Euchre Strategy, Author at How to Win at Euchre - Winning Euchre Strategy

Farmer’s Hand

If a player is dealt a hand which contains three nines or three tens, that play may call out “Farmer’s Hand.” That player is then allowed to show the three cards in question and exchange them for the three unexposed cards in the kitty. If more than one player calls out Farmer’s Hand then the hand is declared a misdeal.

The purpose of this variation is ensure a fair deal. Many euchre enthusiasts do not endorse this variation, because it takes away from the game. It is still used as a major deterrent for stacking of the deck and other card cheats.

Euchre Variations, How To Play Euchre

Ace-No-Face

If a player is dealt a hand which contains Ace and no face cards, that player has the option to call a misdeal. The deal is then passed clockwise.

The purpose of this variation is ensure a fair deal. Many euchre enthusiasts do not endorse this variation, because it takes away from the game. It is still used as a major deterrent for stacking of the deck and other card cheats.

Euchre Variations, How To Play Euchre

No-Trump

In this rule variation, a player, during the second round of bidding, may call No-trump. It is a option in which no suit is made trump, and the cards are ranked Ace high to nine. The player with the highest ranking card of the suit led wins the trick. In some variations, this option is only available of the dealer if the table agreed to invoke stick the dealer.

Euchre Variations, How To Play Euchre

Stick the Dealer or Screw the Dealer

Stick the Dealer is a popular variation for euchre players. If all players pass during the second round of bidding, the dealer must name a suit trump. They dealer may choose any suit to be trump including the suit turned down in the first round of bidding. In some variations, the dealer may have the option to bid no-trump.

This variation is intended to speed up the game and limit the number of misdeals.

Euchre Statistics

How Many Euchre Hands are There?

Euchre’s popularity is driven by the game’s simplicity. After all, euchre only uses 24 cards instead of a standard 52 card deck. Despite the vastly reduce number of possible card combinations, euchre is every bit as difficult to master as any 52 card game.

In Euchre, every player gets 5 cards, and by doing a little math, there are 42,504 possible combination that any one player will hold in their hand.

(24*23*22*21*20)/5! = 42,504

That 42,504 is not very big. In fact that number could be simplified down, because the 4 suits tend to repeat themselves. Despite the simple number, euchre players still debate if one should call a hand.

What About the Up-card?

Many euchre players consider the dealer to hold 6 cards because of the up-card. Not to mention, the up-card is very instrumental to any player declaring trump. With a little bit more math, there are 134,596 possible combinations that any one player will see including the up-card.

(24*23*22*21*20*19)/6! = 134,596

How To Play Euchre

Keeping Score in Euchre

Euchre players traditionally keep score by using some of the remaining cards from the deck, typically the 6′s and 4′s. Each pip represents a point, and one card is used to cover the other so as to expose the number of pips corresponding to the team’s score. The score cards are placed at the corners of the table, and one partner is assigned to keep track of the score.

Another popular method is to use the 2’s and 3’s to keep score. Scores zero through 5 are rather self-explanatory. Point tallies for five or greater will be placed in the form of a “V” to represent the Roman numeral five. In any case, it doesn’t really matter how the scores are kept, as long as they are visible for everyone to see.

	Six and Four	Two and Three
0 Points
1 Point
2 Points
3 Points
4 Points
5 Points
6 Points
7 Points
8 Points
9 Points
10 Points

How To Play Euchre

Scoring in Euchre

The team that makes trump must take at least three tricks to earn points. Failure to take at least three tricks is known as a Euchre, which earns points for the defendiers. The first partnership to score 10 points wins the game.

Scoring in Euchre	Points
Trump Makers in partnership wins 3 or 4 tricks	1
Trump Makers in partnership wins 5 tricks	2
Trump Maker goes alone and wins 5 tricks	4
Trump Maker goes alone and wins 3 or 4 tricks	1
Defenders in partnership wins 3 or 4 tricks	2
Lone Defender wins 3 or more tricks	4

How To Play Euchre

Going Alone

The player who chooses the trump suit by either accepting the up-card or declaring the suit in the second round of bidding may call “Going Alone” in order to score more points. This means that their partner sits out of the hand and play continues with only three players.

How To Play Euchre

The Play

Once trump is made, the player to the dealer’s left begins play by leading a card. Any card may be led, and each player in clockwise order must follow suit. If a player cannot follow suit, then that player may play any card from their hand. The trick is won by the highest trump played. If no trumps are played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit led. Please be aware, the left bower is considered a member of the trump suit and not a member of its native suit.

The player that wins 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.

How To Play Euchre

Second Round of Bidding

If all four players pass in the First Round of Bidding, the up-card is turned face down, and a second round of bidding will begin. Each player in turn has a chance to name a trump suit or pass. The suit named to be trump must be different than the suit of the up-card. As soon as a trump is named, play will begin to the person sitting to the dealers left.

If all players pass in the second round of bidding, then it is a misdeal, and the deal is passed clockwise.