Master advanced Forty Thieves Solitaire strategy. Stock sequencing, empty column use and endgame techniques for experienced players.
Forty Thieves is the patience game where the gap between competent and expert play is widest and hardest to close. A player who understands same-suit-only building, checks the waste pile after every move, and avoids obvious dead columns will win roughly 20–25% of hands. An expert who applies the three advanced dimensions covered in this guide — stock sequencing, empty column management, and endgame navigation — wins 35–45% of hands with the same deals. That gap is not produced by any single technique — it emerges from integrating all three dimensions simultaneously.
The Forty Thieves stock is a single-pass resource — 64 cards drawn one at a time with no redeal. Every card in the stock will be seen exactly once, in a fixed order determined by the initial shuffle. The player cannot control which card appears next from the stock, but can control when each draw occurs relative to the current tableau state — and this sequencing of draws relative to tableau readiness is the central planning problem of advanced Forty Thieves.
Think of the stock as a sequence of opportunities, not a pile of cards. Each stock draw presents the waste pile top card as a potential tableau or foundation play. The quality of that opportunity depends entirely on whether the current tableau has a valid destination for that card. A stock draw that reveals a card with three valid tableau destinations is a high-value draw; a stock draw that reveals a card with no valid destination is a wasted draw that permanently removes one stock card from the pool. The advanced habit: before every draw, evaluate whether the current tableau state is ready to receive the next card productively — and if not, exhaust every available tableau reorganisation move to create additional valid destinations before the draw is made.
Sequence draws to maximise the probability of same-suit placement. Forty Thieves builds same-suit only, which means each stock card has at most one same-suit column top that can receive it. When a drawn card lands on a column whose suit does not match, it creates a mixed-suit situation that eventually produces a dead column top. The stock sequencing discipline: before drawing, scan the ten column tops and identify which suits and ranks are currently receiving cards. A stock draw that arrives when three different suits have accessible same-suit sequences is a high-probability productive draw. A stock draw that arrives when only one suit has an accessible sequence is a low-probability draw that is more likely to produce a wasted placement. Delay draws when tableau same-suit coverage is low; draw when coverage is high.
Use the waste pile as a known future constraint, not just a current card. The waste pile top is accessible at all times — not just after a draw. When the waste pile top is a card with high tableau value (a low-rank card in a suit whose foundation is about to advance, or a card that completes a same-suit sequence), and the current tableau is not yet ready to receive it productively, delay drawing from the stock. Instead, prioritise tableau moves that create the valid destination the waste pile top needs. Playing the waste pile top into a productive tableau position before drawing the next stock card is often more valuable than drawing and hoping the next stock card is equally productive.
Count the stock depth to specific critical cards. Expert Forty Thieves players maintain an approximate mental count of how many stock draws separate the current position from known critical cards — specifically, Aces in the stock that have not yet appeared, and same-suit sequence partners that are buried in the stock rather than on the tableau. When a critical card is approximately ten draws away, the planning horizon shifts: the next ten draws are not ten independent decisions but a single planning problem of how to position the tableau to receive that critical card productively when it arrives. This forward-looking stock count is the key difference between players who draw reactively and players who sequence draws as a coordinated plan.
Never draw when a same-suit tableau move is available anywhere in the ten columns. This rule is the single most powerful stock conservation habit in Forty Thieves and is stricter than the equivalent rule in Golf or TriPeaks. In those games, a missed extension is a chain-reset cost. In Forty Thieves, a missed same-suit tableau move before a draw is a permanent loss: the drawn card displaces the waste pile top, the missed same-suit move may no longer be available after the draw changes tableau dynamics, and the stock card count decrements permanently. The pre-draw scan in Forty Thieves should check all ten columns against both the waste pile top and every other accessible column top — a complete N×N column compatibility check, not just a single-column scan.
An empty column in Forty Thieves is the most valuable single resource the game offers and the one most frequently mismanaged. Because only one card moves per turn and same-suit-only building severely restricts valid destinations, an empty column is often the only mechanism by which a blocked tableau position can be resolved. Advanced empty column use means having a specific hierarchy of uses and applying them in order of strategic value rather than filling the empty column with whatever card is most conveniently available.
