Information on stuff of interest to players of Texas 42.

Tired of players saying

What's trump?
What's the bid?
What's the score?
Who is next to shake?

This cute little app solves this problem. It is free and it runs on your Android phone or tablet. It does not have ads and it does not collect any information.

The app is called Track42.
More info on getting the Track42 Android app can be found here -->
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=game.Track42
   
Winning at Sevens

We all know that a hand with 3 sevens and a bunch of one-aways is a great
Sevens hand, but here is a trick to tell you just how good your Sevens hand really is.

Add up your “aways” to get an “away total”. For example, if you have 2 sevens,
2 one-aways, 2 two-aways, and 1 four-away, your away total is ten:

0 + 0 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 10

Now using your away total you accurately know your
chances of winning the Sevens hand:

Away Total              Win %

8 or less            93% and up

9 or 10               77% and up

11 or 12              50% and up

13 or more         35% or less

So a hand with one seven, 3 one-aways and one each of a two-away,
three-away, and four-away has an away total of 12 and it may look
cheesy but it actually has at least a 50% chance of winning -- sometimes
with your partner’s help.

If you have a low away total, consider bidding
2 marks, and yes it is legal to do that.

   
Winning at Sevens Paper

This is a technical paper about how the statistics for the
"Winning at Sevens" information above was calculated.
It also contains more detailed winning statistics info.
Most 42 players will not be interested in this paper.

Winning at Sevens Paper
   
Learn to Play 42

Links to learning 42 and a very extensive listing of
other 42 web sites can be found here:

http://texas42.net

   
Game Probabilities

A very through listing of 42 game probabilities
can be found here:

http://texas42.org/starting.html

   
One in a Million Department
 

Pictured above are four 42 players at the College Station, Texas Senior
Center. This summer, Benita (sitting) selected a hand containing seven fives,
a one in 1,184,040 event. Behind Benita are the players who were at the
table and witnessed the rare event. And yes, she did bid an 84.
 

 

Here is Dr. Jose Solis, a Professor at Texas A&M, showing off a
lay-down hand of the top six trumps and a double. We are
guessing that he probably bid 2 marks on this hand!
 

 

If you have witnessed a rare 42 event, send a description to
webmaster@texas42.info and maybe we'll post it here.