Euchre

Euchre

A five-card Euchre hand holding the five highest cards in sequence (from lowest to highest, left to right), assuming spades is the trump suit.
Type	trick-taking
Players	4
Skills	Memory, Tactics, Communication
Cards	24-32
Deck	Anglo-American
Rank (high→low)	A K Q J 10 9 , sometimes 8 7
Play	Clockwise
Chance	Medium
Related games
500

Not to be confused with Uecker.

Euchre (/ˈjuːkɚ/) is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is closely related to the French game Écarté and it may be sometimes referred as "Knock Euchre" to distinguish it from Bid Euchre.

The British Isles, Canada, Australia and New Zealand all have large followings of the game. Euchre has declined in popularity in the United States since the 19th century, when it was widely regarded as the national card game, but it retains a strong following in some regions. Today, the game is most predominant in the Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and western New York, areas as well as some other areas of the Midwest (especially areas with significant populations of German-Americans who settled in these areas during the 19th century.)

Euchre is played differently from region to region and even within regions. This article describes typical Euchre rules, noting some of the variations that may be encountered.

Dealing

Conventional Euchre is a four-player trump game, wherein the players are paired to form two partnerships. Partners face each other from across the table so that the play of the cards in conventional clockwise order alternates between the two partnerships.

Conventional Euchre uses a deck of 24 standard playing cards consisting of A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9 of each of the four suits. In some countries, the 7s and 8s are also used to give a 32 card deck. A poker deck can be used, omitting the cards from 2 to 8, and a pinochle deck may be divided in half to form two Euchre decks.

Midwestern and western New York players often use a first (black) Jack deals rule when assigning the first dealer. Using the Euchre deck, one player will distribute the cards one by one, face up in front of each player. The player dealt the first jack becomes the dealer for the first hand. In subsequent hands, the deal is rotated clockwise. Out of courtesy, the dealer should offer a cut to the player on his right after shuffling and immediately before dealing.

Each player is dealt five cards in clockwise order, usually in groups of two or three cards each. The dealer may alternate, first giving two cards to the player to his left, three cards to his partner, two cards to the player on his right and three cards to himself. The dealer then repeats, this time giving three cards to the player on his left, two cards to his partner and so on, to give each player the requisite five cards. Some dealers prefer to deal in groups of one and four, however dealing in groups of five and zero or one by one is not allowed. In other circles it is required that the dealer deal in batches of 3-2 or 2-3 and keep to the plan he selected.

The remaining four cards are referred to as the kitty, the kit, the widow, the blind, the dead hand, the grave, or buried and are placed face down in front of the dealer toward the center on the table. The top card of the blind is then turned face up, and bidding begins. The dealer asks each of the other players in turn if they would like the top card to be trump, indicated by saying "pick it up" and the top card becomes part of the dealer's hand. If no one "orders up" the top card, each player is given the opportunity to call a different suit as trump. If no trump is selected, the cards are redealt. A variant of this rule involves forcing the dealer to choose a trump (see the Bidding section below).

When a suit is named trump, any card of that suit outranks any card of a non-trump suit. The highest ranking card in Euchre is the jack of the trump suit and is referred to as the right bower, or simply the right. The second highest ranking card is the jack of the suit of the same color as the trump suit; this card is called the left bower, or simply the left. The right and left may also be known as the "jack" and the "jick," respectively. Remaining cards of the trump suit rank from high to low as A, K, Q, 10, and 9.

In non-trump suits (except for the next suit), the jacks are not special, and the cards of those suits rank from high to low as A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9.

Example

Assume a hand is dealt and that spades are named as trump. In this event, the trump cards are as follows, from highest ranking to lowest:

1. Jack of spades (right bower)
2. Jack of clubs (left bower)
3. Ace of spades
4. King of spades
5. Queen of spades
6. 10 of spades
7. 9 of spades

For the purpose of play, the jack of clubs becomes a spade during the playing of this hand. This expands the trump suit to the seven cards named above and reduces the suit of the same color (sometimes referred to as the next suit) by one card (the jack is "loaned" to the trump suit). The same principles are observed for whatever suit is named trump. Remembering this temporary transfer of the next suit's jack is one of the principal difficulties newcomers have with the game of Euchre (See Cheating: Renege, below).

Once the above hand is finished, the jack of clubs ceases to be a spade and becomes a club again unless spades are again named as trump during the playing of the subsequent hand.

