The Odds of Winning Solitaire: How to Increase Your Win Rate

Although the challenge of playing Solitaire is part of the fun, winning the game makes playing even more enjoyable. You should be able to win Solitaire Turn 3, a classic version of Solitaire, 82% of the time, but just because a game is winnable, doesn’t mean you’ll make all the right moves. How often you can actually win a game depends not only on your skill but the version of the game you play.

For example, Solitaire Turn 1, also known as Klondike Solitaire, is one of the easiest versions to play, but FreeCell is even easier because you can see all the cards and can use the free cells as extra space to move cards. On the other hand, Solitaire games like Spider Solitaire 4 Suits and matching versions, such as Golf, can be much more difficult because of how they’re set up and the differences in their rules.

Each version of Solitaire has different game rules and strategies that offer a unique challenge as well as a varied win rate. Whether you’re new to playing Solitaire or are looking for a new challenge, this post breaks down your odds of winning Solitaire and explains the challenges for different versions as well as strategies to increase your odds of winning.

The Mathematical Probability of Winning Solitaire

Mathematicians have done the hard work already and calculated the winning odds for Solitaire. Using an equation, they plugged in the variable for unique deals, and found that you can win Solitaire 82% of the time when playing Turn 3.

While you may understand all the Solitaire terms associated with playing the game, sorting the differences between win-rate data, winnable games, and odds of winning may send your head spinning.

Your odds of winning a Solitaire card game is 82%, which simply means that for every 100 games dealt, you could win 82. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’ll actually win 82% of the time. Just because you get a winnable deal about 82% of the time doesn’t mean you’ll always win 82% of the games. Even with a winnable deal, you may not recognize when you make mistakes that lead to a losing game. So while the odds are high for you to win a game of Solitaire Turn 3, winning depends on how well you play—and how quickly you identify when you need to use the undo button!

However, when you see win-rate data on gaming sites, the win percentages will likely vary widely because they depend on the games won on that particular site. For example, the win-rate data for the different versions of Solitaire in this post are based solely on the number of games won on the Solitaire Bliss site.

Your odds of winning can actually be higher because players lose more than just unwinnable games. They may be given a winning deal but still made critical errors that led to a loss. So don’t let the winning probabilities stop you from trying a new and different version of Solitaire. Instead, use the win-rate data as a guide to which version should be more challenging than others.

What Are the Odds of Winning Solitaire?

Your odds of winning depend on the type of Solitaire game you decide to play as well as what site you play on. The win-rate data in the following sections is based on games played on the Solitaire Bliss site, and your odds of winning could be higher, especially if you use effective Solitaire strategies when playing different versions of this single-player card game.

Solitaire Turn 1 and Solitaire Turn 3

Solitaire Turn 1 and Solitaire Turn 3 are the classic versions of Solitaire, also known as Klondike. Although they use the same layout and rules, the Turn 3 version is harder, with a 10% win rate, because you turn three cards over from the stockpile rather than one. The objective for both versions is to sort all the cards into four foundation piles, separated by suit and ascending in order from ace to king.

A game of Klondike Solitaire has seven columns of cards dealt in the tableau. Each column has the same number of cards as its corresponding column number—so the first column has one card, the second has two, and so on. Only the last card in each column is face up. The rest remain facedown. The remaining playing cards are placed facedown into the stockpile, which works like a draw pile.

The rules for playing Solitaire are simple. You can arrange the cards in the tableau in descending order and alternating in color, and when you uncover a facedown card, you can turn it over and use it. For even more cards to use, you either turn over one card into the waste pile if you’re playing Turn 1, or you turn over three cards if you’re playing Turn 3. The top card of the waste pile can be used in the tableau or on foundation piles.

Turn 3 is more difficult because you have to turn over three cards at a time from the stockpile. While this seems like a small rule, it has a big effect on your gameplay. Instead of being able to access every card in the stockpile, you might be bypassing valuable cards when turning over three at one time.

FreeCell

FreeCell is a much easier version of Klondike Solitaire with a win-rate percentage of 33%. Like Solitaire, you have to arrange cards into four foundation piles, separated by suit and ascending in order from ace to king, to win the game.

FreeCell rules are similar to Classic Solitaire, but the game is laid out differently. The entire deck is dealt into eight columns of face-up cards, with the first four columns containing seven cards and the last four columns containing six cards. You have four free cells in the upper left, and you can move a single card into each one. The upper right is where you build the foundation piles.

Like Solitaire, you arrange cards into descending sequences that alternate in color with the goal of moving all the cards into foundation piles, separated by suit and ascending in order. You can use the four free cells as temporary spaces for individual cards. These cells help you uncover cards you need to play so you can build sequences or add to your foundation piles.

You can only move one card per free cell, but if you want to move a sequence of cards, you can move as many cards as you have free cells plus one. So if you have three free cells open, you can move a sequence of four cards.

