Euchre
Euchre Counting Trump
There are seven trump. The suit, plus Left. After two tricks, name what is left. When you can say all trump are out, off-suit aces cash. That sentence is the leap from a decent Midwest kitchen player to a good one. It is not blackjack. You are not assigning plus-one to a 10.
You already know Left is trump. Why it hops: euchre bowers. First-night follow suit: how to play euchre. This page is the rest of the hand. Pause after two tricks on the practice table with every card visible and name the remaining trump before you lead trick three.
Seven trump, not six
Once a suit is named, these seven are trump, high to low:
- Right Bower (jack of trump)
- Left Bower (jack of the other suit of the same color)
- Ace of trump
- King of trump
- Queen of trump
- 10 of trump
- 9 of trump
Hearts trump: jack of hearts, jack of diamonds, then A-K-Q-10-9 of hearts. The jack of diamonds is the one people drop from the count because it has a diamond on it. File it under trump the moment the suit is named. Skip it, and a leftover Left eats the ace you thought was safe.
Seven in the pack is not seven in the four hands. The three face-down kitty cards can hide one. If the dealer picked the upcard up, that trump is in their hand unless they discarded it. If they turned it down, that suit is dead. The seven restart on the suit that got named. Round-2 next does not change the count. Same seven. New suit.
Pause after two tricks
Two tricks show eight cards. You already knew your five and the upcard. That is enough. Say the missing trump. Do not wait until someone ruffs the ace on trick four and then reconstruct.
- Before the lead. How many of the seven are in your hand. Did the dealer pick the upcard up.
- Each trump that hits. Subtract it. Who played it. Who followed off-suit, so they are void.
- After trick two. Name what you have not seen. One sentence. "Left and the 9." Or "all trump are out."
If you named trump and hold three, the usual way to make this count easy is to lead it. That pull lives on euchre leading. This page is what you know after those cards hit. If they named it, do not lead trump to "see." Count what they spend. The rest of that seat is euchre defense.
Who followed off-suit is the other half of the pause. They are void in that suit. On a trump lead, they are out of trump. Do not lead a suit they showed out of later if a leftover trump can still ruff it. On an off-suit lead, a void is the ruff you were counting toward, or the ruff that eats your ace.
What the count tells you
| What you can name after two tricks | Usual play |
|---|---|
| All remaining trump sit in your hand, or never showed | Cash off-suit aces. Nobody left can ruff. |
| One trump unaccounted. You have the lead. | Lead trump. Pull it, or prove it is buried. |
| You called. You still hold two. Two are still out. | Another trump lead. Do not cash the off-ace yet. |
| They called. Two trump still out. You have an off-suit ace. | The ace can still die. Do not lead trump at them. |
| Partner called. You won trick two. You still have trump. | Lead trump back. They named it. |
| Both bowers have shown. You hold the ace of trump. | That ace is boss. It is often the third trick. |
"All trump are out" means nobody still playing can ruff. Buried in the kitty counts as out. Sitting in your own hand counts as out for everyone else. Sitting in partner's hand is out for the opponents, not for you: do not lead a suit partner is void in unless you want them to ruff.
A thin next often leaves trump split. They still named it. Count from seven. Do not assume the caller has four just because they spoke.
Walk through one count
You are South. Partner sits North, across. East dealt, so you sit left of the dealer and lead trick one. The upcard is the king of hearts. You say pick it up. East takes the king. Hearts are trump. You do not go alone.
Your five cards:
- Jack of hearts
- Ace of hearts
- 10 of hearts
- Ace of diamonds
- 9 of clubs
Seven trump: jack of hearts (Right), jack of diamonds (Left), ace, king, queen, 10, and 9 of hearts. You hold Right, the ace, and the 10: three. East has at least the king they just picked up. Unaccounted: Left, the queen, the 9. Those three sit among North, West, East's other four cards, and the kitty.
Trick one: lead the ace of diamonds. Singleton off-ace, while people still follow. Everyone follows. No trump. Count unchanged.
Trick two: lead Right. West plays the 9 of hearts. North plays the queen. East plays the king. Four hearts on the table. Pause.
Name what is left: Left. You still hold the ace and the 10. The printed hearts are all accounted for except those two. The only trump you have not seen is the jack of diamonds. Say that before you lead trick three.
Lead the ace of hearts. Left is a heart. Anyone who still holds it has to play it. If the ace holds, Left is buried. Then the 10 is boss too. You already have three tricks: diamond ace, Right, ace of hearts. That is the make. The 9 of clubs can lose. You do not care.
The dump is skipping the pause. You lead the 9 of clubs on trick three "because trump is out." West still has Left. They ruff. You had the make on the table and gave the trick away. Or you sit on the ace of hearts so it "stays boss," never pull Left, and find out on trick five that it was buried the whole time.
Flip who called. Same seats, same five cards, West ordered hearts. Now you are defending. Do not lead Right. They named that suit. Lead the diamond ace. Count their hearts as they hit. After two tricks, if Left has shown, your remaining hearts are the euchre. Do not donate Right on trick one. That seat: euchre defense. The first card: euchre leading.
Flip only the call. Same seats, same five cards, North ordered hearts. You still lead, because left of dealer is your seat. You are partner. Lead Right. Pull. After two tricks, name what is left for them. Sitting on Right so you do not "take their bower" is how West's leftover heart eats North's ace. That lead is euchre leading. This page is the sentence after the pull.
Replay the pause on the practice table with every card visible. After trick two, before you touch trick three, name Left. Then lead the ace of hearts and watch it either pull Left or prove the kitty ate it. Why that jack of diamonds is a heart: euchre bowers. First-night rules: how to play euchre.