Play

Objective and scoring

In Euchre, naming trump is sometimes referred to as "bidding," "making," "calling," or "declaring trump". When naming a suit, a player asserts that his or her partnership intends to win at least three of the five tricks in the hand. A single point is scored when the bid succeeds, and two points are scored if the team that declared trump takes all five tricks. A failure of the bidding partnership to win three tricks is referred to as being euchred (also called "getting set" or "getting bumped," again depending on geographical location) and is penalized by giving the opposing partnership two points. A bidder with exceptionally good cards can go alone, or take a loner hand, in which case he or she seeks to win all five tricks without a partner. The partner of a bidder in a 'go alone' hand does not play, if all five tricks are won by the bidder, the winning team scores four points. If only three or four of the tricks are taken while going alone, then only one point is scored. If euchred while playing alone, the opposing team still only receives two points. (In some places, a euchred lone player is worth 3 points.)

The primary rule to remember when playing Euchre is that one is never required to trump, but one is required to follow suit if possible to do so: if diamonds are led, a player with diamonds is required to play a diamond. This differs from games such as Pinochle.

Bidding (naming trump)

Once the cards are dealt and the top card in the kitty is turned over, the upturned card's suit is offered as trump to the players in clockwise order, beginning with the player to the left of the dealer. If a player decides to "call" the up-turned card as trump (which indicates that the bidding team claims they will win at least three tricks), the dealer picks up the top card in the kitty. This is termed picking up or ordering up the top card. In this event, the dealer picks up the top card from the kitty and then selects a card from the hand to discard, face down, so that the dealer only has five cards. There are several regional variations on this. Some areas require the dealer to discard first, and then pick up the card (a meaningless distinction). Others require the dealer to show the discarded card to all players. Other areas require that if the dealer's partner orders up their partner, then that partner must go alone. Once a bid has been made, play begins.

If a player does not want the upturned card's suit to become trump, he or she says "pass" or signifies the desire to pass by knocking on the table. The next player to the left may then order up the card or may likewise pass.

If the upturned card comes around the table to the dealer without being ordered up by any of the players, the dealer may make a bid by picking up the top card and then discarding as described above. Generally, a player may not call a trump suit if that player does not have a natural card of that suit, although some regions will allow this. For example, if the top card in the kitty is a Jack of Spades, a player cannot call Spades if the only Spade they are holding is the Jack of Clubs, the left bower.

The dealer may also decline the upturned card's suit by turning it face down on the kitty. Once this suit has been passed by all four players, it may no longer be chosen as trump.

If the upturned card's suit is not chosen by any of the four players, the players are offered the opportunity to name any of the other three suits as trump, beginning with the player to the dealer's left, and proceeding clockwise. In this case, play begins as soon as a suit is named; no cards enter or leave the dealer's hand. A player may pass as previously described, and if the bidding comes around the table to the dealer without the naming of a suit, the dealer may name a suit. If he or she also declines to name a suit, the cards are collected, no points are scored, and the deal is passed to the left. A variation to this rule exists, see below.

The team that selects trump is sometimes known as the "makers" for the remainder of the hand. The opposing team is known as the "defenders" for the remainder of the hand.

Winning tricks

The player to the dealer's left begins play by leading a card. (In some variations, if any player is going alone, the player to that person's left will lead.)

Play continues in clockwise order; each player must follow suit if they have a card of the suit led. The left bower is considered a member of the trump suit and not a member of its native suit.

The player who played the highest trump wins the trick. If no trump were played, the highest card of the suit led wins the trick. The player that won the trick collects the played cards from the table and then leads the next trick.

After all five tricks have been played, the hand is scored. The player to the left of the previous dealer then deals the next hand, and the deal moves clockwise around the table until one partnership scores 10 points and wins the game.

Going alone/ solo

If the player bidding (making trump) has an exceptionally good hand, or if his or her partnership is in danger of losing the game unless they are able to score points quickly, the player making trump has the option of playing without his or her partner. If the bidder playing alone wins all five tricks in the hand, the team scores four points.

"Going alone" or "Going Solo" is initiated at the time the bidder orders the upturned card on the kitty to the dealer (on the first round of bidding) or names a suit (during the second round of bidding). The bidder signifies his/her desire to play alone by stating "alone" or (for example) "clubs alone" or "clubs solo" after bidding. If the dealer selects the top card, she may also declare a loner hand by sliding her discard to her partner. The bidder must make this call before play begins.

