Long before Cale
Back in the day, Lord Yarborough played bridge extremely frequently. At a time when a year's income for a commoner was 300 pounds sterling, he would wager before a hand of bridge was dealt -- if the person playing at the table wished -- 1,000 pounds sterling to 1 pound sterling that the other person would not have a hand with no aces, face cards or 10's.
What in fact are the odds against holding a "Yarborough" (with no card higher than a 9) after a hand of bridge has been dealt? If the odds are N to one against, write your answer as N (to the nearest integer).
The answer is 1827.
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1 solution
There are 52 cards in a deck, of which 32 are not higher than a 9. So the chances of getting a "Yarborough" are (32/52) * (31/51) * (30/50) ... * (20/40), which is 1/1828.04
So the odds against getting such a hand are, to the nearest integer, 1827 to 1.