A dealer offers to you to play a game. He shows you three two-sided cards: one with both sides red, one red and black and the other black and black. He puts them in a hat, and randomly (no tricks here) takes out a card and puts it on the table.

You both see only one side of the card. At this point he says that if the bottom side is the same as the top, he will take your money. If the other side is different, you double it. He explains that by now one of the cards is ruled out - if you're seeing red, the card cannot be a double black card, and vise versa - so you have a 50/50 chance of winning.

Is this a fair game? Why or why not?

(In reply to Simply stated (solution) by Aeternus)

Ah, but think about it this way:

Say there are three cards: a 10 with a blue print on the back, a 10 with a red print, and an ace with the red print. Ace - you win, 10 - dealer does.

The dealer puuls out a card and puts it face down on the table - it's got a red back. What are your odds?

Posted by levik on 2002-07-15 18:22:02