During a loner, the bidder's partner discards his or her cards, and does not participate in play of the hand.

Depending on regional rules, the lead on the first trick will either remain with the player to the left of the dealer, or switch to the player to the left of the bidder.

The odds of success of a loner bid depend on the lay of the cards and the inactive cards held by the bidder's partner. Nine cards out of twenty-four do not participate in play, making the hand less predictable than otherwise. A hand consisting of the top five cards of the trump suit is mathematically unbeatable from any position; this is sometimes referred to as a lay-down, as a player with such a hand may often simply lay all five cards on the table at once.

The rules of an individual game may state that a player who "sweeps," or wins all 5 tricks while going alone/solo gets 4 points, 2 for sweeping and 2 for going alone.

One of the opponents of the lone bidder may say "I defend alone", and his partner must stay out. The lone defender will play alone.

Scoring

Scoring in Euchre

Bidding partnership (makers) wins 3 or 4 tricks	1 point
Bidding partnership (makers) marches (wins 5 tricks)	2 points	(Also called a yuk)
Bidder goes alone and marches	4 points
Bidder goes alone and wins 3 or 4 tricks	1 point
Defenders win 3 or more tricks (known as a euchre, or setting the bidder)	2 points

The first team to score 5 (sometimes 7 or 10) points wins the game (sometimes called a round). While score can be kept by using a tally sheet, most Euchre players traditionally use the unused 6 and 4 cards, or unused pairs of 5 cards for one member of each partnership to keep score. In western New York and parts of Ohio, it is traditional to use 2 and 3 cards, crossing them to show scores higher than 5. In all cases, one card is used to cover the other so as to expose the number of pips corresponding to the team's score. A lone defender winning 3, 4, or 5 tricks (known as a march) gets 4 points. A lone defender winning 1 or 2 tricks gets zero points.

The scoring is normally done with two fives, with the number of pips showing indicating the number of points to each team. It is also common to use a four and a six, with the six on the bottom. Scoring can also be tracked with two 5, 6, 7 or 8 cards (depending on how long the game is intended to last) where again, the number of pips showing is the total score. Two 5 cards is the most common method of score keeping as the game ends when one team has reached ten points.

Variations in play

Throw-ins

These variations (often referred to as "House Rules" - reflecting their non-standard acceptability) allow a player dealt one of several types of poor hands to "throw in" their cards and initiate a redeal. In some circles, these are considered a form of "misdeal," causing the deal to be passed to the original dealer's left. In standard play, these are considered just part of normal play, and the player must play the hand they are dealt, regardless of how bad it might be; in the long run, things will even out.

• Nines & Tens: a hand consisting only of 9s and 10s. It is impossible for more than one player to have such a hand in regular play.
• Ace, No Face: a single ace and nothing else except 9s and 10s containing only non-trump.
• King Nothing: a single king and nothing else except 9s and 10s containing only non-trump.
• Bitches' Hand: a single queen and nothing else except 9s and 10s containing only non-trump.
• Jack Shit: a single jack and nothing else except 9s and 10s containing only non-trump.
• No Ace, No-Face: a throw-in hand determined after the make, containing only non-trump 9s and 10s.

Farmer's hand

Common in the Midwestern US, certain weak hands (usually those containing either three 10 cards or three 9 cards) are designated as "farmer's hands" or "bottoms." After inspecting the hand dealt, a player may call out "farmer's hand" and is then allowed to show the three cards in question and exchange them for the three unexposed cards in the kitty (also called "going under" or "under the table").

One variation allows that a player with any combination of a total of three 9 and/or 10 cards may exchange them. This is generally referred to as "farmer's hand mixed" while the prior example is called "farmer's hand clean." Another variation dictates that none of the low cards being exchanged may match the suit of the turned-up kitty card. If more than one player wishes to call farmer's hand, there is generally no structure for determining who will take the cards other than a first-come first-served method, although some players only call "farmers" on the player's turn to bid for trump. Otherwise, the person closest to the deal will sometimes be given priority. Some variations allow for multiple farmer's hands to be called out, but those exchanging cards with those left behind in the kitty after the first exchange are essentially guaranteed very poor cards.

