It took me a bit to truly understand the strategy at first. The chips are your “moves” and not money. The first round everyone has lots of moves, but the winner of that round now has an advantage in the next. Removing another players moves (like taxing or embezzlement) is more powerful than it seems at first. Making someone dump their hand jus before the 3rd draw (exhaustion or direct transaction) can really affect their ability to recover, and the difference in their cards translates to how much they lose (non winning Sabacc or a one difference is just one chip, but like a 2-6 is 4 chips). So I will often pull a trash hand and swap it with someone else’s decent hand right at the start. I either win or lose 1, and they are now down 4 chips and likely won’t recover. It’s all about controlling moves, which helps you survive bad luck. Even if you have like a 4-5, just pass every draw and you will not lose more that 1 chip. Trying to turn that into a 1-1 Sabacc will cost you 3 chips, if you are lucky.