The face-up style of the tableau and the free cells make this version much easier than Classic Solitaire. Although you don’t have a stockpile or waste pile to use, you have no hidden cards to deal with because all the cards are dealt face up in the tableau. So you can identify the cards you need to start and build foundation piles and sequences, allowing you to plan your moves.

But the free cells—quite literally the name of the game—give you a lot of leeway with four free spaces to move cards during gameplay. Not only can you plan your moves, but you can move cards that are blocking progress into the free cells. With careful planning and utilization of the free cells, you increase your chances of winning this version of Solitaire.

Spider Solitaire

Another sequence-building variant of Solitaire, the goal of Spider Solitaire is to build same-suit descending sequences in the tableau and then, once completed, move them to their foundation piles. However, Spider is played with twice as many cards as Classic Solitaire (104 playing cards) and has a few different rules that can make gameplay more difficult.

Spider Solitaire has three different difficulty levels that progress in difficulty—each level adds more suits to play with, which makes it harder. Spider Solitaire 1 Suit has a high rate of winnability at 60%. Spider Solitaire 2 Suits has a win rate of only 20%, and the most difficult, Spider Solitaire 4 Suits, has a win rate of just 8%.

You set up this game by dealing out ten columns of cards, with six cards in the first four columns and five cards in the last six columns—only the last card in each column is face up. The remaining 50 cards are placed facedown into a stockpile.

To play Spider Solitaire, you arrange cards in descending order in the tableau. Spider Solitaire 1 Suit is played with just one suit, so all sequences will be of the same suit. In Spider Solitaire 2 Suits and Spider Solitaire 4 Suits, you play with two and four suits, respectively. You can arrange descending sequences of mixed suits in those versions, but only same-suit sequences can be moved around the tableau. Only completed same-suit sequences can be moved to foundation piles, and if you uncover a facedown card, you can turn it over and use it. Although you can use the stockpile when you run out of moves, it deals one face-up card to the bottom of each column in the tableau.

Building same-suit sequences in Spider Solitaire 1 Suit isn’t as difficult since you’re only playing with one suit, but Spider Solitaire 2 Suits and Spider Solitaire 4 Suits can be more difficult because you have to sometimes use mixed-suit sequences in your tableau. Having so many cards to arrange also makes Spider more difficult than other versions, plus using the stockpile means adding a card to the bottom of each column, which can block sequences you built or need to move.

TriPeaks Solitaire

TriPeaks is a fun card-matching Solitaire alternative to Classic Solitaire, and it has a win-rate percentage of 16%. The goal of TriPeaks is to move all the cards from the tableau to the foundation pile by matching a card from the tableau that is one rank higher or lower than the top card of the foundation.

Like the name suggests, the tableau is set up into three peaks or pyramids. All cards are dealt face up into four rows. The first row has three cards, forming the peaks, and the second row has six cards, with two overlapping each peak. The last two rows have nine and ten cards, and each row spans the bottom of the tableau. The remaining cards are placed facedown under the tableau, and one card is turned face up into the foundation pile.

To play TriPeaks Solitaire, you simply match available cards—cards that aren’t covered—from the tableau that are one rank higher or lower than the top card of the foundation pile. So if the foundation pile is a three, you can place a four or two from the tableau onto the foundation pile. The card from the tableau that you moved to the foundation pile becomes the new card you use to match.

You can go up and down in rank, too. So if you place a four onto the three in the foundation pile, you can then take a five from the tableau to match with the four, but if there is a four in the tableau, you can then match a four to the five. If you run out of matches from the tableau, you can turn over a new card from the stockpile. The game ends if you run out of stockpile cards before clearing the tableau, but if you clear the tableau, you win.

Ranks cannot wrap in this game, however, and aces are low. So a king cannot be placed on an ace, and an ace cannot be placed on a king. That means that kings and aces only have one matching card each (queens and two, respectively).

Unlike Solitaire Turn 1 and Solitaire Turn 3, you don’t create sequences and have the opportunity to arrange cards in the tableau. The limited movement is what makes this game more difficult. You have only two cards possible that can match the single foundation pile card—or only one card if it’s a king or an ace! Plus, the tableau will only have 10 or fewer cards available to choose from. So your options are quite limited!

Yukon Solitaire

Yukon Solitaire offers a challenging variation of Classic Solitaire with a win-rate percentage of 12%. Like Solitaire, you need to arrange all the cards into foundation piles, separated by suit and ascending in order from ace to king.