Making trump

• Stick/Screw/Dick the Dealer: If the trump selection comes all the way back around to the dealer the second time, the dealer must call the trump suit. In other words, there is no option to redeal. Etiquette suggests if the dealer who was "screwed" gets his partnership euchred, the team that won should not gloat, since they were too scared to call trump.
• Chuck: A variation of Stick/Screw/Dick the Dealer. The dealer has the option to declare trump, keep one card from his dealt hand and exchange the other four for the cards in the kitty, including the card that was turned over. This can be a very strategic move, for example, the dealer can call Next when a Jack was turned over, guaranteeing that he will have at least the left bower.
• Club Euchre/Dirty Clubs: Whenever the upturned kitty card is suited clubs, the dealer must "pick it up" and his team must play as the makers, with clubs as trump.
• Wagering: If the top card from the kitty is turned down, the player to the left of the dealer may bid Euchre points to call trump, with a minimum of 2 points required to bid. If the bidding player is Euchred, then their bid determines the number of points the opposing team will receive. The player to the left of the bidder then has the option to raise the Euchre bid and call a different suit as trump. This proceeds until the bid has returned to the initial bidder. The initial bidder then has the final option to raise the bid or concede to the highest bidder. The highest bidding player wins the trump call and play begins.
• Poker for a Point: A variation popular in Southeast Michigan, during the Making Trump phase any player may offer "Poker for a Point." If all players agree (or sometimes if only a player of the opposing team agrees), all hands are immediately shown and the team of the player whose five cards represent the best hand by Poker rules is awarded one point. The hand is then deadened and dealership continues to the next player.
• No Trump: A variation of Screw the Dealer popular in Iowa, although the Dealer is screwed, he has the option to declare "no trump" and hand is played with Aces high, no trump, and no bowers.

Going alone

• Partner's Best: When a maker "goes alone", he may choose to exchange a single card with his partner before trick taking begins. The maker is required to discard before he receives his partner's card.
• Canadian: When a player orders his partner to "pick it up", he must attempt the hand as a loner.
• Blind-Double Loner: Before the maker sees his cards, the maker calls "blind double loner". Here, the turn card is automatically trump, and the game is played by normal loner rules. If the Blind-double Loner wins all 5 tricks, 8 points are awarded to the player's team.
• Nello or Nullo: When a maker "goes alone," attempting to lose every trick rather than to win every trick. Playing the game with the possibility of nello changes the bidding strategy considerably.

Scoring rituals

• Scoring can also be tracked with a two and a three (common in western New York and Ohio). In this scenario the first five points are generally tracked by revealing the pips normally, however it is sometimes also common for both score cards face down in a V position (signifying Roman Numeral five) to signify five points. In either case, the sixth point and onward are marked by turning the bottom card sideways so that it forms a V, so that for six through nine the score is actually five plus the number of pips showing.

• Players in the Midwest often will indicate the next point that they are hoping to score by "sprouting." The team will partially uncover the next pip on the score card so that it looks like the pip is growing up or sprouting.

• Players in the Cincinnati\Northern Kentucky area prefer to use hearts and spades as score cards. If clubs or diamonds are used it is considered bad luck. In extreme situations other cards may be used, if the 6 or 4 of hearts or spades is missing, because after all the game must go on.

• For some players in the Midwest, when a team has nine points, players place the score cards next to each other, face down. The team is now "in the barn" (also "on the corner") or "mooing". Some players have also been known to place the two score cards behind their ears upon "entering the barn." A particularly vulgar celebration ceremony involved with "entering the barn" is "milking the cow," whereupon one member of the team that just "entered the barn" interlaces their fingers and points their thumbs downward. This completed, their teammate "milks" the down-turned thumbs just as one would milk a cow's udder. Another action that players sometimes do is known as "Churning the Butter." Players lock fist into palm and move their hands up and down as if "Churning the butter." If the team scores their tenth point then the "barn doors are opened:" the cards are flipped to show all ten pips. Actions such as this, however, are considered insulting.

• On many American college campuses, the players of a losing team which failed to earn any points at all are considered to have been "skunked" by the winning team. Sometimes, the relatively rare event of being skunked implies that the losers must perform some form of ritual penitence such as streaking the campus.

• In Australia, New Zealand and certain parts of the USA the game is typically played to 11 points, rather than the typical 10. The 5 and 6 are usually used as the score cards.

