The Schnapsen Log

October 9, 2012

Anything Else?

Martin Tompa

“You are playing as though you can see right through the backs of my cards tonight,” Katharina confides with some surprise in her voice . “Have I been careless about concealing my hand?”

Unseen cards:
♠ AQ
♥ QJ
♣ K
♦ A

Your cards:
♠ T
♥ AT
♣ —
♦ KJ

Trump: ♠J
Stock: 1 face-down card
Game points: Katharina 4, You 2
Trick points: Katharina 32, You 15
On lead: Katharina

Katharina is well ahead in this deal and determined to recover from her recent losses. Your hand does have potential, though. She considers her own hand and leads ♦A. Plan your play. 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.