1. ## Actuary Probability problem

The game of bridge is played by four players: north, south, east and west.
Each of these players receive 13 cards.
(a) What is the probability that one of the players receives all 13 spades?

I am having serious trouble with this one, the answer in the back of the book is 6.3  10^-12 and I cant seem to match it.

At first I thought it may be C(13,13)/C(52,13) but thats considering only one player.

Then I thought maybe C(13,13)*C(39,13)*C(26,13)*(13,13)/C(52,52) but this does not work either.

Help!!

2. ## Re: Actuary Probability problem

Originally Posted by feefers
The game of bridge is played by four players: north, south, east and west.
Each of these players receive 13 cards.
(a) What is the probability that one of the players receives all 13 spades?

There are $\frac{52!}{(13!)^4}$ ways to deal a bridge game.

There are $4\cdot \frac{39!}{(13!)^3}$ ways for one player to receive all 13 spades.

3. ## Re: Actuary Probability problem

Another way to look at the problem:

There are $N = \binom{52}{13}$ possible bridge hands. Only one of these has all the spades. So the probability that one of the players has all the spades is $4 / N$.