Question regarding cute problem

I'm not sure I understand the problem statement.


"Three players: Mr A has one dollar. Mr B has two dollars. Mr C has three dollars. Every hand they each ante a buck and run the cards. That continues until only one player is left."


What happens when a participant is left w/ $0.50, are they out because they can't ante, or are they in for 3/5 of the pot? Will it matter?

I see my question was first raised below by "Chr", under DS's original post with the subject line "You sure you have the right solution David?" I hadn't examined the whole thread before posting, and Chr's complaint was loss to me in the mass of stuff in that thread -- but credit where it is due...

He took his lead from me.


"what if there's a tie" under the solution thread.

Right Sammy. It was you who saw this, but nobody gave an answer even though i commented it in the subjectline. So i tried to post it under DS solution, but still the answer is missing...

Well I still haven't seen your post, but I'll take your word for it without hesitation. At the same time, I wouldn't be the least surprised if he found this lack of robustness in the offered solution independently...

I guess he didn't make the complaint independently. I did... I think...

This is a math problem. I would have thought it obvious that I assumed there could be no ties.

Cute. Where I studied maths, your solution would be called 'wrong' -- in math, there is no elegance without rigor.

Everyone knows that when you assume you make an ASS out of U and Dan Osman.

Sometimes you feel like an ass, sometimes you don't.

DUH!


In the case of a tie the pot would be split, 3-way or 2-way, depending on who was left. It wouldn't effect the results.


David's answer is correct even if you allow for ties.

Unless of course there was a two way tie for first in a three handed contest. Then by rule (not published, but a house rule) the whole hand is a do-over. ;-)