Like Solitiare, Yukon has seven columns in the tableau, but all the cards are dealt into the tableau. You have no stockpile. The first column in the tableau has just one face-up card. The second column has one facedown card followed by five face-up cards. The subsequent columns each add a facedown card but end their columns with five face-up cards, until the last column has six facedown cards followed by five face-up cards. Foundation piles are created to the left of the tableau

Yukon plays similar to Classic Solitaire—you arrange cards in descending sequences that alternate in color. Like Solitaire, if you uncover a facedown card, you can turn it over and use it, but unlike Klondike, you can move any face-up card, even if it’s not sequenced. The twist is that all of the unsequenced cards move, too. So if you want to move a red nine onto a black ten but the nine has a black king and black two on top of it, you can move the nine onto the ten, but the sequence would be black ten, red nine, black king, and black two.

One element of the game that makes Yukon so difficult is that the only hidden cards of the game are buried in the tableau. You can’t reveal them unless you’re able to move the cards on top of them. Plus you don’t have a stockpile to use when you run out of moves on the tableau.

Canfield Solitaire

Canfield is another difficult Solitaire variation with a win-rate percentage of 7%. Your goal is similar to many Solitaire versions, but it has a twist—you have to arrange all the cards into foundation piles, separated by suit and ascending in order, but you begin each foundation pile with a base card dealt at the start of the game.

Set up Canfield Solitaire by dealing 13 cards into a reserve pile with only the top card face up. Then deal one face-up card to begin the first foundation pile—this becomes your base card and all foundation piles must begin with this rank. So if the card dealt is a six of clubs, you must begin the remaining three foundation piles with a six during gameplay. Then deal four face-up cards onto the tableau to create four columns of one card each. The remaining cards make up the stockpile.

The rules to play Canfield are very similar to Solitaire Turn 3. You must build sequences in the tableau that descend in order and alternate in color, and you can build foundation piles in ascending order by suit or start new ones when a base card is available to play. If you get stuck, you can turn over three cards from the stockpile into the waste pile and play the top card, if possible, and you can cycle through the stockpile as often as you like.

One of the biggest differences with Canfield is the reserve pile. Whenever a column is empty in the tableau, only a card from the reserve pile can be moved to the empty space. From there you can use the card in tableau sequences or to build foundation piles.

Hidden cards and the limited amount of tableau columns make building foundation piles and sequences more difficult than a traditional game of Solitaire. You could have base cards hidden in your reserve and struggle to reach them with the limited options for movement in the four columns of the tableau.

Forty Thieves

Forty Thieves is an even more difficult version of Klondike Solitaire with a win-rate percentage of just 5%. Played with two decks of cards, your goal is to arrange all cards into eight foundation piles arranged by suit and ascending in order from ace to king.

To set up Forty Thieves, you deal 10 columns of four face-up cards each. The remaining cards are put into a stockpile. Like Solitaire Turn 1, you turn one card over from the stockpile into the waste pile to use when you get stuck, but you get just one pass through the stockpile. However, you play Forty Thieves with some different rules compared to Classic Solitaire. In the tableau, you build descending sequences by suit, and you can only move the first card at the bottom of each column. So you can’t move sequences at all, but you can move any card of any rank into empty columns.

Forty Thieves has extremely limited movement compared to other Solitaire versions, which is what makes this variation so difficult. Because you can’t move sequences, you need to empty columns to break apart sequences to reach buried cards you need. And with just one pass available through the stockpile, your options for a new card are limited.

Golf Solitaire

Another card-matching Solitaire version, Golf presents quite the challenge with a win-rate percentage of 3%. To win, you have to clear the tableau by matching cards from the tableau that are one rank higher or lower than the top card of the foundation pile.

You set up a game of Golf by dealing seven columns of cards with five cards each, and all the cards are face up. The rest of the cards are placed facedown into a stockpile, and to start the game, you turn one card over from the stockpile into a single foundation pile. This is the first card you pair. For example, if the card turned over is a six, you can pair it with a seven or five from the tableau.

The rules of Golf are simple—you just pair cards from the tableau that are one rank higher or lower than the foundation pile card, and the card you pair becomes the new top card of the foundation pile. So if the foundation card is an eight, you can pair either a nine or a seven from the tableau. If you pair the seven, then the seven is the new foundation card, and you can match it with an eight or six from the tableau.

You can go up or down in rank as you pair cards, but you can’t wrap ranks. So, because aces are low, the king can only match with a queen, and an ace can only match with a two. If you get stuck and can no longer pair cards from the tableau, you can turn over a new card from the stockpile to the foundation. You only get one pass through the stockpile, however, so if the stockpile runs out, the game is over.

Golf is more difficult than Klondike because you have just one card—the foundation card—you’re making plays on throughout the game. Plus, you only have two possible cards you can match it with—or just one if it’s an ace or a king—and just seven columns from which to find the card you need.

Pyramid Solitaire

Pyramid is a pairing Solitaire game with the goal of clearing all the cards from the tableau by pairing cards that equal 13. The king is worth 13, so it’s the only card that doesn’t need to be paired. The queen is 12, and the jack is 11. So a jack and two can pair together because they total 13.

