Modify the application developed in Exercise 7.18 so that it can handle the dealer’s hand automatically, but the player is allowed to decide which cards of the player’s hand to replace. The application should then evaluate both hands and determine who wins. Now use this new application to play 20 games against the computer. Who wins more games, you or the computer? Have a friend play 20 games against the computer. Who wins more games?

Based on the results of these games, refine your poker-playing application. (This, too, is a difficult problem.) Play 20 more games. Does your modified application play a better game?

Exercise 7.18

Modify the application developed so that it can simulate the dealer. The dealer’s five-card hand is dealt “face down,” so the player cannot see it. The application should then evaluate the dealer’s hand, and, based on the quality of the hand, the dealer should draw one, two or three more cards to replace the corresponding number of unneeded cards in the original hand. The application should then reevaluate the dealer’s hand.