Psellos
Life So Short, the Craft So Long to Learn

The Schnapsen Log

January 10, 2013

The Lowly Jack

Martin Tompa

It’s come down to the very last deal in this close game against Polite Polona. Each of you needs only one more game point to win when you find yourself in this position.

Unseen cards:
K
TK
♣ A
QJ

Your cards:

A
♣ K
ATK

Trump: J
Stock: 1 face-down card
Game points: Polona 1, You 1
Trick points: Polona 40, You 24
On lead: Polona

With an eerie sense of déjà vu, you notice the remarkable similarity of this position to the deal you just finished playing. This time, however, instead of leading a high trump, Polite Polona chooses to lead the lowly J. Can you come from behind to win this game? Once you have a good plan, you are welcome to read my analysis.

© 2013 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.


Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Martin Tompa

Martin Tompa (tompa@psellos.com)

I am a Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where I teach discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, design and analysis of algorithms, and other related courses. I have always loved playing games. Games are great tools for learning to think logically and are a wonderful component of happy family or social life.

Read about Winning Schnapsen, the very first and definitive book on the winning strategy for this fascinating game.

Subscribe

Getting Started

Links for Schnapsen and Sixty-Six

Links in German

Links in Hungarian

Recent Columns

September
Sidestep a Few Landmines, Sep 2
June
Two Last-Trick Problems, Jun 27
May
More Extremes of Luck, May 21
April
Grasping at Straws, Apr 4
March
A New Scheme for Remembering Cards, Mar 23
September
As Luck Would Have It, Sep 9

Archives

2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012