The expected value of the product of two independent random variables is the product of the expected values of each; this concludes my proof that betting everything on each round is expected value maximizing in a finite game (and infinite too, if you adopt the common ways to make “infinite” precise). I’m surprised the dialogue got that far without this being brought up!
Minetta
Karma: 15
The real heart of this game is that the trades are not zero sum between the two parties. If you have 5 of a suit and your counterparty has 1, there are huge gains from trade to be had by interacting. This is a totally necessary condition for the game to be interesting.