I place 3 playing cards face down on the table.

If the cards were face down I would most certainly pick the one with £1k on the back and not swap it.

Would you indeed? Evening Poker', the Morrisons Aloo Gobi is excellent. I get 2 pots and have it with their Pillau rice. Delicious.

lol, getting you mixed up with Coachmaster. The evening stands.

Good evening, Kenny.  I hope you are well, sir.

I sometimes find aloo gobi a bit watery, tending to prefer the sag aloo.

And I think you might be confusing me with Coachmaster and him with Coachbuster.

More watery maybe, but tastier.

At my age I can confuse everything with everything, particularly after an evening in 'spoons.

I went to Wetherspoons this evening, too.  What a coincidence!  And, even more spookily, it was curry night and I ordered the sweet potato and spinach with pilau rice.

It was £6.65 including a pint of guinness!

Furthermore, I am pleased to report that there were no cats in it.

Oh, I remember now, Poker'. We chatted a lot some time (years) ago. You're a vegetarian too. That's why I probably confused you with Coach'.

The veggie curry is pretty mundane at 'spoons imo. I prefer the Sunday roast. Lovely if they manage to serve it hot.

Anyway, I think you should think again about your answer.

Yep, that's me, Kenny.  I'm a long term vegetarian.

Was it not a trick question, then?  At first glance it looks like the old Monty Hall conundrum, but I read it that (if the cards are faces down and the prizes are written on the back) the customer could actually see the values.

If that's not the case then the person should swap (as per Monty Hall).

It's a swap for me Kenny. I love the percentage working in my favour.
Talking of flavour, two aloo gobi's over 'ere please and a lamb madras if you please.

I'd love to chat a little longer, Kenny, but need some sleep. 

Thank you for your company.  Good night, sir.

Good night to you, too, Gnarley.

Thought you were Poker', after a bit of deep thought. The amounts are written lightly on the back of the cards so you can't see anything. Yes, it is Monty disguised so you know the answer now. I intend to take a few quid off some ex works colleagues when we meet up in Saltaire tomorrow for a night out.

Gnarley is very shrood . Night Poker'.

I don't deal in lamb. Sorry.

You coulda fooled me - ya nearly "fleeced" Pokermonster

G'night Poker.

ha ha, he thought he could see through the cards. lol

If the cards were face down I would most certainly pick the one with £1k on the back and not swap it.
I suspect we all would

I don't think the amount is written on the back of the cards
I think the answer is too swap

You have a 50% chance of £1k

Your original choice only gave you a 33% chance
assuming a 50p card has been removed

I would stay with my original selection because it is easier than swapping and has exactly the same chance as the other card. Why other swapping? You still don't know what any of the cards are...and nor does Kenny!!
Methinks you have left out some vitally important information, Kenny. 

This is absolutely NOT the Monty Hall puzzle.

*bother swapping*   FFS

if you placed 3 cards face down on the table and wrote the money amount on the back, that would mean you could see which card had £1k on it.

That is the one I would go for.

and as  naydam says, unless he reveals the amount of money on the other card (as in 50p) then the odds haven't changed.

I put up a thread on this about 2 months ago, was a hotly debated subject.

Naydam is right.

As the question is written there seems to be no gain from swapping. But there's information missing. What does the guy running the game know about what is on the cards?

I know what's on the back of the cards, naydam and laroche. Good question,and vital as said. Well done, Take a gold star each.

But you are still mucking up the puzzle because you fail to state that you remove the LOWER value card...presumably. Anyway, if you DO remove the lower card, then my answer would always be to swap because the winning chance would then improve from one-in-three to one-in-two.

Anyway Kenny, here's a similarish puzzle for you...and others if they wish:
You are a prisoner in a cell. The cell has two doors. One door leads to death. One door leads to freedom.
There are two guards in your cell. You are only allowed to ask ONE guard ONE question. However, you DO know that one guard ALWAYS speaks the truth and the other ALWAYS tells lies.
What would be your question to help you decide which door to walk through to Freedom?

Fair comment, the question is re-phrased below.

One has £1k written on the back, the other 2 have 50p written on the back.

I know what's on the other side of each card and ask you to choose a card but not turn it over. You win the amount on the back of the card you have selected.

I remove a card.

Do you stay with your original choice or swap, when I give you  the choice, prior to me asking you to reveal what's on the back of your chosen card?

Let me think, naydam. I've heard that before but forgotten the answer.

To either guard, "If I want freedom, what door will HE say I should go through?"

C'mon lads, straightforward this.
On your first pick, you have a 33% chance of picking correctly - meaning that there is a 67% chance that the £1K is on one of the other two cards. Nothing that happens subsequently changes this, as Kenny is always going to remove one of the 50p cards. Therefore, if you swap you have a 67% chance of being right, twice as much as previously.
If you're having trouble understanding this concept, imagine Kenny has 10 cards, 9 x 50p and £1k on the other. You pick one and Kenny then removes 8x 50p cards, leaving you your card and one other, would you swap then and do you think it's because you now have a 50/50 chance of being right?

And to KM, I would take the face-down card with £1k written on the back. No swap. A bit easy this one, imo.

The answer is if you're a prisoner in a cell you aren't bothered as you're stuck there. You missed a bit out as I did.

Well done Desmond. An intelligent answer. We should have it framed.

Ken Masters • October 24, 2014 1:08 PM BST
To either guard, "If I want freedom, what door will HE say I should go through?"   You cannot be serious!

Ask either guard which door leads to freedom, then take the opposite door to the reply (i think) very confusing

Aye, because if you ask the truthful one, that's really going to work out well.

Re: mine, say the door to freedom is black, to death it's white, if you ask the truthful one, he'll say the lying guard will point to the white door.

If you ask the lying guard, he'll lie and say the truthful one will point to the white door. In either case, pick the black door.

You're forcing each of them to include a lie in their answer, so you pick the other one.

Very good. Will ask the question tonight on the NAPRAC night out.

That is the correct solution Ken. Congrats...you are free to go! 
Kenny...I'm afraid you're a goner!

Ken's not as dumb as he looks.

I do look pretty dumb, tbf.