The four-tier empty column use hierarchy. Tier one, highest value: use the empty column to complete a same-suit sequence that frees another card for foundation play — specifically, move a blocking card to the empty column, complete the same-suit sequence, send the result to the foundation if applicable, then reassign the empty column. Tier two: use the empty column to resolve a dead column top — move the dead-top card to the empty column, exposing the card beneath it which may have a valid same-suit destination. Tier three: use the empty column as a temporary staging area within a multi-move same-suit sequence construction that cannot be completed without an intermediate holding position. Tier four, lowest value: use the empty column to start a new sequence with a card that has no other valid placement. Tier-four uses are occasionally necessary but should be executed only after confirming that no tier-one, two, or three use is available or imminent.
Hold empty columns for one full scan before filling them. The most common advanced error in Forty Thieves empty column management is filling an empty column in the same move that creates it — before scanning whether the empty column enables a higher-tier use. An empty column that persists for three moves while you identify its optimal use is more valuable than one filled immediately with the nearest tier-four card. After every move that creates an empty column, pause for a complete ten-column scan specifically looking for tier-one and tier-two opportunities before touching the empty column.
Coordinate multiple empty columns when two are simultaneously available. When two empty columns exist simultaneously — a relatively rare and highly valuable state — the two together enable sequence reorganisations that neither can enable alone. Two empty columns allow a two-card blocked sequence to be fully repositioned: card A moves to empty column one, card B (now accessible) moves to empty column two, the target destination is reached, then cards A and B are placed sequentially in the correct order. This two-column sequence unlock is one of Forty Thieves' most powerful tactical patterns; recognise it immediately when two empty columns appear and prioritise using the combination for its highest-tier available purpose before either column is filled.
Track the expected time to the next empty column throughout the game. Empty columns in Forty Thieves are created by clearing all cards from a column — either by moving them to other columns or by sending them to foundations. Because columns build same-suit only and the stock is single-pass, the rate at which empty columns appear depends directly on how efficiently foundations are being advanced. Players who track which column is closest to being emptied — the column with the fewest remaining cards and the most accessible same-suit sequence continuations — can prioritise moves that accelerate the next empty column's appearance, ensuring that the empty column resource is available when the most valuable tier-one and tier-two opportunities arise.
Forty Thieves' endgame — approximately when fewer than twenty tableau cards remain and the stock is exhausted or nearly so — operates under a different strategic regime than the mid-game. Mid-game Forty Thieves is primarily a stock management and same-suit sequence building problem. Endgame Forty Thieves is primarily a foundation sequencing and blocking resolution problem: the remaining tableau cards are mostly face-up, their positions are fully known, and the question is whether those specific cards can be sent to foundations in an order that does not require impossible repositioning moves.
Identify the endgame blocking card as early as possible. In most Forty Thieves endgames, there is one specific blocking card — a card that must reach the foundation before several other cards can follow it, but which is currently beneath cards that themselves have no valid destination until the blocking card is moved. Identifying this blocking card early — before the stock is exhausted, when tableau moves and waste pile plays still provide positioning options — allows the blocking card's clearance to be planned as a deliberate goal rather than a crisis to manage. Experienced players who lose winnable Forty Thieves endgames almost always do so because they identified the blocking card three moves too late to create the empty column staging space needed to resolve it.
When the stock is exhausted, map all remaining tableau cards to their required foundation order. Once the stock is exhausted, no new cards will enter the system. Every remaining tableau card is known, its required foundation play order is deterministic, and the only question is whether the current tableau arrangement allows those foundation plays to execute in the required sequence. The advanced endgame technique: write out (or mentally trace) the required foundation play sequence for the next eight to ten plays across all eight foundations, identify which tableau cards are currently blocking those plays, and determine whether the existing empty columns and same-suit sequence moves are sufficient to clear the blockers. If they are, the game is winning. If they are not, identify specifically which additional column flexibility would resolve the blockage — and whether any remaining moves can create that flexibility.