• Games to 15, using the 7 and 8, are sometimes played as well when a longer game is desired. This is common in Iowa.

Dealing variations

One variation exists in which the player to win the last trick is the dealer for the next hand.

In some Euchre circles it is considered acceptable to "steal the deal" from the other team if they are not paying attention when it is their turn to deal.

Pepper or Hasenpfeffer

Pepper is an offshoot of 24-card Euchre popular in the Midwestern U.S., where the entire 24 is dealt out, bids are made numerically for the naming of trump, and declarer may name no trump in place of a single suit. A six-player version exists, played with a full pinochle pack and no bowers. Follow the link for complete rules.

International variations

A common variation played in southwestern England competitive pub leagues uses the standard Euchre deck with an extra card, usually a joker or two of spades, called the Benny (often called the "Bird" in Australia). This card is the highest trump no matter what suit is called. When the Benny is turned over by the dealer, the dealer must choose a suit to call as trumps before looking at his or her hand. Bidding then proceeds normally.

In southwestern Ontario (Canada), there is an extension of this style wherein the nines are removed from the deck and up to four "Bennys" are added. These usually take the form of either one or two jokers and/or one or two deuces (of differing colour, usually the deuce of spades and, optionally, the deuce of hearts). This is colloquially known as "Railroad" Euchre and in its simplest form (with only a single joker or deuce), it is identical to the English variant listed previously. As with the earlier description, the additional cards are ranked trump ahead of the right bower, regardless of the suit of trump with deuce(s) outranking jokers. In the case where two jokers are added, some method is achieved for establishing a "high" joker and a "low". Often the cards are differentiated in some way by the manufacturer which makes this easy, for example a coloured joker (high) versus a black-and-white one (low) or by some other mark that distinguishes the two cards (in a pinch, marks can be added manually, but this is discouraged as it may render the card identifiable from the back). In any event, the "high" joker always outranks the low. If one deuce is used, it is always the highest trump in the deck. If two are used, the deuce matching the colour of trump is highest. Turning up a joker or deuce on the deal is handled in the same way as described in the English method above. Although Railroad Euchre is somewhat complicated and often takes a few hands even for experienced Euchre players to grow accustomed to, the addition of up to four higher-ranking trump cards makes a significant strategic impact in the way the game is played. For clarification, assuming the addition of both deuces and both jokers, and if spades or clubs is called trump, the ranking of the four highest trump cards would be 2♠, 2♥, Joker(high), and Joker(low), with the normal progression of trump from the right bower on down thereafter. If hearts or diamonds were trump instead, the ranks of the top four cards would change to: 2♥, 2♠, Joker(high), and Joker(low). The popularity of the Railroad variants appears to decrease as more trump are added with the two and three Benny versions being the most common.

In Guernsey (Channel Islands) the game is played with a 33 card deck incorporating 7 to Ace plus a joker as Benny. In addition, where the Benny is turned up, the dealer not only has to name the suit, he must then pick it up and play (although he may still choose whether to play alone or with his partner). Unofficial rules require the wearing of a "dealing hat" when dealing (usually a Fez) alternatively a 'dealing duck' may be placed in front of the dealer and referring to the Ace of Spades as the Death Card, regardless of trump. Tradition dictates that the Death Card should not be led on the first trick unless defending against a lone attacker as it will otherwise invariably be trumped. A cleverer lead is known as the "Brisey" which involves leading the left bower in an attempt to trick one of your opponents into a renege (a failure to correctly follow suit)if any particular player consistently reneges throughout an evenings play he / she is referred to as a 'habin'. The Brisey lead itself is named after Brian Mauger, a famous Guernsey Euchre player. If a defender has won two tricks and still has possession of the Benny then he must slap it onto his forehead as a sign of the guaranteed euchre. In an attempt to improve a poor hand a player may call a 'kezza' with what would appear to be little chance of success in the hope that his partner may assist in winning the majority of the available tricks.

Extra cards

Players can also play with the extra cards 8 and 7, which adds more uncertainty to which trump cards can still be in opposing players' hands.

Two players

A two player variation exists where a normal hand is dealt out to each player along with a 3-card dummy hand to each player. To have the best deal you should take out the 9's. Obviously, there are no partners in this game and each person picks up their dummy hand after trump has been called. Each player must make their best five card hand out of the eight cards available. Going alone is still an option and occurs when the calling player opts not to pick up the dummy hand.

