Five Hundred
How to Play Five Hundred with 3 Players
Three-hand Five Hundred is the same race to 500, without partners. You build a 33-card pack, deal 10 each, leave a 3-card widow, and bid one round. The player who wins the bid plays alone against the other two. Avondale values, the joker as best bower, and the bid table live on the four-hand how-to. Do not mix this pack with that 43-card partnership deal.
What you need
- Three players. Nobody has a standing partner.
- A 33-card pack: 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace in all four suits, plus one joker. Pull 2 through 6.
- Paper with three running totals. Game is 500.
10 + 10 + 10 + 3 = 33. If you have cards left over, you built the four-hand pack by mistake. Some older American tables keep a couple extra low cards (black ace through 7, red ace through 6, plus joker). That is a different deal. Tonight: 33 cards so the widow stays three.
Deal ten, bid once, 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. Bid 6 through 10 in spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts, or no trump, or pass. A later bid must outrank the one on the table. Same rank as four-hand: spades lowest, no trump highest.
Highest bid wins. That player takes the three widow cards and discards any three face down. Then they play 10 tricks alone. The other two are trying to set them. Left of the dealer leads.
Scoring, three columns
| What happened | Who scores |
|---|---|
| Bidder takes at least the bid | Bidder gets the Avondale value |
| Bidder takes fewer (set) | Bidder loses the bid value |
| Each trick an opponent takes | That opponent gets 10 |
| A player reaches 500 | That player wins |
Example: you bid 7 hearts (200). You take 8 tricks. You score 200. The other two took 2 tricks between them, 10 each for whoever won them. If you take only 6, you are set: minus 200, and they still score 10 a trick. Bid values are the Avondale table on the four-hand how-to — 6♠=40 up to 10 NT=520. Overtricks do not add extra.
What does not change
- Follow suit. Left bower is trump, not its printed suit.
- Joker is best bower in a trump suit. In no trump it is still the highest card.
- 10 hearts or 10 no trump, made from 0, is still game.
- Nullo is not in this freeze. Say so before you deal.