Is there a new game in the queue?
Oceans 11

Yes. There's a long list of games. But Ocean11 is the first. It's kind of an experiment.

I'm having trouble running Ocean 11 (MacOS Safari). It starts to come up the same way Tumbleweed does, but then there is a red error banner with an alarm clock icon and the text “Bad State: No element”. However, it does work with MacOS Firefox.

I can't run the game on iOS Firefox, but but it works for me on desktop Firefox.

I think there may be a problem with the time controls on Ocean's 11; it's 3 hours into the first monthly cup and all my opponents' time is at 237 hours, but that includes those that have been actively playing.

Another cosmetic (weird) problem:

On the web version, the move history colors the plays alternating white and black, even though runs of plays are by one player. It makes it hard to tell who played which cards.

To amplify pokes bug report (which is obviously more urgent than my cosmetic issue):

The last time I looked at the game, it showed that my opponent had used 7 hours and I had used none.

Then, after they moved, it showed that I had used 7 hours and they had used none.

I moved and clicked “send”, nothing appeared to change, but when I refreshed the page, my clock went back up to 240 (as it should have) and theirs went immediately back down to 233.

(This is on MacOS Firefox)

Hope this helps.

I'm interested in thoughts about whether keeping track of what's left in a deck is considered fair play. I'd expect a card player to say no, and a combinatorial game player to say yes. So a card game on LG is in a bit of a weird spot :)

The information is available if you just click on the left arrow under the board, so I don't see any problem with players using it.

Suggestion: add new forum sections for Oceans-11 and for Tumbleweed

Bug (?) in Oceans11:

Game: https://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=2338525

Opponent: 8-7-6-5-4
Me: A-2-3-4-5

Both are straights but shouldn't the A2345 count as higher? I thought for straights the order (from higher to lower):

AKQJT
A2345
KQJT9
QJT98
…
65432

My bad. Not sure why I had the wrong impression.

A2345 seems to be the lowest straight.

Yes, if A is used in a straight with 2345, it counts as 1.

So, the great question, what is the winning strategy, regarding folding?
Does the value of having more cards depend on the number of points of the opponent (it surely does if he has 5 points)?
Is the mean number of cards of 54/6 = 9 relevant?
I hope these lines of thoughts are not spoiling the game.

54/11 I'd say. But I haven't even finished my first game, so my thoughts are probably not wort much. :-)

54/6 = 9 was the mean number of cards per point to get six points with your pack of cards…
What is 54/11 = 4.9, is it your estimation of the max number of cards you should aim to take to get a better game than the opponent?

11 rounds likely to be played, that's basically all behind my number, no hidden clever thoughts. :-)

I have doubts the 54/6 has much meaning, because you cannot spend zero cards on the rounds that the opponent will win. At min you will spend 1 card per round there, but I doubt that the optimal strategy is to decide after the first card if you fold now or fight till the bitter end, so in pratice you will spend more than 1 card on the average losing round.

Only loosely related thought: For now I've come to the conclusion that for the decision to fold or not, one should entirely ignore the number of cards played in this round by either side. Anything else (current points, remaining cards for both sides, chances to beat the opponents holding with the next n drawn cards) needs to be considered. Just how exactly??? My gut feeling is that a simple strategy might just involve the chances to beat the opponent with the next card, and the chances for the opponent to beat you again with their next card. Well, plus taking into account if you are ahead (avoid risks) or behind (rely on luck).

Not sure if I'll find the time, but I'm considering to write a simulator for trying out some simple strategies.