# How to Play Euchre Written: 2023-01-02 Players: 4 Type: team-based, trick-taking Time: 20-45m ## Quick Pitch Euchre is my "family game" on my dad's side. It's a great game for family gatherings because once learned it's easy to play on "auto-pilot" and chat while playing. Once you know the heuristics, it's mostly luck, but it still manages to be very entertaining with the potential for great swings in score. ## Setup Remove 2-8 of all suits from the deck (leaving 9-Ace, 24 cards total). Split into two teams of two, sitting across from your partner. Decide which player should go first (see "Extra Bits"). ## Goal Be the first team to 10 points. ## Play Points are scored by winning hands, which are won by winning the majority of "tricks" in a hand. Read on for definitions. ### The Basics: Hands, Tricks, and Trump Euchre is a trick taking game: players play one card from their hand (one at a time, clockwise) and the highest card wins "the trick". Each "hand" of euchre deals 5 cards to each player, so a "hand" consists of 5 "tricks". The first trick starts with the player to the left of the dealer "leading" and goes clockwise in order. The winner of the "trick" takes the cards (to keep track of the win) and is the player to lead the next trick. In Euchre, you *must follow suit if you can*. So if hearts are led, you must play a heart if you have one. Only cards of the led suit (or the trump suit, which is determined during the deal phase) can win a trick. Any cards of another suit, regardless of face value, can not win the trick (but could win a future trick, if their suit is led). Aces are high, so within a suit the ordering is: 9 < 10 < J < Q < K < A However, the chosen trump suit has a different ordering: 9 < 10 < Q < K < A < JC < J Where JC is the "jack of the same color". The JC *acts like the trump suit for all following purposes for the duration of the hand*. I'll repeat since this is the most confusing rule: > The Jack of the same color as the trump suit > behaves as if it were the same suit as trump > for all following purposes. For example, if Hearts are trump, then the Jack of Diamonds becomes the second highest card for the duration of the hand and must be treated like a Heart (i.e. if hearts are led and the JoD is your only heart, it must be played! If diamonds are played, the Jack need not be played). The winner of the trick is then determined by: 1. The highest card of trump suit played (if any) 2. The highest card of the led suit And remember: the only way to play trump on a trick where trump wasn't led is if you don't have any of the led suit (you are "short suited"). ### How to Select the Trump Suit Deal 5 cards to each player. Players can look at their own cards but can't share them. Of the four remaining cards, the dealer flips the top one face up. The remaining 3 are hidden for the duration of the hand. The flipped card is the "trump candidate". Starting to the left of the dealer and going clockwise, each player states whether they would like the candidate suit to be named trump, at which point the voting stops. The two outcomes are then: A. A player tells the dealer to "pick it" (declaring the candidate trump), and optionally chooses to "play alone" B. All players pass (do not wish the suit to be trump) In the case of (A), the dealer must pick the flipped card and swap it for a card of their choosing in their hand (which is discarded without revealing it). The suit of the picked card will be trump for the hand and the player who "ordered" the dealer to pick it is the team "making it" (relevant for Scoring). If the player calling trump chooses to play alone, their partner is skipped for the hand (and should keep their cards hidden). If all players, including the dealer, pass (B), the dealer turns down the card and begins the second round of trump selection: starting with the left of the dealer, each player has the chance to choose any suit *other than the suit just turned down* to be trump. This stops at the first player to choose a suit. Like before, the player choosing the suit is "making it" (and can choose to play alone), but unlike before the dealer does not get to swap a card. If the second round concludes with all passes (including the dealer), the hand is "thrown in". The player to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer and we start again. ### Scoring a Hand There are 5 tricks per hand, and the goal is to win the majority (3/5), but bonus points are given in certain circumstances. The score is determined by: * Whether the winning team chose the trump suit * Whether the winning team played alone * Whether all the tricks were won Since only the calling team can choose to play alone, there's really only two outcomes. 1. If the team "making trump" (called trump) wins: * 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point * 5 tricks together: 2 points * 5 tricks alone: 4 points 2. If the team who did not call trump wins, 2 points are given to that team regardless of number of tricks The team with the minority of tricks (0/1/2) gets 0 points. ### Starting the Next Hand After the hand is scored, the player to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer and a new hand begins with a new round of voting on trump suit. ### Extra Bits Rules I've always seen played: * During trump selection, the dealer must have one of the same suit to pick the card ("have one to pick it") Some rules my family plays: * If the dealer's partner orders the dealer to "pick it" (first round trump), they must play alone (without the dealer) * To decide who goes first at the start, we play "first Jack": the deck is shuffled and cards are flipped in front of each player until a Jack is shown; that player gets the first deal. Rules I've heard of but don't play: * "Shit on the dealer": The dealer must call a suit at the end of the second round (no "throw in"s allowed). * "Ace no face": a player having one ace and 4 9's and 10's may declare "ace no face" to force a throw-in. Tips on scorekeeping: * You could use pen and paper, but my family always uses the 2 and 3 cards (which are not needed for play). They can count to 10 by counting 1 point for every suit symbol shown and adding 5 points if the cards are crossed. ## Terminology If you play long enough you may come across these terms: * "Right Bower": Jack of trump (also: "The Right") * "Left bower": Jack of same color as trump (also: "The Left") * "Making Trump": The team to call trump is said to be "making trump" * "Getting Set" or "Euched": when the team not making trump wins, the team that was making trump is said to have been "euched" or "set" ## General Heuristics / Strategy * "Grandpa Bill's Rule": if you turn a Jack, pick it! (named after my great grandpa Bill). Generally works since you have a guaranteed one (the Jack), and you have to have one in your hand to pick it--you can usually short-suit yourself by discarding strategically when picking the Jack and if that suit is led you can play your other trump. Then, count on your partner for one! * "Count on your partner for one": if you have a guaranteed two, call it! * "Don't trump your partner's ace": if you're ever the third in a trick and your partner is leading with an Ace of the led suit, don't trump it! The odds that the final opponent has trump and can play it (doesn't have to follow suit) are not worth it (plus, if they can, the odds are high they can over-trump you, making your trump a waste). * If you have a guaranteed three, try it alone (the upside of the 4 points vs the 2 points of bringing your partner along makes it worthwhile). * Being the dealer is an advantage! You have the chance to ditch a lousy card or shortsuit yourself and pick up a trump card. * "Euchre Gloaters Never Win": for my Uncle Andy; don't gloat about being in the lead until you've truly won! A 9-0 game is still just two loners from anyone's game!