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Euchre Tips & Strategies
Just purchased Championship Euchre All-Stars and now you want to improve your game? Refine your skills with these tips and strategies from author and Hearts Champion Joe Andrews. Read about special tactics and trump management that will help you beat your competition! He's sharing his secrets and tricks, so don't miss out!
Do you have your own copy of Championship Euchre All-Stars? Try a free trial of this popular game title, available for Windows, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC and Palm OS devices. Our interactive tutorial and five different skill levels make game play enjoyable and challenging for beginners and experts alike. Read the following tips, then try out what you learn when you play your copy of Championship Euchre All-Stars!
Our Favorite Tips for Championship Euchre All-Stars:
- Use the Difficulty menu to quickly set the "intelligence" of your opponents with five levels of difficulty.
- Adjust game speed and other options in the Settings menu.
- Click on the trickcard to quickly show the last trick played.
- Try all Game variations, or make your own!
- Play the Euchre 101 tutorial to improve your game.
- Get hints and undo bad plays, or disable practice options to resist the temptation!
- Change the look of your game with free skins and art selections.
- Partner or opponents frustrating? Throw a pie at them!
- Track your improvement with detailed history and statistics.
Tips From Joe Andrews:
Learn from card expert Joe Andrews, author of Win at Hearts and The Complete Win at Spades as he shares his insight about trump management and details several Euchre tactics that will benefit your overall game. When you think you've learned it all, try his quiz to test your Euchre skills and knowledge!
Trump Management: The Cross Ruff
It's back to basics, as we explore a familiar motif in the game of Euchre.
Trump management is part of the game. In order to be a successful player, you must observe the cards that have been played, especially in the trump suit. In addition to this, you will need to determine when it is time to extract the opponent's trump, and when it's proper to win trump separately. Let us observe a few illustrative examples:
You are playing a standard 10-point game limit, and your side is on the short end of a 9-8 score. Fortunately, it is your deal, and you pick up this collection (the turned card is the King of Spades):
J 10 (
9) 
K 
10
You decide to pick up the King of Spades and discard the 9 of Hearts. After all, three trump are three trump! The opening lead from your left is the Ace of Hearts, followed by partner's Jack of Hearts, and the Heart Queen from the next player. You trump with the 10, and immediately place the Right on the table. This fetches the Ace of Spades from the opponent on your left, the ninespot from across the table, and the Jack of Clubs (the Left) from the fellow on your right. A lazy player might be tempted to continue with trump, assuming that one of the opponents held the Spade Queen. In the end, the 10 of Clubs is conceded, and 1 point is earned for your side. Good, yes -- but not good enough. Why not try for the win? It will not cost your side anything.
A smart player notes the opponents' drop of the Ace of trump, as well as the Left. This implies strongly that the enemy has no more trumps. Yes, a clever opponent may have disguised the presence of the Spade Queen with the drop of a higher trump. That is not the point. The King of Spades is still the master trump. With 1 point guaranteed, the time has come to explore. You thus lead your low spot card in Clubs, followed by the King. Now your pard trumps with the Spade Queen. What a pleasant surprise! Back comes a Heart, and now you burn your last trump. Finally, Lady Luck smiles on you, as your King of Diamonds walks through for a march, and 2 points. (The Ace of dimes was buried in the "kitty.") What a vast improvement over the routine cashing of your last trump on trick #3.
A new game begins, and this time you (dealer) and your partner hold these hands:
Partner:
A
None
K 10
Q 9
You:
Q
K Q
Q
( 10)
The Jack of Spades is turned. You have a marginal hand, at best. Furthermore, you fear a next (Clubs) Loner. Adhering to the principle of "Turn down a Bower and lose for an hour," you take in the Right, naming Spades as trump, while you discard the singleton Club. The Ace of Clubs is led, as partner drops his 9, and the fellow on your right chucks the King. You are thrilled to trump with the Spade Queen. Now the key play -- the King of Hearts. It is covered with the Ace, and your glorious partner trumps with his singleton Ace of trump! Your right-hand opponent produces a low Heart, (whew!) and you get home with the Right! The lead of a Heart on trick #2 was a much better play than the premature lead of the Right. Once again, a little luck, and a little discipline saved the day...
One day later, this incredible deal occurs: You are sitting South, as dealer, and the Jack of Diamonds is turned. The score is tied, 9-9. Here is the layout:
North:
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West:
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East:
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South: (You--Dealer)
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K Q 10
J
AThe final hand of a match has been dealt. West passes, and partner displays guts and recklessness, as he orders the Right into your hand. Looking at all four hands, you will soon observe that this is going to be a tough road to travel. You discard the 9 of Clubs. West opens with his King of Clubs, as partner wins the Ace. Fearing a possible singleton trump in your hand, he tries a bold play of the King of Spades. This catches the Ace from East, and you burn your Right on this trick! You exit with a high Heart, as West desperately trumps with the Ace of dimes. Your partner bangs the Left on the table, and that is that! "Gimme a break" declares East, as he disgustedly tables his hand with those three beautiful trump. Highway robbery to be sure! However, partner knew you held the Right. He knew your Right was always going to win a trick. He merely wanted to avoid clashing the two Bowers together!
