it was a new puzzle.

[This message has been edited by Murray (edited 12-16-1999).]

[Evil Empire]

I thought it was somthing like the 3 remaining 10's a 9 and a Jack but I can't quite get it

[Murray]

I've fumbled with it some more (funny, I remember getting this fairly easily the first time around), and I think you're right.

Assuming you draw As,Ah,Ad,Ac,10s,

Your opponent will draw 10h,10d,10c,9h,Js.

Your hopes of a straight flush have been dashed because you have to hang on to at least one of your aces and you can't draw the A,K,Q,J,10 in any suit.

Your opponent is threatening a straight flush with the 10h and 9h, and can get either K,Q,J,10,9 or 10,9,8,7,6 of hearts.

If you want to stop this, you will have to grab the K and 8 of hearts (chosen because they are the highest cards that will stop the straight flushes). So it seems that your best hand at this point would be Ax,Ax,Ax,Kh,8h. Not quite. Because you will have to hold one of the Aces and you are forced to draw the Kh and the 8h, you are going to have cards of at least three ranks, and they will not form a straight together. So, no straight flush for you. No four of a kind. No full house. But you can get a flush by holding the Ah and drawing Kh,Qh,Jh,8h.

So now you stand with a flush Ah,Kh,Qh,Jh,8h.

Your opponent sits with a three of a kind 10h,10d,10c,9h,Js. Can't get a straight flush (you made sure of that). So your opponent drops the three Tens and draws the other three Nines to get 9s,9h,9d,9c,Js--four of a kind to win. (Alternately, he could drop the 9h and draw a Jack for a full house 10,10,10,J,J.)

I know this was long and boring, but I liked playing the game out in my head, so I thought I'd put my thoughts here for others to ignore. What I find interesting is that two people play a game of poker with a deck of cards face-up, drawing the best hands they can get, and the winner can pull it off with a full house. That's surprising.

Thanks for your patience.



[This message has been edited by Murray (edited 12-17-1999).]

[Andy]

Evil - thanks for the correction - I missed that point. I was interpreting the $20 as a side bet rather than as the ante for the poker hand - I don't think it was intended that way, but the wording isn't clear. Even as a side bet, though, you wouldn't win the $20 in one hand - you'd have to play a hand with each person as starter to prove that he couldn't beat you.