Prioritise the lagging foundation suit in the endgame above all other considerations. Foundation imbalance — one suit far ahead of its colour partner — creates endgame blocking problems that are uniquely difficult to resolve with limited remaining resources. In the mid-game, a two-rank foundation gap is a warning; in the endgame, it can be terminal. When the stock is exhausted and one suit's foundation is three or more ranks behind its pair, every available move should be evaluated primarily in terms of whether it advances the lagging suit's next foundation play or clears the specific blocker preventing that play. Advancing other suits while the lagging suit falls further behind is the most common cause of winnable endgames becoming unwinnable in Forty Thieves.
Accept empty column locks when they are the only path to foundation advancement. An empty column lock occurs when the only way to advance a critical foundation play requires using the last empty column as temporary staging, after which no empty column remains. Expert players accept this lock when the resulting foundation advancement enables a cascade of subsequent plays that produce new empty columns naturally — but reject the lock when the foundation advancement is isolated and the empty-column consumption produces a tableau position where subsequent foundation plays are blocked with no staging resource available. Evaluating this distinction — whether locking the last empty column is an investment or a terminal commitment — is one of Forty Thieves' most demanding advanced judgements and the one that most often separates near-expert from expert play.
Apply the three-draw look-ahead before every stock draw. Before drawing, ask: assuming this draw produces an unplayable card, what will the three subsequent draws need to be for the game to remain in a good position? If the answer requires three specific productive draws in a row — a low-probability sequence — the current tableau position is fragile and additional tableau reorganisation moves should be made before the draw. This three-draw look-ahead converts single-draw thinking into short-sequence planning and catches most of the fragile positions that reactive draw-by-draw play misses.
Maintain foundation suit tracking as a parallel mental process throughout the game. All eight foundations should be visible as a single eight-number state at all times — not checked periodically but updated continuously as each foundation play occurs. The moment any same-colour foundation pair diverges by two ranks, the mental priority list updates immediately to treat the lagging suit's next card as the highest-priority non-Ace play in the game. Players who maintain continuous foundation state awareness catch divergences before they become endgame problems; players who check foundations only when making foundation plays catch them after the damage is done.
Use the complete-information advantage of Forty Thieves systematically. Forty Thieves presents all forty tableau cards face-up at the start of the game. This complete information is an analytical resource that most players underuse — they read the tableau reactively, responding to what is accessible rather than planning around what is buried. The complete-information habit: at the start of every game, spend thirty seconds identifying the three most difficult cards in the tableau — specifically, Aces or 2s buried beneath multiple cards of different suits, or same-suit sequence connectors buried beneath incompatible suits — and plan the first eight to ten moves explicitly around creating access to those cards. This opening analysis, applied consistently, produces measurably better mid-game positions than reactive opening play.
The key shift from competent to advanced stock sequencing is moving from draw-when-stuck to draw-when-ready. Draw-when-stuck means drawing whenever no obvious tableau move is visible. Draw-when-ready means completing a complete same-suit-coverage scan of all ten columns before every draw, delaying the draw until tableau same-suit coverage is maximised, and using the waste pile top as a known card that can be played whenever the tableau is ready to receive it productively rather than only after a new draw resets it. The three-draw look-ahead adds a forward dimension: instead of evaluating each draw in isolation, evaluate the draw in the context of what the next two to three draws will require the tableau to look like. Together these habits turn stock draws from reactive responses to proactive sequenced decisions. Play our free Forty Thieves game and apply the coverage-scan-before-every-draw habit from your next session.
Four tiers in descending value: tier one, complete a same-suit sequence that enables a foundation play; tier two, resolve a dead column top by exposing the card beneath it; tier three, temporary staging within a planned multi-move same-suit construction; tier four, start a new sequence with a card that has no other valid placement. The discipline is holding the empty column for one full ten-column scan before filling it — in most positions, a tier-one or tier-two use is available that would be missed by immediately filling with a tier-four card. When two empty columns exist simultaneously, use both together for the highest available tier-one or tier-two combination purpose before filling either. For the foundational column management framework see our complete Forty Thieves strategy guide.