Five Hundred
How to Play Five Hundred with 6 Players
House name is 6-hand Five Hundred. Six people, three partnerships of two. Sit A B C A B C around the table — partners opposite with one person between (seats 1+4, 2+5, 3+6). 63-card pack. Deal 10 each, leave a 3-card widow, play 10 tricks. The bidder's pair plays vs the other four. First pair to 500 wins.
This is not 5-hand Five Hundred (43-card, 8 each, cutthroat, bid 6–8). This is not partnership 4-hand (43-card, 10 each, two pairs of 4). This is not 3-hand Five Hundred (33-card pack, 10 each, bidder vs two). Not euchre. Not Bid Euchre. Not Sheepshead. There is no 6-player chip — open Tonight. Chip 5 is 5-hand.
What you need
- Six players. Three partnerships of two. Sit A B C A B C — partners opposite with one person between (seats 1+4, 2+5, 3+6). Not cutthroat. Not 5-hand.
- A 63-card pack: one standard 52, plus 11 and 12 of every suit, plus 13♥ and 13♦, plus one joker.
- Paper with a column per pair. Game is 500. Going past 500 is fine.
6 × 10 + 3 = 63. If the count is wrong, throw it in.
Deal ten, bid 6 through 10, take the widow
Shuffle. Deal clockwise until each player has 10. Three cards stay face down as the widow. Left of the dealer speaks first. One round. Bid 6 through 10 in spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts, or no trump, or pass. Rank at the same trick count: ♠ < ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < NT. Highest bid wins. If everyone passes, throw in, next dealer deals.
The winning bidder takes the three widow cards and discards any three face down. Now everyone has 10 again. Named strain is trump — or no trump. Then the bidder's pair plays 10 tricks vs the other four. Left of the dealer leads.
Play, bowers, no trump
Follow suit. Joker is best bower, then right (jack of trump), then left (jack of same color), then A K Q 13 12 11 10 … of trump. Left bower is trump, not its printed suit. No trump: no bowers; joker still highest; if you lead it you name a suit.
Trump rank matches the four-hand how-to for bowers. That page is the partnership 4-hand game — 43-card pack, two pairs of 4. Use it for bowers. Do not deal the 43-card pack tonight.
Scoring — Avondale, pairs
- Only the bidding pair's column can take the bid value. The other two pairs each score 10 per trick they take as a pair.
- Made: bidding pair gets the Avondale value (overtricks do not add). Set: bidding pair minus the bid value. Scores may go negative.
- First pair to 500 wins. Same Avondale table as 4-hand for rows 6–10. 10♥=500, 10 NT=520 — either can win from 0. 5-hand does not have 9 or 10 because only 8 tricks exist.
| Tricks | ♠ | ♣ | ♦ | ♥ | NT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 | 120 |
| 7 | 140 | 160 | 180 | 200 | 220 |
| 8 | 240 | 260 | 280 | 300 | 320 |
| 9 | 340 | 360 | 380 | 400 | 420 |
| 10 | 440 | 460 | 480 | 500 | 520 |
Nullo is not in this freeze. Say so before you deal.
Walk through one first-night hand
Six people, A B C A B C. Your pair bids 8 hearts (300). You take the widow, discard 3, play 10 tricks. Your pair takes 8. You score 300. One opposing pair took 2 tricks (+20). Overtricks would not have added — 8 made is 300 whether you take 8 or 10. If you take only 7, you are set: minus 300, and that opposing pair still has +20.
What this is not
- Not 5-hand: not 8 each, not 43-card, not cutthroat, not bid 6–8 only. 5-hand Five Hundred how-to — not a 6-hand table.
- Not 4-hand: not 43-card, not two pairs of 4. Four-hand partnership how-to — not a 6-hand table. The four-hand trainer is an off-ramp.
- Not 3-hand: not the 33-card pack. 3-hand Five Hundred for three people.
- Not euchre. Not Bid Euchre. Not Sheepshead.