How to win at Solitaire

[Flint]

I'm referring to, of course, Klondike Solitaire, draw three.

About 80% of games are theoretically winnable, and a skilled player should be able to win about half of those, or 40%.


Basic Concepts:
Always favor playing within the Tableau (the seven red/black piles) over pulling from the Stock. Tableau cards that have not been uncovered can render a game unplayable.

The deck order can be manipulated to make Stock cards available (every card pulled re-orders the deck by one card in the next rotation*).

When moving within the Tableau, if two moves are possible, move from the stack with the lowest number of cards**— this will get you closer to uncovering the entire stack and creating an open space.

Opening spaces for Kings is a continuous goal— but, never leave more than one space open, even where possible by stacking. There is more strategic advantage to having multiple Tableau piles to play on.

Wherever possible, always pull cards back from the Foundation (the Ace-up piles) to the Tableau, creating a stackable position (ideally, to move an entire Tableau stack).

Uncovering the Tableau piles is the number one priority! Decks become unplayable because of the cards that are not in play. Thus, having the maximum number of playable piles, with the ability to make space for a King if necessary, is the position you want to stay in.

Your goal is to expose every card to the Tableau. Moving to the Foundation is an afterthought— exposing cards is the real goal.



Mechanics:
Microsoft Solitaire has unlimited Undo moves with the Ctrl+Z hotkey. Use them. When you spot a move you have missed, Undo the deck to the first point the move became possible and re-play from that point. Microsoft will tell you when there are no more moves left. Do not quit until it tells you this. If you can’t see any more moves, Undo the entire game and start over. If Microsoft tells you there are no more moves, select Return, Undo the entire game and start over.



Two-card Strategy:
Two cards have and unequally weighted advantage/disadvantage ratio. Every other card has two primary functions: 1) to play to the Tableau and be made playable to the Foundations, or 2) to provide a stacking place for lower numbered cards to be pulled out of the deck and be made playable to the Tableau. However, because Aces are always playable instantly, the Two card does not share the second function (stacking aces has no strategic function).

Every card also carries a disadvantage in concert with card stacking— a stacking position is created below, but the card above is covered up and made unplayable. For every other card besides the Two card, this advantage and disadvantage is considered as a trade-off. For Two cards, however, there is no playable/unplayable trade-off, only the disadvantage of the card above being made unplayable. For this reason, Two cards are considered to have lower strategic value.

Therefore, whereas every other card should always be pulled from the deck and played to the Tableau (except where deck order is being purposefully manipulated), Two cards should only be pulled from the Stock if the card underneath the Two card has strategic value***. When applying this rule, the Two cards serve another purpose, as a “reserve” move to unblock a deck that has become unplayable—i.e. only when every other move has been taken should the Two cards be pulled from the Stock. The Two cards will not provide a stacking advantage to the Tableau, but pulling them from the Stock will re-order the deck by one card for every card after they are pulled.

Finally, if the deck remains unplayable after playing Two cards to the tableau, the final “reserve” function of the Two card comes into play— the player can Undo their moves back to the point that the Two card first became playable, re-playing the deck, re-ordered from that point forward. Thus, strategy around Two cards provides two specific opportunities to save an unplayable deck****.


*For every card AFTER the card pulled
**Where there are two equally numbered piles, choose from Left to Right. If the deck becomes unplayable, Undo back to this point and select Right to Left.
***Or, if you are purposefully manipulating deck order by pulling the Two card.
****I’m not sure if I’ve ever recovered an unwinnable game in this fashion, but it’s nice to feel in control.