Psellos
Life So Short, the Craft So Long to Learn

The Schnapsen Log

August 14, 2019

Compelling Opponent

Martin Tompa

Your game against Uncle Tibor is close to an end, one way or the other. You can feel your power of concentration flagging. Do you have what it takes to hold it together and defeat this formidable opponent?

Concealed cards:
Q
AQ
♣ K
AK

Your cards:
J

♣ A
TQJ

Trump: ♣J
Stock: 1 face-down card
Game points: Tibor 2, You 1
Trick points: Tibor 13, You 41
On lead: You

No marriages have been declared and no one exchanged the trump. You have a nice trick point advantage but you’re running out of winning cards. It’s your move. When you have come up with a good plan, you are welcome to read my analysis.

© 2019 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.


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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.

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