Playing Canfield well
In brief
The 13 cards of the reserve decide the game: play first whatever gets them out. Use the ace-to-king wrap in the columns, empty a column when it's the reserve that will fill it, and keep an eye on the stock, which comes back as many times as you like.
1. Emptying the reserve
A card in the reserve can only be played once it reaches the top, and the reserve is never shuffled. A useful card buried under ten others can block an entire suit. When choosing between two possible moves, prefer the one that plays the top card of the reserve.
In deal CF1-D3-AAAAACL, the winning game starts like this: the queen of clubs from the reserve goes onto the king of hearts in column 2, then the 8 of hearts from the reserve goes up to the foundation (score 5). The reserve isn't empty until move 135: by then 21 cards are on the foundations, for a score of 100.
Stock: 5 cards; waste, top: 4 of clubs; reserve empty. Foundations, starting rank 7: hearts up to the 10 of hearts (4), spades up to the queen of spades (6), diamonds up to the ace of diamonds (8), clubs up to the 9 of clubs (3). Column 1: 6 of clubs, 5 of hearts, 4 of spades, 3 of hearts, 2 of clubs, ace of hearts, king of clubs, queen of hearts, jack of clubs; column 2: 6 of hearts, 5 of clubs, 4 of diamonds, 3 of spades, 2 of hearts, ace of clubs; column 3: 6 of diamonds; column 4: ace of spades, king of hearts, queen of clubs, jack of hearts, 10 of clubs.
2. Use the ace-to-king wrap
In the columns, a king can go onto an ace of the other color. An ace that can't go up, because the foundations don't start with the ace, becomes a useful spot this way. On move 3 of the same game, the king of hearts and the queen of clubs go onto the ace of spades in column 4.
3. Emptying a column means drawing from the reserve
As long as the reserve has cards, an emptied column is immediately filled by its top card. Emptying a column therefore amounts to freeing a card from the reserve: on move 3, column 2 empties and receives the queen of spades. Once the reserve is empty, an empty column accepts any card: in the winning game, the first column that stays empty is column 4, on move 184.
4. Move cards up, but not too fast
Each card placed on a foundation earns 5 points, but a card moved up too early may be missing from the columns when the next one needs a place to go. The foundations also wrap from king to ace: on move 129, the ace of diamonds in column 1 goes up onto the king of its foundation (20 cards on the foundations after this move).
5. Playing the draw by three
With a draw of 3, only one card in three lands directly on top of the waste pile; the others wait until the card covering them is played. The stock can be recycled without limit, but each pass costs time and moves. The same deal was won in 201 actions with a draw of 3, with 8 recycles, and in 223 actions with a draw of 1, with 2 recycles: the two games don't follow the same path.