A few years ago, a puzzle was popular on the Web, "Say Red"

The player puts up $1. Dealer starts with a full deck,
face down. He turns over one card a time. At any
point, the player calls the next card red. One shot, win
or lose. If he waits to the end, he takes the last card.

A mathematician recognizes immediately that the game
is unbeatable. But for Joe Sixpack, it's not so obvious...
"There MUST be a winning strategy!" Like roulette....

Now let's try to jazz it up. Alter it to "Say Red or Black".
At any point, the player can call red or black, his choice.
One minute thought... hmmm... not too interesting.

So, now the challenge: devise a hustle, based on this game.
Imagine you're at a hotel in Cancun, the vacationers are in
a spending mood, they don't care too much if they lose, if
it's fun. Like the casino biz, the hook is make losing fun -

Alter the rules, or betting structure, of Say Red or Black,
such that the game sounds even, or maybe beatable,
and you can hustle the tourists. You can place yourself as
either player or dealer.

--
Rich

On Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 4:07:42 PM UTC-4, RichD wrote:
> A few years ago, a puzzle was popular on the Web, "Say Red"
>
> The player puts up $1. Dealer starts with a full deck,
> face down. He turns over one card a time. At any
> point, the player calls the next card red. One shot, win
> or lose. If he waits to the end, he takes the last card.
>
> A mathematician recognizes immediately that the game
> is unbeatable. But for Joe Sixpack, it's not so obvious...
> "There MUST be a winning strategy!" Like roulette....
>
> Now let's try to jazz it up. Alter it to "Say Red or Black".
> At any point, the player can call red or black, his choice.
> One minute thought... hmmm... not too interesting.
>
> So, now the challenge: devise a hustle, based on this game.
> Imagine you're at a hotel in Cancun, the vacationers are in
> a spending mood, they don't care too much if they lose, if
> it's fun. Like the casino biz, the hook is make losing fun -
>
> Alter the rules, or betting structure, of Say Red or Black,
> such that the game sounds even, or maybe beatable,
> and you can hustle the tourists. You can place yourself as
> either player or dealer.
>
> --
> Rich
A deck of cards doesn't compare at all to roulette unless the deck is shuffled after
each card is exposed. Then that card is returned to the deck for the next shuffle.
A better chance to win is a single zero roulette table alternating between red and black and
doubling after a loss of either red or black. A good run would be if you started on red and won then the next number is black then red then black then red and so fourth. These streaks are rare but do happen. So being on the wrong side of that streak you keep doubling your bet until you win.
Starting out with just $5. I have doubled up to $320.00 (5*64)on rare occasions then wining back the original $5.00 bet. Remembering that a zero is a loss.
Give it a try here --- freeroulettedoc.com

On Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 5:26:31 PM UTC-4, Dan joyce wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 4:07:42 PM UTC-4, RichD wrote:
> > A few years ago, a puzzle was popular on the Web, "Say Red"
> >
> > The player puts up $1. Dealer starts with a full deck,
> > face down. He turns over one card a time. At any
> > point, the player calls the next card red. One shot, win
> > or lose. If he waits to the end, he takes the last card.
> >
> > A mathematician recognizes immediately that the game
> > is unbeatable. But for Joe Sixpack, it's not so obvious...
> > "There MUST be a winning strategy!" Like roulette....
> >
> > Now let's try to jazz it up. Alter it to "Say Red or Black".
> > At any point, the player can call red or black, his choice.
> > One minute thought... hmmm... not too interesting.
> >
> > So, now the challenge: devise a hustle, based on this game.
> > Imagine you're at a hotel in Cancun, the vacationers are in
> > a spending mood, they don't care too much if they lose, if
> > it's fun. Like the casino biz, the hook is make losing fun -
> >
> > Alter the rules, or betting structure, of Say Red or Black,
> > such that the game sounds even, or maybe beatable,
> > and you can hustle the tourists. You can place yourself as
> > either player or dealer.
> >
> > --
> > Rich
> A deck of cards doesn't compare at all to roulette unless the deck is shuffled after
> each card is exposed. Then that card is returned to the deck for the next shuffle.
> A better chance to win is a single zero roulette table alternating between red and black and
> doubling after a loss of either red or black. A good run would be if you started on red and won then the next number is black then red then black then red and so fourth. These streaks are rare but do happen. So being on the wrong side of that streak you keep doubling your bet until you win.
> Starting out with just $5. I have doubled up to $320.00 (5*64)on rare occasions then wining back the original $5.00 bet. Remembering that a zero is a loss.
> Give it a try here --- freeroulettedoc.com

Has anyone tried this yet. You will be pleasantly surprised when you do.

On October 3, RichD wrote:
> A few years ago, a puzzle was popular on the Web, "Say Red"
> The player puts up $1. Dealer starts with a full deck,
> face down. He turns over one card a time. At any
> point, the player calls the next card red. One shot, win
> or lose. If he waits to the end, he takes the last card.
>
> A mathematician recognizes immediately that the game
> is unbeatable. But for Joe Sixpack, it's not so obvious...
> "There MUST be a winning strategy!"

Prove that no winning strategy exists.
Bonus credit: what about a losing strategy?

--
Rich