Escoba strategy

Keep the table out of reach

After you lay a card down, add up the table. If it comes to anything from 5 to 14, a single card clears it: the one worth fifteen minus the total. Under 5 or over 14, no single card can.

So when you have to leave a card, choose the one that puts the table out of reach. If you cannot, choose the total that needs the card most likely to be gone already.

Sevens are the game

The seven of coins is a point on its own, and most sevens is another. Take a seven whenever you can, and take the velo before anything else.

A seven makes fifteen with a sota, or with any two cards that add up to eight. Leaving an eight's worth on the table when sevens are still out is handing one over.

Count what has gone

There are four cards of each value, and every one you see narrows what your opponent can do. Count the sevens and the fives in particular: the five clears a table worth ten, which is what a lone king on the table is.

Once all four of a value have gone, any table that needs that value is safe to leave — and that is the moment to leave it.

Choose the capture, not just a capture

Often a card can make fifteen in two or three ways. Prefer the one with coins and sevens in it, then the one with most cards, because most cards and most coins are each a point.

And look at what each capture leaves. Taking two cards and leaving a table worth 9 may cost you an escoba; taking one card and leaving a table worth 17 costs nothing.

Play the end of the deal

Whatever is on the table when the pack runs out goes to whoever captured last. In the final round, a small capture with your last-but-one card can be worth more than it looks.

The last card of the deal never scores an escoba, so do not save a sweeping card for it. Use it while a sweep is still worth a point.