Solitaire remains the most popular casual game in the Internet. It is a game that anyone can play, because all you really need is an understanding of numbers and a little bit of strategic thinking. Most of all, most Solitaire games online are free to play although there are a fair number of games like Avalon Legends Solitaire that requires a purchase from Big Fish.

Despite its simplicity, one still has to learn a few tricks in order to master online solitaire strategy. You could, of course, gain these skills through trial and error. However, if you don’t have the time to experiment, then you should take these strategies into mind so you can enjoy a good game of Solitaire every time!

There, after all, competitive Solitaire games in the Internet, like Solitaire Arena. That’s why you really need to shape your game up if you want to win in those matches every time.

The first thing to bear in mind when you are playing Solitaire is the goal. The goal in Solitaire is to free the down cards, or the ones that are face down in the board. Thus, your goal really is to line up as many cards as you can in descending order with a mind on freeing a card that is directly preventing you from opening a down card. Your decisions should always be based on this objective.

In some cases, people will tell you that less is better but, in Solitaire, more is definitely better when opening down cards. This means that, when you are faced with two options on which down card to free first, you should always pick the card that belongs to the biggest pile. This way, you still have cards to open and you don’t lose any moves, or be forced to take three cards from the deck.

Learn to scrutinize the board carefully. As with Chess, Solitaire actually requires an ability to be able to look at your available cards and be able to decide that you’ve exhausted your options already. Opening a trio from the deck is no light decision; once those cards are up, your game is over and you don’t want to do that until you’ve played all the cards on the board.

It’s also tempting to remove the last card in a cell so that you can free that spot for a King, but you must not do that until you already have a King to place in that freed cell. This is to give you some cards to play until a King appears on the deck or from the piles that you can place there. You might end up needing that card in another stack, but you’ve already removed it to place in an earlier stack that you’ve built.

Last but not the least, you need to exercise your brain often to accustom it to Solitaire rules. Play games by yourself online or offline. The goal is to get your brain used to the idea of sifting through cards as fast as possible, and to make decisions equally fast – a skill you will need later on when playing competitive Solitaire.