| Cruel Solitaire is an unusual solitaire game, that many | | | | Knowing this pattern will give you much greater control |
| people think has a low success rate. Careful planning | | | | over cruel solitaire, and allows for some powerful |
| will allow the advanced solitaire player to win more | | | | strategies that will vastly increase your chances of |
| than 50% of the games they play though. | | | | winning. |
| The trick to winning cruel solitaire is to know when to | | | | DON'T ALWAYS MOVE CARDS TO THE |
| deal from the talon. When you first start playing cruel | | | | FOUNDATION... |
| solitaire, it seems like dealing from the talon randomly | | | | Because of the above pattern, it does not always |
| shuffles the cards, but this is not the case. A deal from | | | | make sense to move a card to the talon at the first |
| the talon just redeals the cards in the same order they | | | | opportunity. Instead, you can keep the card, and just |
| currently appear. | | | | make sure that you don't put any extra cards in the |
| This allows an advanced player to have some | | | | stacks to the left of it. |
| knowledge of what will happen when the talon deal is | | | | This way, you can keep redealing, to expose new |
| done... which vastly improves the chances of winning | | | | cards, and you will KNOW that the card will always |
| every game of cruel solitaire that you play. | | | | remain in play. Only when you can't make any more |
| There are certain easy-to-learn patterns that help with | | | | moves should you then move the card to the |
| this. | | | | foundation. |
| If all the stacks to the left of a stack have 4 cards in | | | | This gives you the most opportunity to keep playing, |
| them before the redeal, then after the redeal, the card | | | | without blocking play. And it leads to a general |
| that is on top will stay on top. | | | | procedure, that you can follow to win a lot more |
| For example, suppose the first 3 stacks appear like | | | | games of cruel solitaire... |
| this: | | | | A GENERAL PROCEDURE TO WIN CRUEL |
| Stack-A: 4 Cards | | | | SOLITAIRE... |
| Stack-B: 4 Cards | | | | Here is a procedure that will help you to win cruel |
| Stack-C: 5 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top. | | | | solitaire. It isn't perfect, and you'll probably make your |
| All the stacks before Stack-C have 4 cards in them, | | | | own alterations to it as you get better at the game, but |
| so after a redeal, the 5 of Diamonds will still be at the | | | | it shows how to carefully play cruel solitaire to avoid |
| top of Stack-C. | | | | blockages. |
| This is the same no matter how many cards are in | | | | A - Find the rightmost card that can go onto the talon. |
| Stack-C. So if the stacks are like this: | | | | B - Do all the moves to the right of that card that you |
| Stack-A: 4 Cards | | | | can, starting with highest rank ones |
| Stack-B: 4 Cards | | | | C - Redeal |
| Stack-C: 2 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top. | | | | D - Go back to A |
| Then the 5 of Diamonds will still be on top of Stack-C | | | | Once there are no more moves that can be made to |
| after a talon redeal. | | | | the right of the card, then move the card in the stack |
| But if an earlier stack does not have 4 cards in it, then | | | | to the foundation, and then redeal, and go back to A. |
| the card will NOT stay on top after a redeal. | | | | If no cards can play, then order all the cards you can, |
| So if the stacks are like this: | | | | starting with the highest rank ones, and then redeal. |
| Stack-A: 5 Cards | | | | That's it! |
| Stack-B: 4 Cards | | | | You can definitely tweak this procedure to make it |
| Stack-C: 2 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top. | | | | better, but I've tried to keep it simple here, and it should |
| Then the 5 of Diamonds will NOT be on top of | | | | allow you to play cruel solitaire a lot better than before. |
| Stack-C after a redeal. | | | | Have fun! |