Psellos
Life So Short, the Craft So Long to Learn

The Schnapsen Log

May 26, 2014

No Clear Winner

Martin Tompa

You are at the Black Eagle Club for the weekly Schnapsen tournament. You have just sat down opposite the local champion Katharina, who deals out the cards. The very first hand you pick up forces you to think. Don’t you just hate that?

Your cards:
T
T
♣ T
KQ

Trump: T
Stock: 9 face-down cards
Game points: Katharina 7, You 7
Trick points: Katharina 0, You 0
On lead: You

The trump marriage is a welcome sight, but all those singleton tens make you very nervous. What is your plan? When you think you have a good plan, you are welcome to read my analysis.

© 2014 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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