Playing the Odds

I'm a numbers guy, through-and-through. I did my undergrad at Cornell, and there I majored in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering. Translation - fancy math like Statistics & Probability theory.

Most of my advice is about playing the odds. The odds of getting certain cards, the odds of getting a certain amount of points, the odds of your opponent having a card, and most importantly your odds of winning the game.

As an example, let's say I'm 8 points from winning the game, with first count. My opponent is 20 out. I'm dealt 3-4-5-6-9-J. What am I keeping? 3-4-5-6, every time. Why? Because no matter what card is cut I have to have 8 points, garaunteeing the win. Any other discard risks losing the game.

Knowing the maximium minimum is often very important at the end of the game. The combination of cards that, if you get the worst cut possible, gives you the most points.