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# System prepended metadata

title: Variant Specific 2p Strategies

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# Variant Specific 2p Strategies

## General

### Ambiguous prism tempo clue
Rank tempo clue focus left, color tempo clue focus right.
Use for cards identical in rank and color. Tccm applies.

### Differential implied save
Alice holding g3/m2/o2 may give these implied save clues to Bob's chop:
1. for g4: green, 4s
2. for m3: any non-green color, 3s
3. for o3: a finished rank, 5s (cannot be a true 5 since it was riding the previous turn)

### Burn play

Burn play is ON when all of the following are true:
1. Alice is in a stalling situation.
2. Bob's slot 1 is freshly drawn.
3. There exists playable card(s) in game which cannot be directly play clued — a brown card, a gray card, a null card, r2(34)5 in a muddy variant.

A burn clue signals to play the finesse position card when an alternative exists:
1. **a fill-in clue**
Fill-in clue is known available when degrees of freedom in any clue type (in rank or color) is greater than limitations.
2. **a no-op clue**
Defined as 5s in a non-pink variant. This reduces limitation in rank by 1.
3. **a restricted burn clue**
A clue type is restricted when degrees of freedom is equal to or less than limitations. We artificially define rank as restricted when neither rank nor color is, thus color would cause burn play.

Example: Alice is locked, Bob's hand is — — g- r5 r3. Slot 3 has negative 3.
1. Degrees of freedom in color is ≥2, since there are at least two different colors available.
2. Degrees of freedom in rank is ≥3.
3. Since there are two unknown cards, we assume both are blocking.
4. 2/4/5 is a fillin clue, 5 is a no-op clue, green & red are restricted burn clue.
   Therefore, 3 is a burn play.

## Pink

### Pink stall promise
Rank stall clue promise at least one card is correctly ranked.

### Desperate pink save
Finished rank on chop saves a critical pink card where 2nd-from-chop is a trash pink card.

### Deceptive pink clue
1s touching chop and finesse is a play clue on slot 1 pink card where other cards are trash pink cards. Desperate pink saves takes precedence.

### 1 versus pink
if 1s clue gets a pink card when pink clue would equally suffice, the additional card touched is promised as the connecting pink card. when this interpretation is unreasonable, it is promised trash instead.

### Stale chop rank clues
- 5s on chop: saving critical pink card where chop is trash pink card.
- 1s on chop: play clue on finesse or 2nd from chop, where chop is trash pink.
- or an implied save on an omni card.

## Dark brown

### Inverted brown tempo clue
If a brown clue cannot be a save, it is a tempo clue on the rightmost "playable" brown card, irrespective of other brown cards touched. Late focus shift applies. Note that direct play clues and focus shift are unchanged.

### Declined brown tempo clue
Tempo clue registers as declined if it is at least a 1 for 1. Declined tempo clue always register when the rightmost untouched brown card is one away from chop.

### Brown tempo clue chop move
If Alice gives a 0-for-1 brown tempo clue, Bob has 3 or fewer clued cards, and it is not the endgame, then it signals a chop move.

## Cocoa

### Cocoa fillin
Fillin using color positional corresponding to card of lowest rank. Note that this color fillin is retroactive since it skips over any blocked color in hand. If the range of available colors only cover some cocoa cards, then fillin the lowest rank among those. Use in stalling situation, or whenever free choice of color is available for another clue.

### Cocoa prompt
Giving a color positional play clue to the higher rank playable cocoa card prompts all preceding cards which have been filled in to be of lower rank.

## Extremely ambiguous

### Blue tempo clue
Blue is a tempo clue on a "playable" card. When there are multiple such cards, lower rank take precedence, then rightmost. Late focus shift applies. Cards touched this way are considered unclued.

### Blue play clue
When no card can be the target of a blue tempo clue, blue clue means play leftmost unclued card. Cards touched with blue play clue should be considered unclued.

### Unnecessary blue play clue
When blue play clue is used when a alternative is known to exist, then count auxiliary touched cards as clued.

### Color stall
Color on first turn is a stall touching no card. Turned OFF in very ambiguous.

## Brown-five

### Inverted flush clue
Rank is play, color is save.

## Deceptive-five

### 5 save
Prefer rank save to color save. Therefore if color is used without gained efficiency, and there is no matching rank in hand, then the color clue retroactively becomes a play clue.

### 1s clue
1s clue touching multiple cards where not all cards are on chop is a play clue.

## Throw it in a hole & ambig suit

### Throw & rainbow

- **True color promise** - All color play clues promise true color.
- **Rainbow save** - Use rank or a critical color.
- **Rainbow bluff** - Any unplayable rank (reclue) is getting a rainbow card from finesse.
- **Rank play clue assumption** - If card play clued with rank has ambiguous identity, assume it is rainbow > yellow > color of leftmost stack.
- **Yellow play clue** - Must play clue rainbow card on chop using finished color or yellow.
- Dealing with yellow superposition:
    - All yellow clue in partner's hand are assumed to be the higher rank possibility, unless known otherwise.
    - Resync when card of specific yellow rank is played.

### Throw & muddy rainbow

- Conventions ON: true color promise, rainbow bluff, yellow play clue, red muddy save.
- **Rank play clue assumption** - Assume yellow > red > color of leftmost stack for rank play clue of ambiguous identity.

### Throw & omni

- Conventions ON: true color promise, yellow play clue.
- **Deceptive omni play clue** - Any unplayable rank is a play clue on the leftmost touched card as an omni card, Late focus shift applies. Trash push with rank OFF. Rank and color positional apply.
- **Saving delayed playable omni** - If chop omni card is playable through another omni card in hand, then player can fake save it or save with a finished color.

## Muddy 3

- **Rank play clue mandate** - Only direct play clue with rank is used for non-muddy suits.
- **Muddy bluff** - All (no info) self bluff is for muddy card on finesse positional.
- **Muddy cm** - Reclue highest rank in hand when there are multiple degrees of freedom, otherwise a muddy bluff is interpreted as a muddy cm instead.
- **Muddy play clues** - All color clues are muddy play clues, color position convention applies from right to left if multiple colors are available. Late focus shift applies. Notably, if red and blue are available colors, then a late clue should promise neither chop nor 2nd from chop is playable muddy. Muddy play clues do not focus on finesse pos card when muddy bluff is available.

## Null 3

- Conventions ON: rank play clue mandate, muddy cm, muddy play clue
- Play must not knowingly discard or play the last non-null card in hand.
- **kick n finesse** If there are multiple available colors, use leftmost color as finesse and rightmost color as kick. Use rank reclue as chop move or positional for another slot.
- **Rank kick & color finesse** - if there is only one color available, cluing it calls for play on finesse position card. Rank clue is a kick when it is not a direct play clue or chop move.
- 4 double bluff OFF.
- Sizzle play applies.

## Credits

| convention | attribution |
| -------- | -------- |
| ambiguous prism tempo clue | Lel0uch, indego |
| differential implied save     | indego |
| burn play | indego, TheDaniMan |
| pink | Lel0uch, indego, MarkusKahlsen |
| dark brown | Lel0uch, timotree |
| cocoa fillin | indego, timotree |
| extremely ambiguous | Lel0uch, indego |
| inverted flush clue | indego |
| deceptive-fives | Lel0uch, melwen | 
| throw it in a hole | indego, TheDaniMan |
| muddy 3 | indego, TheDaniMan |
| null 3 | indego, TheDaniMan |