British Skat Association

I have now sent out the hand records for last Sunday.

Beth and I missed an opportunity on hand 14 of session 4. As Vorhand we held

J: CS
C: AT9
S: T
H: ATK
D: 9

Possibly because of the singleton ten we both exchanged, and we both made Grand with schneider for no swing. It was only while writing the hand up that I saw that Grand hand is 100% safe.

Given that it is almost certainly right to play Grand hand, but is it always right on such hands? With the singleton ten schneider is unlikely, but with an exchange schwarz becomes a possibility.

Patrick

I think it's a coin toss: Grand Hand is certain with an unlikely schneider, picking up gives an almost guaranteed schneider and a possible schwartz.

I had a similar decision last night. As Vorhand, held:

J. C S H D
C. K
S. A 9
H T
D A T or very similar

Grand Hand probable, but not certain, so picked up. ST,HQ in Skat. I considered keeping HT as a singleton and going for Schwartz, but I think my opponents would have kept the Ace and another big one, so discarded HT, CK and settled for probable Schneider, which duly made.

In hand 4/14, the Skat contains c8, dK. What will you discard? For the best chance of Schwarz I think discarding the two diamonds is best, and as the cards lie you will make Schneider anyway, even if HH makes the right guess of which Ace to keep. Or you could discard sT and d9 guaranteeing Schneider and making Schwarz on this deal if HH keeps the sA since it happens that HH also has both the big diamonds.