Online poker is facing a cheating crisis. The artificial intelligence revolution has put a multi-billion dollar industry at risk as computers continue to outperform humans at their own games. Bots can now play poker routinely to hit Human experts, and it can be difficult to detect when anonymous online players are using real-time assist engines to inform their decisions. Cheaters no longer have to put up with a table full of rapacious eyes, desperate to avoid detection as they bluff a card or deal from the bottom of the deck. Online poker servers have had to ramp up their anti-fraud efforts in response, causing an algorithmic arms race as cheaters try to outsmart the anti-fraud teams and vice versa. This is the new reality of living among machines that can actually do our bidding for us.
In this week’s puzzle game, you’ll do everything to cheat while Lady Luck herself feeds you cards.
Did you miss last week’s puzzle? check it out here, and find its solution at the end of today’s article. Be careful not to read too far if you haven’t solved last week yet!
Mystery #9: Best full house
You are playing a simple poker game with one deck of cards. Everyone is dealt five cards, and whoever is dealt the best five-card poker hand wins. Lady Luck has promised to give you a full house of your choice. Which full house should you choose to increase your chances of winning? Standard rules apply: no wild cards, aces can be high or low for straights (10, J, Q, K, A and A, 2, 3, 4, 5 are both valid), but cannot go around the lines straight lines (Q, K, A, 2, 3 are invalid). check here If you need a refresher on poker hand rankings.
I suspect most readers will have a quick answer to the best full house. Determining why the obvious solution failed will be an essential step in solving the puzzle. Or am I just fooling?
I’ll be back next Monday with the solution and a new puzzle. Do you know of a cool mystery I have to cover here? Send it to me at gizmodopuzzle@gmail.com
Solve riddle #8: Cognitive reflection test
past weeks puzzle It came from a real psychological test. In his famous book Thinking fast and slowPsychologist Daniel Kahneman discussed two modes of thinking, with the not-so-popular names “System 1” and “System 2”. System 1 is automated and relies on intuition and quick reasoning. System 2 is slower, more deliberate, and more calculating. You might rely more on System 1 when looking at how many scoops of grounds to put in your coffee maker. Sure, tin recommends a specific amount per cup of coffee, but for most of us, close enough is enough. On the other hand, System 2 is useful when adding a tip to the cost of a meal at a restaurant, because faulty math can unintentionally cramp a waiter. Both types of perception are useful and important.
System 1 serves, in a sense, as a default. You swing through life and discover that your body will fit in that doorway or that an extra nap won’t make you late for work (a perpetual pitfall in System 1 thinking) without stopping and calculating. Kahneman argues that many of our cognitive biases stem from over-reliance on System 1 and not realizing when is the right time to switch to the more strenuous System 2. The cognitive reflection test is designed to measure the degree to which people make this switch. The idea is to give people three questions, each with obvious answers that just happen to be completely wrong. Those who score well should override their instincts in favor of more intense meditation. Congratulations to the many of you who gave three correct answers on breaking into the 17% mark. Shout out to the reader AED 84 To resist System 1. Let’s take it in turn:
- The combined cost of the bat and ball is $1.10. A bat costs $1.00 more than a ball. How much does the ball cost?
The natural answer is that the ball costs 10 cents. In fact, the ball costs 5 cents (and the bat costs $1.05). For many people, System 1 simplifies “A bat costs $1 more than a ball” to “A bat costs $1.00.” After deeper thought, it turns out that $1.05 is One dollar more $0.05 and the sum of these prices is $1.10.
- If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long will it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
It will not take 100 minutes, but 5 minutes. If 5 machines make 5 widgets in 5 minutes, that means that on average, each machine takes 5 minutes to create 1 widget. So after 5 minutes, you will have as many tools as you have machines. Which means that 100 machines will produce 100 widgets in 5 minutes.
- In a lake, there is a spot of lily leaves. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If the patch takes 48 days to cover the entire lake, how long will it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
24 days is the tempting answer. Engaging System 2 may lead you to 47 days, correct answer. Lily’s diaper patch doubles in size each day. So on the first day it will be half the size it will be on the second day. On the thirteenth day it is half the size it would be on the fourteenth day. On day 47 it is half the size it would be on day 48. On day 48 the entire lake is covered. So on day 47, half of the lake is covered.
in multiple analysis studies Where the cognitive reflection test was taken to more than 3,400 people, only about 17% of them answered each question correctly. Some respondents answered other types of questions as well, such as
Bananas and cookies are 37 cents. Bananas cost 13 cents more than bread. How much does bread cost?
Although this is a more difficult arithmetic problem than the bat and ball puzzle, more people are answering this question correctly! This is because there is no bait answer to the temptation of System 1. It is simply an algebra problem, and people have no choice but to involve System 2 to solve it.
So, are you one of the majority who follow their intuition when faced with these questions? Or do you suppress heuristic thinking and puzzle until the right conclusions?