Cruel Solitaire Strategy Guide

Cruel Solitaire Strategy Guide

Cruel Solitaire is an unusual solitaire game that many people believe has a low success rate. However, with careful planning, advanced solitaire players can win more than 50% of the games they play. The key to mastering Cruel Solitaire lies in understanding when to deal from the talon. At first glance, it may seem that dealing from the talon randomly shuffles the cards, but this is a misconception. In reality, a deal from the talon simply redeals the cards in the same order they currently appear.

Understanding the Talon Deal

This knowledge allows an advanced player to predict what will happen when the talon deal is executed, significantly improving the chances of winning each game of Cruel Solitaire. There are certain easy-to-learn patterns that can assist players in this regard.

For example, if all the stacks to the left of a stack have four cards in them before the redeal, then the card on top will stay on top after the redeal.

Consider the following scenario:

• Stack-A: 4 Cards
• Stack-B: 4 Cards
• Stack-C: 5 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top.

In this case, all the stacks before Stack-C have four cards in them, so after a redeal, the 5 of Diamonds will still be on top of Stack-C. The same principle applies regardless of how many cards are in Stack-C. For instance, if the stacks are as follows:

• Stack-A: 4 Cards
• Stack-B: 4 Cards
• Stack-C: 2 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top.

Here, the 5 of Diamonds will still remain on top of Stack-C after a talon redeal. However, if any earlier stack does not contain four cards, the card will not remain on top after the redeal.

For example:

• Stack-A: 5 Cards
• Stack-B: 4 Cards
• Stack-C: 2 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top.

In this case, the 5 of Diamonds will NOT be on top of Stack-C after a redeal. Understanding this pattern grants you greater control over Cruel Solitaire and opens the door to powerful strategies that can significantly enhance your chances of winning.

Strategic Card Movement

One important piece of advice is: DON’T ALWAYS MOVE CARDS TO THE FOUNDATION. Given the above pattern, it doesn’t always make sense to move a card to the talon at the first opportunity. Instead, you might choose to keep the card and ensure that no extra cards are placed in the stacks to the left of it.

This strategy allows you to continue redealing to expose new cards while knowing that the card will remain in play. Only when no further moves can be made should you transfer the card to the foundation. This method provides the maximum opportunity to keep playing without blocking your moves.

A General Procedure to Win Cruel Solitaire

Here’s a general procedure to help you win at Cruel Solitaire. While it isn’t perfect, and you may modify it as you improve, it provides a structured approach to avoid blockages:

1. Find the rightmost card that can go onto the talon.
2. Make all the possible moves to the right of that card, prioritizing higher rank cards.
3. Redeal.
4. Return to step 1.

Once no more moves can be made to the right of the card, move it from the stack to the foundation, then redeal, and return to step 1. If no cards can play, arrange all the cards you can, starting with the highest rank ones, and then redeal.

That’s it! You can definitely tweak this procedure to make it better, but keeping it simple will help you play Cruel Solitaire more effectively. Have fun and may your games be victorious!