To play Pyramid Solitaire, you deal cards into a pyramid shape consisting of seven rows. The first row has one card, and each row has one more card than the last until the seventh row has seven cards. All cards are dealt face up and each row overlaps the previous row slightly. The rest of the cards are placed facedown into a stockpile, and one card is turned face up into the waste pile.

You begin the game by pairing the top waste pile card with a card in the tableau so that their total equals 13. Pairs are placed into a single foundation pile. Once the waste pile card has been paired you can pair a tableau card with the new top card of the waste pile. If there isn’t a top card, you turn one over from the stockpile. You can only pair cards from the tableau that are available (uncovered), and if you get stuck making pairs, you can turn over a new card from the stockpile.

Compared to Classic Solitaire and other card-matching versions, Pyramid is very difficult because each card has just one pair. And as you work your way up the tableau, you have fewer and fewer cards to pair.

Tips for Becoming a Better Solitaire Player

If you want to increase your win rate with any Solitaire game, these tips can make you a stronger player:

• Play regularly. Playing games more often helps you practice strategies and try out new techniques. The more you play, the more you become more familiar with potential roadblocks to gameplay and which techniques work best in particular situations.
• Focus on winning in the fewest moves, not the fastest time. Try to make moves that create waterfall movements, where one move leads to several others. Efficient movements lead to better play, and if your goal is speed, the more efficiently you play, the faster you will win.
• Practice with different variations to hone specific skills. Playing different versions can help you practice different skills that make you a better overall Solitaire player. FreeCell may be an easy variation, but it can give you a lot of practice with building sequences efficiently, but if you need more discipline with moves, playing a more difficult version like Yukon or Canfield forces you to plan ahead and make thoughtful moves.
• Keep track of your stats. The only way you know for sure you’re getting better is if you’re keeping track of how you do. Although you can play online for free at Solitaire Bliss, you can best track your stats, such as your win rate, the amount of moves you win in, and your time, by creating an account and logging in when you play.

Strategies to Increase Your Solitaire Win Rate

Using strategies gives you concrete techniques that will improve your game, but the techniques you use will depend on the version of Solitaire you play. So if you want to win more, try these Solitaire strategies broken down by classic, sequence-building versions and card-matching variations.

Classic Solitaire Strategies

When it comes to sequence-building Solitaire games, these strategies can help improve your win rate across several different variations:

• Survey the tableau. Making a plan at the beginning of a game is one of the best strategies you can use. Versions that have all face-up cards in the tableau make this strategy even more effective. But scanning the tableau for possible roadblocks and best moves should be done throughout the game, not just at the start. Every time the tableau changes, assess how those changes affect your overall strategy and make adjustments. Doing so helps you avoid having to use the undo button too often!
• Build sequences in the tableau. For most variations, arranging sequences in the tableau allows you to reveal more facedown cards and set you up for success when it comes to building foundation piles.
• Use the stockpile wisely. Some variations allow you to cycle through the stockpile as often as you like, but others, like Spider, limit you. For those you can cycle through often, use those movements to quickly access cards you need. For those that limit you, make sure you use the stockpile only as a last resort.
• Focus on facedown cards. No matter what version you play, facedown cards prevent you from making plans for movements and keep you guessing as to where certain cards are that you need to play. So wherever hidden cards are located, make moves that prioritize revealing those cards and putting them into play.
• Use free cells only when necessary. FreeCell strategies require some nuanced thinking. In this variation, sequence building depends on the free cells. To ensure you keep the game moving, use free cells as a last resort or as a temporary placeholder.

Pairing Solitaire Strategies

Solitaire games that use matching or pairing in gameplay have specific strategies that can help you win more often, including:

• Look for tricky matches. Most matching-styleSolitaire games have face-up tableaus. This enables you to figure out where making a match might be difficult. For instance, if you have a king in Golf, you know you’ll need a queen to be available to make that match. If queens are buried in the tableau, you’ll have to create a plan to get to them and make the match, but if you see none, you’ll be watching for them to be revealed from the stockpile.
• Create waterfall moves. When you’re limited to one pass through the stockpile, you want to pair as many cards as possible before having to flip over another card. So carefully plan to pair cards that allow you to continue making matches without the use of the stockpile. You’ll only get one pass through the stockpile with most pairing Solitaire games. So only use it as a last resort.
• Keep the tableau even. When matching cards that get removed from the tableau, try to work evenly through the tableau. If you remove too much of one side of the tableau, you end up giving yourself fewer cards to work with later in the game.

Increase Your Odds of Winning Solitaire at Solitaire Bliss

Whether you want a simple game of Solitaire Turn 1 or a challenging game of Golf or Forty Thieves, you always want to win. So use the tips and techniques in this post and practice your moves on your favorite Solitaire game at Solitaire Bliss.