Question about OE dogma for beginners

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deece
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:11 pm

Question about OE dogma for beginners

Unread post by deece » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:04 pm

Greetings. I am a brand new OE user (as of today) and have begun reviewing the lessons. I have been mediocre at Euchre for many years, not playing very often and feeling like worst-at-table when I do, so decided to do something about it!

Lesson 4, which addresses "the proper discard," contains the following two statements, which appear to be based on the same theory:
(1) "As a general rule, try and hold a double suit. Say you hold a King-Queen of one suit and a singleton King of another, with neither one being trump. The best discard would be the lone King. Most often, the suit of your discard is more important than its rank. I have seen many players break up a combination to hold, say, two kings. This is not wise, as neither is likely to take a trick. When holding a combination set, one of them may be useful at the end."
(2) "When you are holding three trump and are making a lone bid, if you have to choose between holding two Aces or keeping an Ace-King combination, discarding the single Ace tends to be the better choice. This limits the opponents' opportunities to trump or over trump a suit."


The explanation for why these rules are true eludes me. My inclination would have been the opposite. With example (1), I understand that discarding the singleton King gets you void in that suit, allowing you to use trump if that suit is led. But I don't understand the statement that "holding a combination set, one of them may be useful at the end." Can anyone explain what this means, perhaps with examples?

Also, regarding (2), an Ace means "likely winner" in my brain, so I don't understand why discarding the King is smarter. That is, I don't understand the statement "This limits the opponents' opportunities to trump or over trump a suit." Again, can anyone explain what this means, perhaps with examples?

Thanks in advance!



knglenny
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 5:25 pm

Unread post by knglenny » Thu Aug 27, 2020 3:01 pm

Also a novice, but I'll take a crack:

#1 Voiding a suit is a good thing, so dropping the singleton king makes sense. I think you are asking why (Card_K-D) (Card_Q-D) (for example) is better than 2 kings . The idea is if the (Card_A-D) is played, you follow with your (Card_Q-D) and now your (Card_K-D) is boss of that suit. If you had (Card_K-D) (Card_K-S) and the (Card_A-D) is played you play your (Card_K-D), and are still holding the (Card_K-S) which probably isn't boss in it's suit AND you have an extra suit in your hand.

#2 less suits. if you have 2 aces during a loner, it's more likely one of your opponents can trump into your ace. However, once you take the lead and play your ace, king is now boss so its essentially like having 2 aces with one less suit.

Richardb02
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Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:57 pm
Location: Florida

Unread post by Richardb02 » Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:17 pm

Great Q&A deece & knglenny! Deece, your question is 100% appropriate. I’m certain that other readers have the same question. Knglenny, your answer is easy to understand and on target. Keep up the posting.

Both of you are on your way, to improving your Euchre skills. Please join us Monday nights, 850 PM ET at worldofcardgames.com. Instructions are ez to find on this site. Register and play 10 games. That way you are familiar with the site and will be able to track your improvements with your ELO, WoCG’s rating system.Players rotate at random. Enjoy!

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