When To Play Alone, page 3

Ace High Lones: Are you willing to try one?

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As we continue on our journey of exploring possible lones, let us look at the need to have a bower(s). How many of you would even consider trying an ace high lone call? As we stated earlier, nine cards are out of play on a lone call. That's a third of the deck. Not convinced? Do you think there is little chance of making one? Don't be so sure! There are some hands, such as ace - king - queen suited (in trump) plus an off-suit ace-king that should always be tried as a lone. And, generally speaking, almost any other hand along these lines may work. They just have to be tried. Your reward could be four points.

Here's an interesting example:

In this example, you are the dealer and sit in the North seat. You just turned up the king of diamonds, everyone passes and the bidding comes back around to you. What do you do?

While at first glance the hand may not seem like a likely lone call, but remember that nine cards are out of play. Those nine cards could include both bowers. And yes, this time both were in the kitty. On hands such as this, the odds of being euchred are slim. This is the type of hand that should be played alone.

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Yet another example

The dealer sits in the North seat. He picks up the queen of diamonds and calls alone.

The East seat leads the queen of clubs and West seat plays the jack. The maker takes the trick with the ace. This lone gives the bidding team a nice lead and they're on their way to a win.

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Here is one more ace high lone;

The dealer sits in the South seat and turns up the queen of spades. Bidding gets passed around and the dealer goes alone. East leads the ace of clubs and the rest is history.

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A risky lone call that made a point

Although this lone attempt was unsuccessful, they did make their point. This lone was tried by a team that understands the value of the lone call, even when success is not guaranteed.

The dealer sits in the South position, and picks up the 10 of spades, while discarding the 9 of clubs. West leads the 9 of hearts and East trumps in with the left. East then leads back the ace of diamonds. The maker(S) trumps this lead with the 10 and West follows suit. The maker(S) then leads the king of spades (trump), and the king walks, as does the ace of hearts. Sure, the lone itself failed, but the team made their point. This hand was played by an aggressive competitor that knows the importance of making four points.

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Suggested Further Reading: