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A Mighty Contest

A Mighty Contest

Posers and Puzzles

r
CHAOS GHOST!!!

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This is the second in the series.

Rhymester and Vaknso play a game, assisted by one Red Hot Ted. First, it should be mentioned that if Red Hot Ted exhibits any favouritism, his neck will be royally wrung like a chicken. Thank you 😛. First, Rhymester and Red Hot Ted each secretly bet some percentage of their hard-won moves (>0). Now, Red Hot Ted writes down an integer between 1 and six inclusive, and does not show it to the other players. Rhymester than rolls one fair 6-sided die, and writes down his result, which is unknown to Vaknso. Vaknso, with no information, now has the option of eith rolling the same die, or abstaining from rolling. If he rolls, then his number is compared to Rhymester's, and the closest one wins all of the bet moves. If they tie, they each take HALF of the total. If Vaknso abstains, they each take HALF of the total. (Note that there is a subtle advantage to betting less than one's opponent, but bets are SECRET.) What is the optimum strategy for Vaknso, and what results does it yield in a large number of rounds?

r
CHAOS GHOST!!!

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Any takers?

S
BentnevolentDictater

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Originally posted by royalchicken
Any takers?
Mark, I think everyone at RHP is gun shy on ol' Ted... I know you promised to wring his neck, but man... have you seen that dude blink and stick his tongue out at you! I don't think you are getting any takers as long as Ted is holding the hole card... just too much of a risk.😵

bbarr
Chief Justice

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Originally posted by royalchicken
This is the second in the series.

Rhymester and Vaknso play a game, assisted by one Red Hot Ted. First, it should be mentioned that if Red Hot Ted exhibits any favouritism, his neck will be royally wrung like a chicken. Thank you ...[text shortened]... aknso, and what results does it yield in a large number of rounds?
Since it is apparently only Rhymester and Red Hot Ted that are betting hard-won moves, the optimal strategy for Vakno is just to keep playing the game. But since I'm sure you meant to say that Vaknso also bets, the actual strategy he should adopt is to refrain from playing. As far as I can tell the players are situated symmetrically, and there is no advantage over the long run.

r
CHAOS GHOST!!!

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Posted by StarValleyWy

Mark, I think everyone at RHP is gun shy on ol' Ted... I know you promised to wring his neck, but man... have you seen that dude blink and stick his tongue out at you! I don't think you are getting any takers as long as Ted is holding the hole card... just too much of a risk.

Is the risk less than that of either hardcore MAPper losing moves through poor strategy?

Posted by bbarr

Since it is apparently only Rhymester and Red Hot Ted that are betting hard-won moves, the optimal strategy for Vakno is just to keep playing the game. But since I'm sure you meant to say that Vaknso also bets, the actual strategy he should adopt is to refrain from playing. As far as I can tell the players are situated symmetrically, and there is no advantage over the long run.

Yeah-I did mean to say that Vaknso is the other better 😳. Red hot Ted does not bet. He is the Impartial Referee (he'd better be impartial, or his neck will be wrung in the name of game-theoretical virtue). What is his payoff in the long run by abstaining, in terms of his and Rhymester's bets? And can't Rhymester just bet arbitrarily small amounts to hold Vaknso to minimal gains by abstaining, and to gain some for himself. (Remember that if Vaknso abstains, they each take HALF OF THE BETS.) So quite quickly, we are reduced to a situation wherein each bets as little as he can, knowing that if he bets more than his opponent, he will lose moves. A pointless game.

S
BentnevolentDictater

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Is the risk less than that of either hardcore MAPper losing moves through poor strategy?


😉 How would I know? I don't even know what poor strategy is. 😏

r
CHAOS GHOST!!!

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Arg. An hour has passed. Now RHP will know forever that royalchicken once thought that "[u]" would underline things 😳.

incidentally, those are some very fine jokes, Mike 😀.

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