a foolow (a typo I leave in for it has a kind of significance for the first problem) up to this thread.

Jim, Jack, and Joe are three cowboys who have come to the conclusion that the earth is not big enough for all of them. Two of them have to die. But they want to do it in a fair shootout with all three of them placed in a kind of triangle (so one shot can only kill one of the opponent for the other one is located at a different position), you might want to call what follows a triell. They let chance decide who gets the first shot (no interference, no simultaneous shooting; the second in line just has to wait patiently), who gets the second and the third. If after the first three shots, there is more than one surviving, they go on shooting in the same order as in the first round. Jim has a 100% probability of killing an opponent with a single shot, Jack has an 80% probability of killing, Joe has only a 50% probability of killing.

Who of the has the highest probability of surviving and who has the lowest (assuming that hey are good in doing probabilities, know about their respective hitting probabilities and do the best they can for their own survival)?

Wolfgang