Psellos
Life So Short, the Craft So Long to Learn

The Schnapsen Log

July 21, 2013

By the Process of Elimination

Martin Tompa

“This has turned into a very tight competition, my dears,” your clever Uncle Hans says. “It’s very exciting to watch! Let’s see which of you can pull out the victory.”

With the avuncular pressure on, you find yourself in the following position, awkward as ever:

Unseen cards:

AK
♣ AKQJ

Your cards:
A
QJ
♣ T
A

Trump: J
Stock: 1 face-down card
Game points: Emmi 2, You 3
Trick points: Emmi 19, You 27
On lead: You

It feels great that you hold the only trump, but the club marriage is a threat, and you’re having some trouble seeing your way to a successful end. When you think you’ve found one, you are welcome to read my analysis.

© 2013 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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