Game: strawman

You play your visible pile card, the 9♠, to follow suit. Underneath it, in order, sit the K♠, then the III, then the pile’s last card, hidden on the bottom.

Your pile is down to one visible card, the J♦. You play it to follow a Diamond trick.

It is your lead. Your third pile shows one visible card, the 4♥. Beneath it waits that pile’s hidden bottom card.

Your captured pile holds these 21 cards: Skus, XXI, I, K♠, Q♦, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, 7♣, 8♣, 9♣, 10♣, 2♥, 3♥, 4♦.

The Declarer’s final pile holds these 24 cards: Skus, XXI, K♥, C♣, J♠, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, 7♠, 8♠, 9♠, 10♠, 2♦, 3♦, 4♦.

The Declarer’s final pile holds these 22 cards: I, XXI, K♦, Q♠, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, 7♣, 8♣, 9♣, 10♣, 2♥, 3♥, 4♥. The Declarer’s Pagat (the I) quietly won the very last trick of the hand, unannounced.

You are the non-dealer, looking at your 15 cards for the first time: Skus, XXI, XX, XVII, XIV, XI, VIII, V, II, K♥, Q♥, C♦, J♣, 10♠, 1♦.

Every card from both hands and all six piles will fill exactly 27 tricks. It is trick 26 of 27, the second-to-last. You hold the II in your hand, untouched all hand.

The non-dealer has passed. You are the dealer, and the choice is now yours: your 15 cards are III, VI, IX, XII, XV, XVIII, 7♣, 8♣, 9♣, 10♣, 2♥, 3♥, 4♥, 7♠, 3♦.

You are planning a quiet II Ultimo. It is trick 24 of 27, fourth-from-end. You hold the II and one spare Tarok, the VI. Your opponent’s hand still holds two Taroks, the XIV and the IV; a third Tarok, the IX, is buried in one of your opponent’s unrevealed Strawman piles.