01The guides
- Bidding
- When to call trump and when to pass: counting trump and side aces, the dealer’s swap, and how your seat changes both.
- Going alone
- When a lone hand is worth the gamble, the arithmetic behind it, and how the score changes the call.
- Defence
- How to euchre the makers: leading through them, saving trump, signalling your partner and defending a lone hand.
02Four principles
Before the detail, keep these in mind. They apply to every hand.
- Count your trump before you bid
- Before you call or pass, count your trump, including the turned card if your side would pick it up. Three trump is the usual baseline for a call; two needs strong side cards.
- Track what’s been played
- There are only 24 cards. Keeping count of the trump and aces that have fallen gives you a real edge in the last tricks.
- Talk through your cards
- Leading an ace says you own that suit; leading low can draw out trump. Your partner reads your plays as closely as your opponents do.
- Your seat matters
- On the dealer’s left you speak first in both rounds and lead the first trick. Under stick the dealer, the dealer must call if everyone passes, and everyone else knows it.