The Schnapsen Log

August 20, 2012

Losing Tempo

Martin Tompa

It seems as though your coffee hasn’t even had time to cool at the Café Abeles when you find yourself once again in a quandary.

Unseen cards:
♠ A
♥ AK
♣ TK
♦ K

Your cards:
♠ —
♥ Q
♣ AQJ
♦ A

Trump: ♠J
Stock: 1 face-down card
Game points: Peter 3, You 2
Trick points: Peter 18, You 26
On lead: You

You review the cards you haven’t yet seen and the action so far. There were no marriages shown and no trump exchange. With the low trick point scores, this deal feels exactly like the one you just finished, where it might all come down to winning the last trick. When you think you have a good plan, you are welcome to read my analysis.

© 2012 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.

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About the Author

Martin Tompa (tompa@psellos.com)

I am a Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where I teach discrete mathematics, logic, probability, design and analysis of algorithms, and other related courses. I have always loved playing games. Games are great tools for learning to think logically but, more important, seem to me an integral part of happy family or social life. I will be delighted if game-players, parents, teachers, and students find this series fun and useful.

My excitement about Schnapsen was rekindled by playing against an iPhone program called Master Schnapsen/66 written by two friends at Psellos. Set to play at its “Master” level of difficulty, this program is one of the two most formidable opponents I have found. It comes up with surprising and brilliant plays, and I have learned an enormous amount of Schnapsen strategy by playing with it. Nearly every deal in this Schnapsen Log arose during those hours of playing with Master Schnapsen/66.