One-Handed Solitaire

One-Handed Solitaire, is a solitaire card game played with a traditional 52 card deck. It can be played in one hand and does not require a tableau, hence its name.

Rules

Taking a standard, shuffled 52-card deck of playing cards (without Jokers), hold the deck face down in your hand. Draw from the back of the deck four cards and place them on top fanned out so that the suit and number can be seen.

If the first and fourth card are the same suit, discard the two middle cards, placing them on your lap if seated or in a pocket or elsewhere if standing. If there are previously drawn cards in your hand, rearrange the hand so that four cards are visible. If there are not enough cards to do this, draw from the back so that four cards are visible.

If the first and fourth card are the same number (or face card) discard all four cards. Again, if there are previously drawn cards in your hand, rearrange the hand so that four cards are visible. If there are not enough cards to do this, draw from the back so that four cards are visible.

Repeat the above process of discarding until the first and fourth card are neither the same suit nor number, upon which you draw one card from the back of the deck and place it after the fourth card, rearranging the drawn cards so that only four are visible.

Continue in this fashion until the end of the deck is reached. If all cards are discarded, you win the game.

The odds of winning are very low, approximately one in 140.^[1] An optional rule to increase the odds slightly allows cards that have previously been drawn to be redrawn after the deck has already been cycled through, but preserving their original sequence.

Variations

Decade (solitaire) and Accordion (solitaire) are a variations of One-Handed Solitaire using different criteria for discarding.

References

Patience or Solitaire (US) - (list) Adding and pairing Baroness Fourteen Out Gay Gordons Golf Monte Carlo Nestor Pyramid Bisley Baker's Dozen Capricieuse Martha Perseverance Castle Beleaguered Castle Congress Fortress Seahaven Towers Canfield American Toad Duchess Eagle Wing Fan Alternation Bristol Flower Garden House in the Woods Intelligence La Belle Lucie The Plot Shamrocks Forty Thieves Deuces Diplomat Emperor Miss Milligan Napoleon's Square FreeCell Baker's Game Eight Off Penguin Stalactites Klondike Agnes Batsford Gargantua King Albert Seven Devils Westcliff Yukon Non-builder Accordion Clock Gaps Maze Perpetual Motion Poker Squares Royal Marriage Pocket Decade One-Handed Spider Auld Lang Syne Blockade Curds and Whey Labyrinth Mrs. Mop Scorpion Simple Simon Other Aces and Kings Algerian Black Hole Carpet King's Audience The Clock Glossary Grandfather's Clock