The Schnapsen Log

January 17, 2017

The Battle and the War

Martin Tompa

You are near the end of a very tight game against a lucky opponent. Each of you is within 1 or 2 game points of winning when you find yourself on lead in the following position:

Concealed cards:
♠ Q
♥ AKJ
♣ AKQ
♦ J

Your cards:
♠ AK
♥ TQ
♣ —
♦ A

Trump: ♠J
Stock: 3 face-down cards
Game points: Opponent 1, You 2
Trick points: Opponent 7, You 32
On lead: You

No one has declared a marriage or exchanged the trump. What should you do? When you have your answer ready, you are welcome to read my analysis.

© 2017 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, 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.