Tichu Strategy article footnotes

1. When trying to pass your best card, I would suggest the ordering of Phoenix, Dragon, Aces, King, Queen, Jack, ... .
2. A hand with two cards from the set of Phoenix, Dragon, Aces is better than average (at least in terms of these cards) and should almost always be considered strong.
3. Major Exception: if an opponent has called (Grand) Tichu and you have no Aces, it can be very effective to call for an Ace. This could force out an Aces bomb or otherwise seriously hurt the Tichu caller. Also, if nobody beats the straight the rule will still be in effect for your next lead and you can lead a pair or 3ofaK to try to force out several Aces at once. Even if an opponent has not called (Grand) Tichu, you should also call out an Ace if you are confident, due to your partner passing convention, that your partner does not have one - again you can't have any yourself either or this would be quite risky. Thanks to: Michael Thomas Repsis for suggesting I emphasize this point.
4. Not quite true as your partner might have the Dog or your right-hand opponent might go out with a winning group, giving you a lead to get rid of your last card. Even if you don't go out, point cards down are also valuable if and only if your partner goes out first.
5. If your opponent has two cards and you have a set of pairs such as 44 66 AA and you are sure that your opponent does not have an Ace, it is actually best to play a single 4. If your opponent plays on it, you win it with an Ace and then win the other Ace and 66 uncontested and go out with the remaining 4. If you lead the 66, your opponent might have 77 or such and go out. You should play this way even if you only have a single winner as that is all you need to get the lead back and switch to pairs once your opponent plays a card. It is in fact guaranteed that you can go out first with a hand as bad as 23355A while your opponent has KK. Lead the 2 and if your opponent plays take the trick with your Ace and switch to pairs. If he doesn't play, lead a single 3 and if he plays win your Ace, lead the 5s and go out with the remaining 3. If he doesn't play, just keep this up. The right thing for the person with KK is to immediately play a K on your 2 and hope you have to lead another low single (which in this case you won't but is his only hope).