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How to Play Euchre

The goal of Euchre is to be the first team to reach 10 points by winning tricks in each round played.

Euchre Setup and Terminology

Euchre is a four-player card game, played in teams of two, with team members sitting across from each other. Each round is set up and played as follows:

• Deal: The game is played with only the 9, 10, J, Q, K, A of each suit, and each player is dealt five cards each round. The dealer is denoted by a yellow dot.
• Kitty: The remaining four cards form the kitty and are placed in the middle with the top card turned face up for everyone to see. No facedown cards from the kitty are revealed during the game except for the top kitty card. Players take turns deciding whether the top card should be trump during the first of two rounds for choosing trump.
  • If chosen for trump, the dealer takes the top card and discards one facedown into the kitty.
  • If not chosen for trump, the dealer turns the card over on top of the kitty and the second round of choosing trump begins.
• Trump: Players name one suit as trump for each round, and that suit outranks any other card of any rank in other suits. For example, if hearts is trump, then a 9♥ ranks higher than the K♣.
• Trick: Each player plays a single card into the middle to create a trick, and rounds consist of five tricks.
• Lead: The player that plays the first card in a trick has the lead, and whoever wins the previous trick gets the lead for the next trick.
• Card rank: Aces are high and nines are low for the cards of the non-trump suit. But trump cards follow a slightly different ranking system. Although nines are low, the jack of the trump suit is the highest card, and the jack of the same color as the trump suit is the second-highest ranking card. So if clubs is trump, the cards would rank, highest to lowest, 9♣, 10♣, Q♣, K♣, A♣, J♠, J♣.

Euchre Rules

• Determine trump before playing any tricks. The trump suit changes each round and is determined by the players. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, players can call the turned-up suit as trump or pass, sending the decision, clockwise, to the next player.
  • If someone calls the card to be trump, the dealer picks up the card and discards a card from their hand facedown into the kitty. So if a Q♥ is the top card and someone wants hearts to be trump, the dealer must put the Q♥ in their hand and discard another card into the kitty.
  • If no one calls the card to be trump, the dealer turns the top card facedown, and the process repeats. Players can call any other suit as trump except the suit of the card that was turned over, but they can also pass, which sends the decision, clockwise, to the next player. So if the Q♥ is turned over, then any suit except hearts could be trump.
• Play five tricks to complete each round with players following the suit of the card that leads each trick. The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick by placing a card in the middle, and all other players must follow suit if they have it. For example, if the Q♣ leads, everyone must play a club if they have it. If they don’t have the same suit, they can play any other card, including trump. Whoever wins the trick gets to lead the next trick.
• The player who played the highest ranking card or trump wins the trick. Tricks are won by the player who plays the highest card or the highest trump. For example, if the Q♣ leads, followed by the 10♣, K♣, and 9♣, the K♣ would win the trick. But if hearts is trump and the Q♣,10♣, K♣, and 9♥ gets played, the 9♥ wins the trick because it trumps even the highest club played.
• Continue playing rounds until one team scores 10 points and wins the game. Scoring each round depends on who called trump.
  • If the team of the player who called trump wins at least 3 of the 5 tricks, they score 1 point.
  • If the team of the player who called trump wins all 5 tricks, they score 2 points.
  • If the team of the player who called trump wins fewer than 3 tricks, they are euchered, and the opposing team gets 2 points.

Euchre Strategies

• Lead your highest trump if your team called trump. If your team called trump, one of you should have some of the highest trump cards. So leading trump allows your team to pull out the opposing team’s trump and keep the lead. Even if your partner called trump and the highest trump card you have is the 9, lead it. You’re still drawing out the opposing team’s trump cards, but you’re also giving your partner (the one who called trump) the opportunity to play a high-ranking trump card and take the lead.
• Lead your highest off-suit card if your team didn’t call trump. Leading your highest off-suit card is the best way to take at least one trick from the other team. If your team didn’t call trump, the other team must be confident they can win at least three tricks. So you want to keep them from getting all five. Because players must follow suit, leading an A♣ could force the opposing team to play clubs and lose a chance at getting two points.
• Call trump if you have at least two high-ranking trump cards. You can usually count on your partner to take one trick, so if you have two high-ranking trump cards, you can typically call trump confidently. For example, if you have one of the jacks and the ace of the trump suit, those cards could pull out high trump cards, like the jack of the same color as the trump suit as well as the king, and make some of your off-suit cards or lower trump, like a queen or ten, useful to win tricks.
• Don’t overtrump your partner unnecessarily. Even if you called trump, don’t waste a trump card that can be used in other tricks if your partner is ahead on the trick. If, for example, clubs is trump and you have the J♣, you would waste it by playing it on your partner’s J♠. Overtrump only when you know you need to save the trick or you don’t have a lower trump card. For example, if your partner leads a 10♣ and you know the other team could have the Q♣ or K♣ or you must follow suit and don’t have a lower trump, play that J♣.
• Never trump your partner’s ace. This is similar to the idea of not overtrumping your partner. You don’t want to waste any trump or high off-suit cards like aces, so let your partner's ace go through despite the risk that someone might trump it. If your partner leads the A♥, see if it will take the trick rather than waste a trump card that could be used for a future trick.
• Throw low cards if you can’t take the trick. Don’t waste high-ranking cards on tricks you can’t win. For example, if the A♠ was played and you have the K♠ and 9♠, play the 9♠. You can keep those higher cards for other tricks where they might win.
• Watch what gets played. You can determine what players have in their hand just by watching them play. For example, if you lead the J♥ when hearts is trump and an opposing player plays the J♦, you can assume that was probably the only trump they had. If they had lower trump cards, like a 10♥, they would have played that rather than letting the second-highest card go.

If you enjoy trick-taking games, you can also try playing Whist, Spades, or Hearts all for free on Solitaired!