I mentioned a few weeks ago that a man named Dan Sechkar edits my columns for me. Dan is a puzzling sort of guy and he created a column full of puzzles. I enjoyed working these out. Perhaps you will too.
I include the answers at the end of the column.
I’d appreciate feedback on this column. If you’d like to see similar ones created by either Dan and/or me occasionally in the future, please say so. If you find that this column disappointed you greatly and never want to see a similar column again, say that instead. Please send your comments to [email protected]
Dan writes: I went to my local Indiana casino and took out a marker for $1,000.
I sat down at a triple-play $1 NSUD machine, inserted ten one hundred dollar bills, downloaded my weekly $25 in Free Play, and began playing. I was down a little when I was dealt a hand from which I held three cards. I hit ‘Draw’ and was very pleased to win the maximum amount possible on that game without requiring a W-2G.
1a. What were the ranks of the three probable cards that I held from the deal?
1b. What were the three hands that I had drawn?
1c. What were the other three-card possibilities that I could have held (giving only the ranks of the three cards and ignoring their suits) and arrived at the same three final hands?
1d. What was the total amount that I won on those three hands?
I pocketed my ticket and continued to play the same NSUD. (Why “I pocketed my ticket” may require some explanation. At the Indiana casinos that I frequent, the machines will not allow the total value of the credits on any machine to exceed $1199.99. So any win (other than a W-2G) that puts total credits in the machine of $1200 or more will automatically print out a ticket for the amount of the win). Unfortunately, my credits were dwindling much too rapidly and I was left with only 15 credits in the machine. I hit ‘Deal’ and was dealt a pair which I held before hitting ‘Draw.’ Amazingly enough, I won $1,025 on those three hands, the same amount with which I had begun my session.
2a What were the ranks of the two cards that I held from the deal?
2b. There are actually two different combinations of three hands I could have drawn that began with a pair and totaled $1,025 for each combination. What are the two different sets of three hands that would each total $1,025?
I cashed out of the NSUD machine and went to my favorite 25¢ / 50¢ / $1 Super Times Pay machine. I inserted my $1,025 ticket and began playing triple-play 9/6 JOB with the STP enabled. Soon I was dealt a paying hand. I held the paying hand and hit ‘Draw.’ My total win for those three hands amounted to $1,000 exactly.
3a. What denomination was I playing?
3b. What was the most likely hand that I held from the deal?
3c. What was the other possible hand that I could have held from the deal and still arrived at the same result?
3d. What were my three final hands?
3e. How did I win $1000?
It had been a good evening. I was taking some money home, but first I wanted to pay off my marker. I cashed out my tickets and walked to the Marker Bank.
I handed the cashier a small stack of U.S. currency to take care of my $1,000 marker. My stack contained three different denominations, each denomination had the same number of bills as the number of bills in each of the other denominations, and the entire stack totaled exactly $1,000.
4a. What were the three denominations that I used in paying off my marker?
4b How many bills of each denomination were there?
Dancer’s Answers:
1a. 222
1b. Four deuces, wild royal, straight flush
1c. 22A, 22K, 22Q, 22J, 22T (Nobody is claiming these are appropriate holds to make. Merely that these are the only possible 3-card holds other than 222 that could yield four deuces, a wild royal, and a straight flush. Any other hold makes one or more of these final hands impossible.)
1d. $1,175
2a. 22
2b. Either four deuces, four of a kind, and three of a kind or four deuces, flush, and straight.
3a. $1
3b. Two Pair
3c. High Pair
3d. Full House, Full House, Two Pair
3e. Dan was clever enough to receive a 10x multiplier when he did this.
4a. $5, $20, $100
4b. 8