🧠 Legend AI Strategy Guide

🎯 Overview — The Five Levels

Every bot in Irish Cards uses the same decision-making engine, but each difficulty level applies that engine with a different probability. The SmartChance value determines how often the bot makes the optimal play vs. a random legal play:

👑 Card Rankings — What the AI Sees

The AI assigns every card a numeric rank value. Higher number = stronger card. These values drive every decision:

Trump Card Rankings

Non-Trump Card Rankings

🃏 Card Play — The Decision Engine

When it's the AI's turn, there are two completely different strategies depending on whether the bot is leading (first to play in the trick) or following (responding to another player's lead).

🟢 Leading a Trick

When leading, the Legend AI follows this priority cascade:

🔍 Threat Analysis — Card Counting (Legend Only)

The Legend AI tracks every card played across completed tricks. Before leading a top trump, it checks whether the cards that beat it are accounted for — either already played or in its own hand. This is the key difference between Legend and every other level.

🔵 Following a Trick

When following, the AI analyses what's already been played and makes the most economical play:

📍 Positional Awareness

One of the most important concepts the Legend AI uses is positional play — playing differently based on when you act in the trick:

🤝 Robbing — The Free Upgrade

In 25 and 45, when a trump is turned up, the dealer (or holder of the Ace of trumps) can rob — swap a card for the turned-up trump.

Legend AI Robbing Strategy

Joker Turn-Up (Special Case)

If the Joker is turned up as the trump card, a special sequence occurs:

1. The dealer takes the Joker into their hand
2. The dealer must discard one card (cannot discard the Joker)
3. A new card is turned up from the deck to determine the trump suit
4. If the new card is an Ace, the dealer gets another rob opportunity (very rare double-rob!)

💰 Bidding — The 110 Auction

In 110, players bid for the right to choose trumps and receive the kitty. The Legend AI evaluates its hand strength before deciding how high to bid.

Hand Evaluation

The AI evaluates its hand against every possible trump suit and picks the strongest. For each suit, it scores every card:

Bid Decisions by Level

Bid Aggressiveness by Level

📦 Kitty Exchange — Building Your Hand

When you win the bid in 110, you receive 5 extra cards (the kitty) and must discard back to 5. The Legend AI makes this choice methodically:

🛡️ Reneging — The Secret Weapon

In 25/45/110, certain top trumps have a special privilege: they cannot be forced out unless a higher trump is led. This is called reneging.

🎓 Learn From the Legend — Top Tips

1. Lead the 5 — always. It forces out J, Joker, and A♥ while winning the trick. But don't lead J/Joker/A♥ blindly — first check if the cards above them have been played. If the 5 is still out there, hold your Jack.
2. Win cheaply. If you're last to play and the King of trumps wins the trick, don't play the 5. Save it.
3. Lead Kings and Queens. Non-trump court cards are strong leads — they often win the trick outright or force opponents to waste a trump.
4. Dump smart. When you can't win, throw your weakest non-trump. Never waste a trump on a lost trick.
5. Always rob. A free trump card is always worth taking. Discard your worst non-trump.
6. Know your position. Playing last is powerful — you know exactly what you need to beat. First to play is a guess.
7. Count trumps. With 3+ trumps, lead one to draw out opponents' trumps. This thins the field for your power cards later.
8. In 110, evaluate all four suits. Your best trump suit might not be the one you have the most cards in — it's the one with the highest total rank points.
9. Renege wisely. Holding back the 5 of trumps when a lower trump is led keeps your insurance policy alive for the next trick.
10. Use the hints. Enable "Play Hints" in game options to see what the Legend AI would play. It's the best way to learn.