Misplayed euchre hands, page 4

How to lose without even trying

---

Euchre may be one of the simplest, yet most complex card games there is. After all, you're only playing with five cards, only using a deck of 24. How hard can it be? The unfortunate fact is many people treat euchre like it's a children's game. As long as they are following suit and taking a trick when possible, they think they're playing euchre.

The truth is that euchre is a fast-paced game where even a small error can quickly make a major difference in score. Every hand must be played to its full potential. Give up one point to an incorrect play and suddenly you're on the losing end.

Look at the example below:

The dealer sits in the South position and turns up the king of hearts. West passes. North orders the king into his partner's hand. The score is 7 to 7.

West starts the hand by leading the king of spades. The maker(N) and East seats both follow suit. South trumps with the 9 of hearts and takes the trick.

Next, South correctly shows his partner(N)/maker the right. West, being void in trump, throws off a 10 of diamonds. The maker(N) plays the queen and East follows suit with the 10 of trump. Four trump are played.

Because his partner ordered up the king and didn't have the right it would be a safe assumption that he either has three trump and/or two with a couple of off-suit aces. Either way leading back another trump could put the maker(N) in a spot he hadn't planned on. South leads the 10 of clubs; West follows with the jack of clubs. The maker(N) trumps in with the ace and East plays the queen.

Now the maker(N) leads the left. West plays the ace of clubs. This causes the South seat to waste his remaining trump.

These errors cost this team a point, gave the opponents two for the euchre, and paved the way for them to win. The score was now 9 to 7. Their opponents proceeded to make the next point and win the game.

A lot of fundamental mistakes were made here. The maker didn't pay attention to the fact that he had ordered up the king and it had not yet been played. He most likely did not count trump. In addition, he didn't take into consideration that the king of diamonds was not the boss card. Moreover, let us not forget the guideline about leading trump on the fourth trick.

---

Here's another one:

The dealer is in the north seat. He turns up the king of spades. Bidding is passed back and he picks the king. For reasons unknown, he decides not to play alone and instead takes his partner along.

The only way this lone would have been stopped was with a club lead. The third seat could then trump with the ace. Was he waiting for that perfect lay-down?

---

Suggested Further Reading: