Answer: Tuesday Teaser #24
The strategy that Player A needs to use is to try to find a way in which he can always hold a higher straight flush than Player B. This immediately requires that Player A’s first draw prevents Player B from choosing an A-K-Q-J-10 straight flush (or Royal flush), because such a hand would guarantee Player B at least a tie. This means that Player A needs to choose at least one of the Ace-to-10 cards from each suit.
Suppose now that Player A takes the four 10s (and any other card) as his first draw. The highest straight flush that Player B can now achieve is 9-8-7-6-5. This leaves Player A in a situation where he can make 8 possible straight flushes with his second draw that are all higher than any straight flush Player B can make, namely A-K-Q-J-10 and 10-9-8-7-6 of each suit. Because Player B can only choose 5 cards with his first draw, he cannot block all 8 possible straight flushes available to Player A, so with this strategy Player A will always win.