Another two player variation exists which involves 11 tricks being played per hand which makes it almost impossible to take all 11 tricks. Also, going alone is not possible in this variation because there are no partners or dummy hands. Three cards are dealt to each player to form their "hand" followed by four face down cards for each player and four face up cards for each player on top of the face down cards. Any card can be played by the player as long as he or she can see the card (meaning it is in the hand of the player or in front of the player face up). When a face up card is played, the face down card below it is revealed and is now eligible to be played. Play resumes for the current hand until all of the cards have been played. This can also be played where five cards make up each players hand with 3 sets of face up/face down cards in front of each person. First person to ten points wins.

Three players

According to the book Play According to Hoyle The way to play Three Handed Euchre (Known as Cutthroat) is:

Each player gets a 5 card hand as normal and the top card is upturned. The bidding process is normal until someone calls trump. This player then goes alone against the other two.

When the maker gets three or four tricks it is one point. When the maker gets five tricks it is three points. When the defenders get three or more tricks they each get two points.

Each player has their own score cards and plays until ten as normal.

A common three player variation is played by dealing out four hands, but with the fourth hand acting as a dummy hand. The player who calls trump on the current hand picks up the dummy hand and makes the best five-card hand for themselves out of his or her hand and the dummy hand. The player will now play alone against the other two players, who will play as partners for this hand. The two non-calling players will always play as partners which means that partners will switch from hand to hand depending on who calls trump. The calling player will score one point for winning the hand and 2 points for taking all five tricks. The calling player can still elect to "go alone" by choosing not to pick up the dummy hand. Taking all five tricks here results in four points. Each player keeps their own score.

Variations on the dummy hand also exist because being able to make a best hand out of ten cards is sometimes viewed as being too powerful. The other variations are:

• A three card dummy hand where the calling player makes their best hand out of 8 cards instead of 10.
• A five card dummy hand where the calling player picks 3 random cards in their attempt to make the best hand.

In western New York, a three player variation called "Dumpling" is played. Four hands are dealt out, one to each player and one face down on the table. The dealer turns up the top kitty card, as usual, and this card is automatically trump; there is no bidding for trump. Instead, each player has the option, in clockwise order starting at the dealer's left, of playing the dealt hand or the blind hand on the table. If the player picks up the blind hand, he places his hand face down on the table and that becomes the new blind hand. Interesting play results if two (or more) players pick up the blind hand because the original owner of the hand knows what they have. When bidding gets to the dealer, the dealer picks up the trump card and play begins. Normal Euchre play now applies, with each player on their own. At the end of the hand, each player gets one point for each trick taken. If a player takes no tricks, he loses five points. A game of "Dumpling" is typically played to 21 points; tiebreaker rules vary by region. In Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, this version is known as "Gyoza," named after the Japanese dumpling. In other areas of the Midwest, this version is called "Buck Euchre," wherein a player losing five points is said to be "bucked."

A slightly less common version of three person Euchre is played by removing the nines from a standard deck and playing without a dummy hand. In this version, the calling player always goes alone where four points will always result from taking all five tricks.

Another uncommon version of three person Euchre is to deal out three hands of seven cards with a three-card kitty. The 4-hand rules apply, except that the calling player must always go alone.

In Southern Ontario, a three-person version exists called "Shooter". Each player receives eight cards and bids a number to win the contract and choose the trump suit. The winning bidder may also choose "no trump", where aces are high and all jacks are treated as off-trump coloured jacks, i.e. beat a ten but lose to a queen. The minimum bid starts at three and subsequent bidders must out-bid the highest previous bid or pass. Points are scored for each trick taken, not merely by the contractor but by all players. The contractor is of course vulnerable however, and if he or she fails to take the number of tricks bidden, he or she loses that number of points. A player wishing to bid all eight tricks calls "shooter", and if successful gains not eight but 12 points. (Note that a player bidding less than eight and subsequently winning all eight tricks will only score eight points). Score is kept on paper and the game is played to 31.

