Rules for this game can be found here. Note that there are some computer implementations that, incorrectly, are not allowing suited Ace/Jack or King/Queen pairs to be matched between the card in hand and the top of the waste pile.
My program won this game about 29% of the time, which is far lower than the 75% estimate quoted by various sources (and also far higher than the 1-in-10 estimate from SolSuite). According to most of the sources I have seen, redeals are not permitted in this game, but SolSuite offers a separate version that does. I implemented an option to allow a redeal, and found that this increased the win rate to over 80%.
| Redeal Allowed? | Games Won | Win Rate % |
|---|---|---|
| No | 2,898,089,113 | 28.98 |
| Yes | 8,059,163,722 | 80.59 |
Whenever spaces become available in the reserve ("antechamber"), my program always fills them in from the waste if possible, before using the stock (I've seen rules differing about whether or not you have a choice, but I think this is the most standard). When using the option to permit a redeal, my program leaves the reserve ("antechamber") fully intact, and flips over the waste pile (without shuffling) to resume dealing. I'm not sure whether or not this is the same method implemented by SolSuite.
Any comments are welcome, please send to Mark Masten at:
Last modified January 29, 2022
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