Solitaire card games/One-Handed

Taking a standard, shuffled 52-card deck of playing cards (without Jokers), hold the deck face down in your hand. Draw from the back of the deck four cards and place them on top fanned out so that the suit and number can be seen.

If the first and fourth card are the same suit, discard the two middle cards, placing them on your lap if seated or in a pocket or elsewhere if standing. If there are previously drawn cards in your hand, rearrange the hand so that four cards are visible. If there are not enough cards to do this, draw from the back so that four cards are visible.

If the first and fourth card are the same number (or face card) discard all four cards. Again, if there are previously drawn cards in your hand, rearrange the hand so that four cards are visible. If there are not enough cards to do this, draw from the back so that four cards are visible.

Repeat the above process of discarding until the first and fourth card are neither the same suit nor number, upon which you draw one card from the back of the deck and place it after the fourth card, rearranging the drawn cards so that only four are visible.

Continue in this fashion until the end of the deck is reached. If all cards are discarded, you win the game.

The odds of winning are very low, approximately one in 140. An optional rule to increase the odds slightly allows cards that have previously been drawn to be redrawn after the deck has already been cycled through, but preserving their original sequence.

Variation

Another variation adds that if four cards, next to each other, are the same suit, all four are also removed.