A somewhat popular three-handed variation exists. Players sit as though there is a "ghost player" in the fourth position. A hand of five cards is dealt to each player and the ghost player. Before the top card of the kitty is turned up, in clockwise order, players may opt to switch their hand with the ghost player's hand. If a player does, no other player may choose to switch hands. Bidding proceeds as normal. The maker of this hand plays alone, with the two defenders as partners. If the maker gets three tricks, he is awarded 2 points. Five tricks is four points. However, if the maker opted to switch hands at the beginning of the round, he is deducted one point if he wins. Should the defending players take three tricks, they get 1 point each, and taking 5 tricks awards them 2 points each.

Another three-person variant exists called "Threechre" (sometimes pronounced "tree-ker" or "three-kree"). In this game, only three suits are used and a joker serves as the left bower, regardless of drawn suit. The game is played to a winning score of 10 points: a 2-trick tie wins both tied players one point, and three or more tricks wins the player two points. The penalty for calling is -1 point; thus, calling and losing means an overall score of -1, calling and winning equals one point, and calling and tying means no change in score.

Going it alone in Threechre: If the dealer goes it alone on the first round of bidding, the drawn card is turned down. No matter who goes it alone, the kitty is reshuffled and dealt to the opponents, who then must discard two cards from a hand of seven cards.

Another three-person variation is known as call-partner. Hands of 5 cards are dealt as usual, and a card is turned up over the kitty. Bidding happens as normal, except the person who makes trump may call for a partner by naming a desired card. As an example, the trump maker might call for the left bower. The partner is only revealed when the card is played. This adds an element of suprise, as only the person holding the called card knows that they are the partner until it is played. Sometimes the called card is in the kitty, in which case there is no partner. The trump maker may also elect to "go alone". Scoring is the same as in 4 handed versions.

Five players

A five player variation exists. This game is generally referred to as Five-Handed Euchre. The major differences are a dynamic partner system and the addition of two permanent trump cards.

Six players

Virtually everything about 6-handed is identical to the 4-handed game with the exception of the details below.

• Partnerships of three players.
• 34-card deck: Ace through 7 of each suit plus two Jokers.
• The Big Joker is always the highest trump.
• The Little Joker is always the second-highest trump.

When the Dealer Turns Up a Joker. Because Jokers do not have suits printed on them, the players determine how to handle this scenario before it happens. Below are several possibilities.

1. The first time, it is a club; the second, a diamond; the third, a heart; the fourth, a spade; and so on (in alphabetical order by name of suit).
2. Assign a suit to each player before the game begins; when it's a "clubs" dealer, the suit being offered as trump is clubs, and so on.
3. Choose a suit that will always be offered as trump.
4. Insist that no cards be seen until the up card is turned, have the dealer choose a suit blind, then proceed with bidding.
5. The dealer must pick it up and name trump "blind"; the option to go alone is still available.
6. Throw it in and same player shuffles and deals again.
7. Throw it in and pass the deal to the next player.

When The Jokers Are NOT Named Some decks of cards specify "Big" or "Little" on the Jokers. For other decks, you can add a 1 and a 2 to the index portion of the Jokers with a marker as well as "Big" and "Little" on their faces for ease of identification. It is very helpful to include the 1 and 2 on the indexes since typical Jokers have barely distinguishable icons in the corners.

Some decks have a red Joker and a black Joker. With these, it helps to decide if they will have fixed ranks written on them (prev. ¶) or whether their ranks will depend on the color of trump (i.e., red Joker is highest when trump is diamonds or hearts, and second-highest when clubs or spades; black Joker vice versa).

Using red/black Jokers with variable ranks influences the decision for which "Joker as the upcard" rule to implement.

Another way to use the jokers is they are equal in trump but the second trumps the first if layed on the same trick.

Tournaments

Some tournaments are run with tables of four players each. Winners of each game (typically to 10 points) stay at their table and are split apart so that they are no longer a team. Note: splitting winning players may cause friction due to someone giving up their hot seat. Losing pairs of players are sent to other tables to team with other winners from the previous round. The player with the most wins during the tournament is the champion.

Strategy

Many sources for Euchre strategy exist, and one popular and humorous version are the Ten Commandments of Euchre by noted Euchre master Harvey Lapp. The commandments are:

1. Thou shalt not pass a biddable hand.
2. Thou shalt counteth upon thy partner for one trick.
3. Thou shalt not trumpeth thy partner's ace.
4. Thou shalt trumpeth thy partner's king.
5. Thou shalt leadeth trump to thy partner's order.
6. Thou shalt not leadeth trump to thine opponent's order.
7. When thou hath ordered trump, leadeth thy right bower to smite thy foes, and let Excelsior be with you!
8. Ordereth not the right bower unto thy partner's hand unless thou canst go alone.
9. Goeth alone whenever thou canst, unless thy team hath eight or nine points.
10. Thou shalt not complaineth about the cards that Excelsior hath bestowed upon ye.

