Psellos
Life So Short, the Craft So Long to Learn

The Schnapsen Log

April 13, 2015

When Are Jacks in Hand Reassuring? (solution)

Martin Tompa

Here are the cards I was dealt recently, among which I was very happy to see those two jacks, in addition to the J face-up on the table.

My cards:
AKQ
J
♣ —
J

Trump: J
Stock: 9 face-down cards
Game points: Opponent 7, Me 7
Trick points: Opponent 0, Me 0
On lead: Me

It’s obviously a joyful trump suit to be dealt, with the master trump and the royal marriage. I’m immediately thinking about closing the stock. But what’s so good about those two red jacks?

Let’s add up trick points and see what could possibly go wrong. If I close the stock and lead A before declaring the marriage, I am guaranteed to collect 11 + 40 + 4 + 3 = 58 trick points, plus whatever my opponent contributes to these three tricks. As long as my opponent contributes at least 8 trick points, I will reach 66.

The only way my opponent can contribute fewer than 8 trick points is by discarding 2 or 3 jacks. But I can see 3 of the jacks from where I’m sitting, so my opponent holds at most one jack and must contribute at least 8 trick points to these three tricks. The jacks I can see give me a guarantee that closing the stock will succeed.

© 2015 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