Your first moves in solitaire: look for a consequence

Scan before you touch

Look across all seven exposed cards. Identify Aces, legal red-black neighbours and Kings that could use a future empty column. This takes only a moment and prevents you from committing to the first attractive move before seeing an alternative.

1. Find moves that uncover a face-down card.
2. Compare the destinations and any empty column they create.
3. Check whether a stock card is the only way to connect a sequence.

Compare two red sevens

Suppose both 7♥ and 7♦ can move onto 8♣. Moving 7♥ uncovers a face-down card; moving 7♦ only empties a short column. If no King can use that column, revealing the hidden card is a reasonable first experiment. If a trapped King is waiting, the empty column may be more useful.

That is a comparison, not a law. You cannot know the hidden card in advance. Judge the decision by the information available, rather than calling it a mistake only because the next card was unhelpful.

Do not confuse activity with progress

Shuttling a sequence between equivalent columns can increase a move counter without changing the position. Before repeating a transfer, name the new option it creates. If there is no new option, inspect the stock or another column.

Likewise, an empty column is only potential space. Under King-only rules it is not a temporary parking place for an arbitrary card.

Use undo as a comparison tool

For a practice game, try one branch and note the card it exposes. Undo, try the other branch, and compare the positions. You are learning how information changes a choice, not proving that the original decision was wrong.

When keeping a personal record, mark whether undo was allowed. A no-undo attempt and an exploratory attempt are different kinds of practice; both can be useful.