(no subject)

[zotmeister]

I just performed a magic trick with a new Split Spades deck that may well surpass anything even David Blaine himself has done with one: I just won an honest game of La Belle Lucie with it on the first deal. - ZM

Comments

[mathgrant.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

I just played a round with my trusty deck of cards (using the rule that Kings are moved to the bottoms of the piles as they are dealt), and won in two deals, having built two of the foundations up to Kings on the first deal. Not nearly as magical as your feat, but it was still exciting. I take back what I said about "slightly" -- having a King above another card of the same suit is so frigging annoying, because the only way to move a King is to play it to the foundations, but you can't do that if you can't play the lower-ranked card below it to the foundations first. In other words, instant not-win.

If it makes a difference, though, I played the way the game is played in the various Hoyle software adaptations, where the Aces start on the foundations (so you shuffle 48 cards for the first deal, and not 52 -- Wikipedia calls this the Trefoil variation).

[mathgrant.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Another update! I, too, have just managed to win an honest game of La Belle Lucie on the first deal, using the aforementioned rule that Kings are moved to the bottoms of their stacks (all of the Kings were moved in this way, so I couldn't have won normally) and the Aces start on the foundations.

I wish I still had my Stardeck. Five-suited La Belle Lucie would be fun to try.