Cheating

Unscrupulous partners are known to increase their chances of winning tricks by cooperative communication which is not allowed in play. This is commonly known as table talk or "crossboarding".

1. Innocuous code words to tell what cards are in the player's own hand or to query what cards are in the partner's hand or what trump to declare. E.g. "You look so LOVELY tonight." Translation: I have a lot of hearts in my hand. Call hearts as trump.
2. Secret gestures. Some examples: loud cough means partner should pass; scratching the right side of your face tells your partner you have the right bower (similar for left side); placing your cards face down during bidding is an invitation for your partner to go alone.

If crossboarding is called, depending on local rules, points may be given to the team calling out the infraction, or the hand may be simply disqualified and redealt by the next player in order. The player accused of cheating may or may not be given a chance to refute the charge. Some variations allow (or at least accept the inevitability of) the following form of non-verbal communication: A player may gratuitously hesitate before passing to signal to his partner that his cards are helpful to the offered trump, but are not sufficient to guarantee a win. This adds an additional element of strategy in that players may bluff hesitation to discourage the opponent from calling the offered trump.

Other forms of cheating include:

• 'Stealing the deal' - To successfully steal the deal, one player must finish dealing all the cards in the normal manner and flip the top card of the kitty without anyone else pointing out that it is not actually that player's turn to deal. Once the top card is flipped, the deal becomes legal according to some circles. There are generally no penalties for being caught attempting this theft, though penalties can be instituted depending upon how frequently the players involved attempt to steal. After a deal has been stolen, the deal rotation would normally be picked up from the dealer that stole the deal, unless otherwise stolen again.
• Renege - If you do not follow suit when you are able to (usually by playing a trump card instead), it is considered a renege, and the opposing team is rewarded two points if it is caught in later tricks of the same hand. A variation on calling out a renege is if more than one card of the reneged suit is played afterwards, the infraction may only be called on the first instance, if it is not called until the second instance it does not count. A player often reneges purposely in order to win a trick if they think the opposing team will not catch the renege. However reneges can also be unintentional, where a player misreads some of his/her cards, usually by misinterpreting the left bower as being of its native suit, but are still callable by opponents as reneging.

Some Euchre Terms

• Right bower - a Jack of the same suit as the trump suit. Comes from the German word Bauer (usually referred to as just "the right"). In some parts of the world, the German spelling "bauer" is still used.
• Left bower - the Jack of the non-trump suit of the same color as the trump suit; the second-highest card in a given hand (usually referred to as just "the left")
• Bare left - having the left bower and no other trump in the player's hand; the left bower might fall to a right bower lead
• Bullet - an Ace; the highest card in the suit (except for bowers)
• Dutchman - having both bowers and the Ace of trump in the same hand; this is a guarantee of winning at least three tricks
• Golden Paw - in Canadian euchre, a hand including both bowers, Ace, King and Queen of trump (also known as a "Once-in-a-Lifetime" or a 'Lay Down' hand)
• Guarded or protected left - having the left bower and another trump card in the player's hand; the left bower is protected because the player can play the other trump on a right bower lead
• Loser - a card that probably will not take a trick; the number and quality of losers in a hand often determines if the hand should be played alone or not
• Lay-Down - a hand that will automatically win all five tricks if played in the correct order; ex. a dutchman plus two more trump cards, or one more trump card and an off-trump ace. Also called a "Loner" because a player with such a hand will typically opt to go alone.
• No brainer - a hand that cannot be misplayed, for example: a hand with the five highest trump cards
• Mallory Loner - Term occasionally used for going alone and consistently scoring one point due to the fact the player cannot win all five tricks.

See also

• Bid Euchre / Pepper
• Clabber
• Écarté
• Five-Handed Euchre
• Joker (playing card)

External links

• Euchre at Pagat.com
• The Semi-official Euchre page
• The Laws of Euchre, as adopted by the Somerset Club of Boston, March 1, 1888 at Project Gutenberg
• Euchre Rules