Make the effort to count and observe, and your game will improve by leaps and bounds.
Expert Euchre Tactics
Euchre is very much like Bridge -- it is a game of probabilities. You make bids and plays in the expectation that, more often than not, your play will work out to your advantage. Of course, this means that sometimes your plays will not work so you must have an understanding partner to adopt some of these strategies. The following tactics are designed for the 24-card game.
First Round of Bidding
The general principle in the first round is to count on your partner for 1 trick. If you have 2 sure tricks, preferably 2 sure trump tricks, order the dealer up. Note that if your side is not dealing the cards, Aces are not sure tricks since on ordering the dealer up, he may discard to a void in your Ace suit. If your side has dealt the cards, Aces are generally a sure trick, but 2 of them may not be 2 sure tricks.
Turn Down a Bower -- Lose for an Hour
As dealer, I always pick up a bower if I have at least 1 more trump in hand. Since the opponents will be reluctant to lead trump (more on this later), you can discard to create a void. You then count on making your bower a trick by ruffing the void suit and hopefully a trick from partner to make your point.
First Hand Bidding After 4 Passes
When all players have passed and dealer has turned down, then the First Hand player should attempt to call the other suit of the same color (if dealer turns down black you try to call the other black, if dealer turns down red, you try to call the other red). Almost any decent holding in the other colored suit will do -- singleton bower; doubleton Ace, doubleton King with a black suit void etc. This is almost mandatory when dealer has turned down a bower. An example:
North: (Dealer)
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West:
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East:
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South:
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After 3 passes, North the Dealer has turned down the Queen of Hearts (red suit) and passed. East should call Diamonds, the other red suit! Yes, this is very risky -- he might easily be euchred and lose 2 points. If he passes meekly, South will likely call a black suit, and East has no defense against a black suit contract. So the opponents will probably be getting 1 point anyways. Calling Diamonds and getting Euchred then will probably cost you only 1 point -- the 2 points you lost less the 1 point you were going to lose anyways. But if Diamonds happens to make, the gain is 2 points, the point you win and the point you didn't lose! As you can see in the hand above when East calls Diamonds, they will always win 3 tricks -- 2 trumps and the Ace of Clubs and win one point. If East passed and South calls Clubs, then North/South will take all 5 tricks in Clubs for 2 points when East leads the Ace of Diamonds. So in this case making a risky call of Diamonds with the East hand gained 3 points -- the 1 point you made plus the 2 points you didn't lose.
The corollary to this is, when calling the other color (that is dealer turns down red and you want to call black in First Hand position), you must be very careful. Since dealer does not like red, it increases the probability he does like black, so you should not make a highly speculative different suit call in First Hand position.
Second Hand Bidding After 5 Passes
After 5 passes, you should to call a suit of a different color than partner (dealer) has turned down; that is, if partner turned down black you prefer to call red; if partner turned down red, you prefer to call black. Again, almost any good excuse will do.
Third Hand Bidding After 6 Passes
Let's say dealer turned down red -- partner who will stretch to call the other red has passed -- second hand who will stretch to call a black has also passed. Now you are fairly safe taking a speculative black call since partner doesn't have the other red and Right Hand Opponent (RHO) does like either black. This is more dangerous than the other 2 seats however, since Dealer sits to your left and doesn't like red -- but it is sometimes worth a speculative call.
Dealer's Bidding After 7 Passes
Lets say you the dealer turned down red on the first round, and it has gone pass, pass, pass back to you. LHO doesn't have the other red, and partner didn't choose a black, so there's a decent chance partner has the other red. You can bid anything in this seat but given the choice between a black and the other red, I'd go for the red suit since that is the one partner is most likely to have help in.
Going Alone
To go alone, you should have 4-1/2 or 5 tricks in your own hand. Four top trumps and a side King is worth going alone. Four top trumps and a side Queen is not -- the odds favor the opponents winning your Queen trick if you go alone. Three top trumps and A-x in another suit is an excellent hand to go alone. Never go alone in a game to 10 when your side has only 8 tricks.
Dealers Discard
You pick up or have been ordered up and you must discard. Of course, you keep your trumps and your Aces and create a void in a suit. When you have a choice of suits to create a void in, choose the suit that is a different color than the trump suit; if trumps are Hearts, you prefer to have a void in Clubs or Spades than a void in Diamonds. The reason is the Jack of Diamonds is a trump, not a Diamond, so there are fewer of them. If you trump a Diamond, there is a greater chance you will be overtrumped than if you trump a Club or Spade.
Opening Lead
If your side has called the trump suit, it is frequently wise to lead the trump. The reason is the dealer will have created a void somewhere and leading trumps will remove his opportunity to ruff. If the opponents have called the trump suit, you would only lead trump if the dealer has picked up a bower. The dealer may have done this with the Jack and a little one, counting on scoring the little one with a ruff. You might also want to lead trump if you have three little ones -- for the same reason, to prevent the other side from scoring their trumps separately with ruffs.
