At this weeks friendly game I thought I'd try to get back a little of my money that was still in Coop's chip stack. Here was my proposed set-up: "I'll give you one red and one black ace and I'll take the other two aces. We'll both simultaneously show one ace of our chosing. If both shown aces are black, I'll give you $10; if the two shown aces are different, you pay me $5; and if both shown aces are red, I'll give you $1. Rob, our most philosophical member (read that least mathematical) asked simply, Why?" Coop now had to chime in, "You see there are four possible combinations, black-black, black-red, red-black, and red-red. So 25% of the time I should win $10, 50% of the time I lose $5, and 25% of the time I should win $1. Out of four games then, I should win $1 on average." I liked the way Coop was already speaking in the first person; it was time to reel him in. "Okay Coop, I'll make that $2 I'll pay out for every red-red combination." Coop couldn't resist at this point, "You're on but I get to decide when we quit. Huck can keep the tally." Vern just chuckled in amusement. I gave Coop the two pointed aces and the game was on. At least three times I asked Coop in a worried tone if he had had enough but not until we must have played 300 hands or more did he ask Huck what the tally was. When Huck told him he was down $72 Coop exclaimed, "You're drunk!" Though that very usually is the case, the results were accurate. "Damn, stop me at $100." Shortly thereafter, Coop handed me what I hoped was the same $100 bill he flashed last week as enticement into Was I just lucky? If not, what was my strategy?
EDIT: added link/shameless plug