Casino Solitaire Guide

Written by: Sadonna Price, OUSC Expert in Online Casinos and Poker

Solitaire is one of the world’s most popular card games, boasting over 35 million monthly players. It’s widely available for free play on many recreational gaming sites.

If you love solitaire, you may be interested to know that casinos offer online versions. Keep reading this in-depth casino solitaire game guide to learn more about its rules, setup, winning strategy, and available game variants.

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Casino Solitaire Rules

Casino solitaire uses a standard 52-card deck. The objective is to get all 52 cards into four suited (foundation) piles in ascending order, from ace to king. A proper pile is as follows: (low) A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K (high).

Solitaire online casino games can differ regarding bet sizes, payouts, and side bets. Therefore, you should always consult the rules screen before playing online. You might also consider playing free casino solitaire to get comfortable with it before depositing. Once you are confident about your skills, you’re ready to play casino solitaire for real money.

Solitaire Game Layout

A casino solitaire game features four types of piles, as outlined in the image below.

Casino-Solitaire-Guide-Game-Table-Layout
  • Foundation Piles – Four piles consisting of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. An ace is the bottom card in each stack, while a king sits atop a completed pile.
  • Tableau Piles – These are the seven starting piles on the main table.
  • Stock (or “Hand”) Pile – Additional cards not in the tableau go in the stock pile, where extra cards come from as needed.
  • Talon (or “Waste) Pile – Hand pile cards that don’t fit on the foundations or tableau go into the talon pile.

Tableau Pile Setup

The following is an example of what a tableau pile looks like at the start of a game round. All remaining cards go in the stock pile above tableau pile 1. The waste pile and foundations don’t contain any cards to start.

Casino Solitaire Guide Tableau Pile
  • Pile 1 – One face-up card.
  • Pile 2 – One face-down card, one face-up card.
  • Pile 3 – Two face-down cards, one face-up card.
  • Pile 4 – Three face-down cards, one face-up card.
  • Pile 5 – Four face-down cards, one face-up card.
  • Pile 6 – FIve face-down cards, one face-up card.

How to Play Casino Solitaire

Online casinos are great places to learn solitaire because their software is a guiding hand. The software won’t let you place a card where it shouldn’t be or make an illegal move. Nevertheless, you can still benefit from a step-by-step introduction to playing casino solitaire.

  1. Place Your Bet

    The game begins with you choosing a bet size and side bet(s). The bet size is your buy-in, affecting payout sizes for every stacked foundation card. For example, a $2.10 buy-in game might pay $0.20 for each card you stack.
  2. Deal Cards

    Casino solitaire does all the dealing work and puts starting cards in the proper piles. Nevertheless, you can still refer to our Game Setup section to understand the meaning behind each stack.
  3. Transfer Cards

    You’ll now start transferring face-up cards between tableau piles. Face-up cards can go on top of other cards if they’re a different color and one value less. For example, a red seven can go atop a black eight. The goal of building cards is to unblock and expose face-down cards.
  4. Build Foundations

    The objective of transferring is to uncover relevant cards and build suited foundations. Everything starts with an ace and goes in ascending order, with a king at the top.
  5. Play Until the Game Ends

    Ideally, you’ll build all four suited foundations and win. But if this doesn’t happen and you get stuck, you can end the game manually and start fresh.

The Ultimate Solitaire Winning Strategy

Unlike many online casino games, solitaire isn’t solely about luck and includes strategy. You can use the following casino solitaire tips to boost your win rate.

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Big Stacks First

The bigger stacks (e.g., tableau piles 5-7) contain the most hidden cards. That said, you want to do whatever possible to uncover the bigger stacks.

This feature may not always be possible, but you should at least try.

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Make Small Piles

Some players think they’re doing a good thing by forming a big stack rather than keeping smaller piles.

However, smaller stacks are better because they provide more options for revealing face-down cards.

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Have an Intention

You may feel tempted to add foundation cards whenever possible. A better idea is only to add foundation cards when necessary.

Leaving cards in the tableau longer provides more options and reduces the chances of locking away essential cards.

Test Your Solitaire Gambling Strategy for Free

Are you ready to test your newfound solitaire game skills? Try this free solitaire game demo before you wager real money.

Different Solitaire Games You Can Play

Solitaire might seem like solitaire, but it comes in different variations. You’ll commonly find the following four games in online casinos or free-play sites.

Klondike

Klondike is the most-popular solitaire variation because it came with older Microsoft Windows software. It’s widely available in most online casinos and forms the basis for other variants.

Spider

Spider is another game that came with older Windows software, albeit a harder one than Klondike. Spider ups the difficulty level by featuring two card decks instead of one.

FreeCell

Yet another old Windows game, FreeCell, is an easy game to learn but a tough one to win. The good news is that you can still win quite often with enough experience and skill.

Yukon

Yukon differs from other games on this list by letting you move entire face-up card groups—sequence notwithstanding. The goal is to uncover and turn over all face-down cards.

Move Your Cards Right & Play Casino Solitaire

Solitaire is already an entertaining game at free-play sites. It becomes even more exciting when you’ve got money on the line. You should consider trying casino solitaire at one of our recommended online casinos. You can test your skills, potentially win money, and chase casino bonuses. You’ll likely have fun trying this new gaming experience even when you don’t win!

FAQ – Solitaire Gambling

The following are some common questions we receive about playing casino solitaire.

What are the odds of winning a solitaire game?

It’s theoretically possible to win around 80% of solitaire games. However, the average player wins closer to 40% of the time (2:3 odds) due to a margin for error.

What is the secret to winning Solitaire?

No secret exists for winning in casino solitaire, but you can use a combination of strategy tips to increase your odds of winning. Avoid the big piles, try to expose large stacks first, and add foundation cards with purpose.

Is Solitaire a betting game?

It depends. You can play solitaire for free with no gambling involved. However, you can also deposit at an online casino and place bets on real money casino solitaire games.

Can you play Solitaire at land-based casinos?

No, at this moment, there isn’t a solitaire version game at land-based casinos. You can play solitaire at online casinos or through smartphone apps.

Sadonna Price

Sadonna Price OUSC Expert in Online Casinos and Poker

Sadonna is a former professional poker player. Passionate about writing and loves using her creativity to provide insight into the interesting gambling world.

Learn More About Sadonna