This is the position from last time:
An obvious option is to build in-suit with 2-A of clubs in column 3, but that is only one turnover as well as exposing another ace. A closer look reveals we can obtain two turnovers in columns 6 and 2 which is clearly far superior.
It is possible to combine both plans with cg,fg,fi but I would rather avoid that. If we played fc,fi and turned over a Deuce we would still get the turnover in column 3 anyway. So fc,fi it is.
We get Eight of Clubs and Five of Spades as our turnovers. Obviously we turnover another card instead of building in-suit and exposing a King. Unfortunately we get another Ace. We then do some tidying up before dealing a new row.
Not the greatest start to a game of Spider Solitaire, but the only bright spot is Colorful Sisters is now following my blog (unfortunately a cheevo only occurs if they contribute something meaningful in the comments section). Going back to more important matters – how would you continue here?
Edifying Thoughts of a Spider Solitaire Addict 
I wonder if you read my comment on your previous entry, about the previous position. I made a specific suggestion for how to play there and reasons for it. It may well have been a dumb idea. I have lots of dumb ideas. I moved both the 3 and 2 before moving the ace. But I was disappointed not to have any sort of feedback on it, even in terms of overall “board sense” for playing Spider of it doing too much of x or not enough of y.
Oh well, on to the next position.
I would move the ace of hearts onto one of the 2s (column d, preferable to column c only because we make it slightly easier to work towards uncovering a card in column c), the ten of hearts onto the column h jack, then move the 9 and 8 from column f onto that ten of hearts, one after the other. That is the first turnover. The second is simply the jack of hearts onto the queen in column j. That’s the basic plan: gd,gh,fh,fh,gj. I’m placing a high priority here on doing the column f turnover first, as we’re close to getting a space in that column and if for instance a jack comes up, we can get even closer if we have done it before the other turnover.
An alternative line of play, and the one I would probably have done before reading this blog in the past weeks, is to do the column g turnover first, moving that jack/ten of hearts to column j. This keeps the jack/ten of hearts together, which is good. It also puts “junk” in column j on a king rather than column h, but not as good as making the column f turnover first. That “Plan B” is: gd,gj,fj,fj. Very, very close between those two plans.
There aren’t too many other things that even CAN move in this position. Either of the 5s can go on the 6 in column 2, but I would rather keep those moves in reserve until we see the turnovers. If we uncover a 7, we’ll wish that six of clubs didn’t have anything on it.
Moves that (I think) clearly make things worse are jack of clubs onto queen of spades (prohibiting the column g turnover), or 8 of hearts to 9 of hearts (prohibiting the column f turnover).
Going from strategy back to more sleuthing… In the picture, two cards are outlined in yellow, and I think this is the next move you are going to make, in this case putting that ace of hearts on the OTHER two, not the one I chose. These cards outlined in yellow aren’t always there, but they are a lot, for instance 13 February twice, 7 February twice, 31 January. It doesn’t much matter, just a curiosity.
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Hi Bart, sorry for not responding to your previous message – I somehow didn’t register that you had responded. Your analysis is good as usual.
I find your idea of turning over column f first before column g quite interesting, even at the expense of an in-suit build. I actually didn’t consider that idea to be honest, but I prefer to have as many cards as possible on the junk pile in column j.
The yellow highlighting occurs because Microsoft will highlight legal moves if the player has not moved for some time. I don’t have much of an issue with it – unlike that last-round disaster from the previous game 😦
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