Leading trump is unusual however, and we normally lead our Aces. Let's suppose dealer has picked up a Heart, and you have A-x of Spades A-x of Diamonds and A of Clubs. Which Ace to lead? I would lead the Ace of Clubs. Since you have only one of them it is less likely to get trumped than either of the other 2 Aces. If everyone followed suit to that, I would next play the Ace of Spades. Since the Jack of Diamonds is a trump, the Ace of Diamonds is more likely to get ruffed than the Ace of Spades.
If you don't have any Aces, the next best is the top card of a sequence like a King from K-Q. Never lead an unsupported King -- if you must lead from a suit headed by the King without the Queen, lead low, not the King.
Tricks 2-5
Leading a second round of a suit is usually not a good tactic unless you know where the trumps are. It may happen that one opponent will ruff and the other discards a sure loser. It is usually better to try a new suit in this case. If you know RHO has no trumps, leading the second round of a suit can be a very good tactic.
If you win the first trick and partner discards, it is usually correct to return the suit partner discarded, hoping for a ruff.
If you win the first trick, you have a bower and partner has called the trumps, it is usually correct to lead your bower.
Tricks from Trumps
Suppose we are down to the last two cards. Hearts are trump.
North: (Partner)
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West:
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East:
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South:
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If you need one of the last two tricks, you will have to have West on lead. If North or East or you are on lead, West will always score both tricks. When holding a position like above, you try not to win trick 3, hoping your LHO will have to win it. In Bridge, putting West on lead to lead away from the A-J is called an endplay, and these are frequent occurrences in Euchre.
Another frequently occurring play in Euchre is an Uppercut. Again, Hearts are trumps, North on lead, and you (South) need one of the last two tricks:
North: (Partner)
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West:
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East:
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South:
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North: (Partner)
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West:
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East:
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South:
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Partner leads the Ace of Spades. If you discard the Ten of Clubs, West will trump with the Nine of Hearts and cash the Ace of Hearts getting both tricks. If you trump this with the Ten of Hearts however, West will have to over ruff with the Ace and your partner's Queen of trumps will be high.
One more fancy play from Bridge used in Euchre is the trump promotion. In this example, Hearts are trump, North on lead, and you (South) need one of the last two tricks. Can East win both tricks using the trump promotion?
North: (Partner)
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West:
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East:
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South:
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If North leads the Ace of Spades, East will take both tricks, trumping the Ace of Spades with the King of Hearts and taking the last trick with the Jack of Hearts. If North leads the 10 of Clubs however, South's Ace of Hearts is promoted to a trick. If East ruffs with the King of Hearts, South can overruff with the Ace. If East ruffs with the Jack of Hearts, the Ace is now high.
Now that you've read Joe Andrew's tips for improving your Euchre skills, try your hand with the following questions reprinted from Joe Andrew's monthly column with his permission:
The consistent winners at Euchre know when to order up, and when to pass. Knowledge of percentages and the ability to remember which cards have been played is helpful. However, this a game of psychology and intuition, and the meek do not always inherit the earth! There are hands in which you must play defense. If you are sitting to the left (Eldest hand) of the dealer, you have an advantage with the first lead. A careless decision might result in a sweep, or allow the dealer to make a point. Here are five hands for review. The score is 0-0 at the beginning of a game.
Euchre Quiz
In each of the following hands, what is your best lead?
1. Dealer has picked up the Ace of Hearts. You hold:
2. Dealer has picked up the Jack of Diamonds. You hold:
- 10
- J
- A
- Q 9
3. Dealer has picked up the King of Clubs. You hold:
- A
- A
- 10
- 10 9
4. Dealer has picked up the King of Diamonds. You hold:
- 9
- K Q
- J 10
5. Dealer has picked up the Ace of Spades. You hold:
- K 10
- K 9
- Q
ANSWERS:
1. Lead the Queen of Spades. If partner has the Spade Ace, you may get a Club lead from him. A Diamond lead is bad, as you have a natural finessing combination. Don't even consider a trump lead!
2. Lead the Spade 10. This will be a tough hand to set, unless partner has one of the black-suit Aces, and a void. You have a "natural" trump trick, and still need a lot of help here . . .
3. This is a classic situation. Lead either Ace. If dealer trumps this, you will save the other Ace until the end. A trump lead may be tempting; however, you do not want to get squeezed between the two Aces.
4. You hold the Master trump. Try the King of Hearts. You might get lucky and win this trick. If the Heart Ace is taken by the opponents, you should win the expected trump return, and then try the Heart Queen.
5. The Queen of Clubs is best, as it is necessary to protect your Kings.
Now you've read all the tips and tricks to help you become an expert Euchre player, so pick up your copy of Championship Euchre All-Stars and test your skills! Play at five different skill levels and keep track of your game using the detailed statistics option. Once you've mastered Championship Euchre All-Stars, the games have just begun! Championship Euchre is available for Windows, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC and Palm OS platforms today!
