How to Play Bid Euchre

What you need

• 3–5 players. Everyone for themselves. No partners. Four is the usual Pepper table. Three is a real table. Five is a real table. Two is not tonight's Bid Euchre.
• A 24-card pack: pull 2 through 8 from a 52, keep 9 through ace. Same pack as euchre. No jokers.
• Paper with a column per person. First to 21 wins. Going past 21 is fine — no exact-21.

Sit, pick a dealer, agree on the house

Sit where everyone can see the tricks. Cut for the first deal, or point at someone. After each hand, the deal moves clockwise.

Say these out loud before the first card:

1. 24 cards. 9 through ace. No partners. Four is the usual table: 6 each. Three: 8 each. Five: 32-card pack (7–A), 6 each, 2 leftover unused — not a blind, not a kitty.
2. Bid a number of tricks, then the high bidder names trump. Left of dealer starts. Must beat the previous number, or pass. Bid 6 at four is Pepper — all six tricks. If everyone passes, throw in and redeal. No forced bid.
3. Bowers when a trump suit is named. Jack of trump is right bower (highest). Jack of the same color is left bower (second). Then A K Q 10 9 of trump. No trump: no bowers, ace high.
4. Only the bidder's column moves. First to 21. Made: score the tricks you actually took. Set: minus the bid. Pepper made: +12. Pepper set: −12. Not euchre hash marks to 10. Not Sheepshead to 5.

The 24-card pack and who sits

Shuffle a 52. Pull every 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. What remains is 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace in four suits — 24 cards. That is the pack for four and for three. Same pack as euchre. Different game.

Four people: 6 × 4 = 24. Three people: 8 × 3 = 24. Five people: pull 2 through 6 instead (keep 7 through ace — 32 cards), deal 6 each, two leftover sit face-down unused. Nobody looks. They are not a blind and not a kitty. If someone has the wrong count, throw it in and deal again.

Two is not this game. Two people: cribbage, gin, or the euchre trainer if they want partnership euchre with an upcard. From tonight.

Bid, then name trump

Look at your six cards. Starting left of the dealer, each player bids a number of tricks 1 through 6, or passes. A later bid must beat the previous number. You cannot match. Pass and the next person speaks.

The high bidder names trump — any of the four suits, or no trump — and leads trick 1. They do not turn an upcard. There is no maker sitting across from a partner.

A bid of 6 is Pepper — you are bidding all six tricks. Say it out loud. If everyone passes, throw the hand in and redeal. There is no forced bid tonight.

Three (real table): bid 1 through 8. A bid of 8 is Pepper. Same naming of trump. Same lead by the bidder.

Five: bid 1 through 6. Pepper is 6. Same naming of trump. The two unused cards stay out.

Bowers, trump, and no trump

When a trump suit is named, the jack of that suit is the right bower — highest card. The jack of the same color is the left bower — second. Then ace, king, queen, 10, 9 of trump. The left bower has left its printed suit: it is trump, not diamonds if hearts are trump.

Off-suit, high to low: A K Q J 10 9, except the left bower is gone from that suit. Diamonds with hearts trump have no jack — it is the left bower.

No trump: no bowers. Ace high, then K Q J 10 9. Jacks are just jacks. Follow the led suit. Highest of that suit wins.

At five, the pack also has 7s and 8s. Trump then runs A K Q 10 9 8 7 under the bowers. Same right and left bower. That still is not Sheepshead — queens and jacks plus diamonds are not always trump, and you are not picking a blind.

Play the tricks

The high bidder leads trick 1. After that, the winner of a trick leads the next. At four you play 6 tricks. At three, 8. At five, 6.

1. You must follow suit if you have a card of the suit that was led. Left bower counts as trump, not as its printed suit — if diamonds are led and hearts are trump, J♦ does not follow diamonds.
2. If you are void, you may trump or discard any card.
3. The highest trump in the trick wins. If nobody played trump, the highest card of the led suit wins.

There is no upcard and no partners across. That is not euchre. There is no kitty and no books over 6. That is not Bid Whist. You do not score High, Low, Jack, Game. That is not Pitch.

Scoring, in the amount you need tonight

Count the bidder's tricks. Compare them to the bid. Only the bidder's column moves. Other people score nothing from this bid.

Make at least your bid: write the number of tricks you actually took, not just the bid. Set (fewer than the bid): minus the bid, not minus what you took. Pepper (bid 6 at four) made: +12. Pepper set: −12.

At three, Pepper is a bid of 8: +16 made / −16 set. Ordinary made bids still score tricks taken. First to 21 wins. Going past 21 is fine. You do not need exact-21. You do not hash-mark to 10. That is euchre. You do not race to 5. That is Sheepshead.

Walk through one first-night hand

Four people — the usual Pepper table. You are West. South dealt. You speak first.

Your six cards:

• J♥ — right bower if you name hearts
• J♦ — left bower if you name hearts
• A♥ and K♥
• A♠
• 9♣

Four trump if hearts are named, plus a side ace. You bid 3. North passes. East passes. South passes. You name hearts and lead.

You lead J♥, the right bower. Everyone follows or dumps. You take it. You lead J♦, the left bower. You take it. You lead A♥. You take it. That is 3 — your bid. You lead K♥. You take it. Four tricks. You lead A♠. North trumps with 9♥. You take no more.

Bid 3, take 4. You made it. You score +4 — the tricks you took, not just the 3 you bid. North, East, and South score nothing this hand. Write +4 in your column. Deal again.

Night-one habits

• Bid a number, then name trump. There is no upcard. The bidder leads trick 1.
• Say the bowers out loud: jack of trump, jack of the same color, then A K Q 10 9.
• Left bower is trump. It does not follow its printed suit.
• Only the bidder's column moves. Made = tricks taken. Pepper at four is +12 / −12.
• Three people is a real Bid Euchre table — 8 each, bid 1–8, Pepper is 8. Four is the usual table. Five is 32 cards, 6 each, 2 unused.

You know enough to deal. Keep this page beside the pad. Four people is a tonight pick. Three people is a tonight pick. Five people is a tonight pick. There is no Bid Euchre trainer on CardPractice — this how-to is the product. If you wanted an upcard, partners across, and hash marks to 10, that is euchre. If you wanted a 32-card picker and 61 of 120, that is Sheepshead. If you wanted partners, jokers, a kitty, and books over 6 to 7, that is Bid Whist. Two people: cribbage, gin, or the euchre trainer for partnership euchre.