xxx 0c 4c Ah 2h As 2s/3h 5h/xxxxx Ad 5c 4s 3d 2s Ad 3s Ks 4d/xxxxx 4h 3h Kd Qd Jd 0h 9d 8h 7h 6s Kh Qh 2d/Kd 6s/xxxx 7d 6d 5h 4s As 8d 7d 6d 6h/7c 6c Kh Qh 0s/x Qd Jh 0h 9s 0s Ks Qs Js 0c 9c 8c 7c 6c 5c 4c 3c 2c Ac 8s/4d 3d 2d 8s 7h 8d/x Kc Qc 0d
Checksum: 9 + 2 +14 + 18 + 2 + 13 + 6 + 20 + 6 + 4 + (1*10) = 104
Actual play (6 April, score = 432): bf, bc, jb (deal)
Actual play (7 April, score = 428): ???
Spider GM Comments: Since the last few rounds have been quite short, I’ve decided to merge Rounds 4 and 5 together (and skip the Round 4 Summary) – but this does not look healthy at all ☹
Game Over
Hero concedes the game and the match. Villain wins 5-0.
Edifying Thoughts of a Spider Solitaire Addict 
Score 432
Looks very grim indeed. Unlike the exercise at the end of the last game, we could now ask if there is any distribution of the remaining cards that WOULD allow us to win, as opposed to any that could keep us from winning.
Maybe the April Fool’s joke is lurking somewhere in this game or layout. I note that we don’t have the cards on the board now to remove ANY suit. I don’t know how unlikely that is with just 29 cards unseen — probably not that unlikely. We’re missing the jacks of clubs, the fives of diamonds, the nines of hearts, and the sevens of spades. Four sequential odd ranks in different suits.
The motivation to look for tiny advantages here from one play or another is low. Life is short, and I’d have some tendency to resign and go on to whatever is next. But dealing is cheap. We can get a space but then can’t do much. I can’t call this “one space no turnovers”… Turnovers aren’t really what we need here, we need to sort this all out and remove stuff.
bf,bc gets us a space. Then what?
jb as one possibility puts all our hopes in getting one of the jacks of clubs next, and might help a bit towards removing the club suit. Another is to simplify column a in hopes of a turnover there next time and a miracle
(ac, ac, ab, ab, af). And it’s uncovering TWO aces…
Since we need a string of very good luck, I’ll go for column j. Our hope is to get a jack of spades and a 9, regain the space in column 2, remove the club suit, and hope we can convert the single card that shows up to get a second space. Two spaces is in no way close to a sufficient condition for winning, but it would sure help us take advantage of whatever other miraculous bunch of cards we hope come up in the deal.
Answer: bf, bc, jb.
LikeLike
Round 4 complete. I have decided to merge Rounds 4/5 into a single post but I think the game is lost unless I’m missing something
LikeLike
I have gone against my normal mode of posting and after deciding what I would do read what Esteemed Scholar Bart had to say. I thought that would make my day easier, but alas, he went a different route and I needed to analyze.
My mode was to attack Col 1 even with the two aces. I did not connect with the possible club run, even after making many moves to set it up. The road trip went from 4:30 AM until midnight, and I may need another day just to get back to my former insufficient self!!!
I concur completely with Esteemed Scholar Bart’s solution and see it as our only real chance for a path to victory.
Club Run
Two Voids
Lots of missing transitional cards to organize
Get at least four good turnovers before filling a void
…………seems simple enough
LikeLike
Round 4 complete. I have decided to merge Rounds 4/5 into a single post but I think the game is lost unless I’m missing something
LikeLike
Agreed. The game is lost. On to post-game analysis!
LikeLike
That was fun
This game really was sort of straight forward. Only twice were Esteemed Scholar Bart and my lowly self at a “Y” in the path, once he went my way and once I went his way. Once he wanted to attact Col 3 at the expense of uncovering two aces, and once I wanted to simplify Col 6 at the expense of losing access to a Deuce. Those times were before the last two draws and I doubt that any path would have uncovered a win.
This is a hand for the ZKey crowd. Tengo una idea loca. Should we go back with unlimited Z and see how well we can do? I would vote no in this format, too much time wasted on a terrible hand, and I dislike second guessing myself or ourselves. We make the decisions we make on our honest thoughts and forward is always in front of you, just follow where your nose is pointing. Now I know the woke crowd is going to ban me from any electrical communication as soon as they read that due to my obvious insensitivity towards people with no nose, and that coupled with my skin color makes me a prime candidate for re-education camp.
But I digress.
Master Chi-Yuen, your valued analysis please.
LikeLike