Many living in the U.S.A. have been taught to play euchre, especially in Michigan and neighboring states. If not, they have at least heard their friends playing Euchre since this game was passed down for generations.
It’s even believed that the game came to the U.S. in the 1800s by the German settlers in Pennsylvania. However, some people think that this card game is a spin-off from Juckerspiel. The game’s origin is unclear, but it remains a fun game that people love playing socially.
If you are interested in learning how to play this card game in a short time, you have come to the right place. We will teach you the important terms of Euchre, tips to win, and how trump is decided in this post.
And remember, before you start playing, grab a few friends because Euchre is a game of four members.
What You Need To Get Started
You can use a deck of cards, but for a traditional game of Euchre, only 24 cards are required. If two of your friends know the Euchre rules, they can teach the beginners by taking them as partners.
While traditionally, Euchre requires four players, there are other variants with 3 players, 2 players, and 6 players that you could play after learning the basics.
Important Terms
Knowing about the commonly used terms and phrases can make it easy for you to play the game without getting confused. Below are some important terms of this card game that you must know before starting the game:
- Trick: During the game, when everyone plays their card, those four cards are called a trick. You can think of a trick as a round. Since each player gets five cards, that means there are five tricks per hand. It’s important to remember that the game scoring depends on these.
- Follow Suit: One basic principle of the game is that the game members must play the same suit that the player leading the trick plays. This rule is called follow suit. Here’s how to follow suit works. For instance, the leading player plays a heart card, then the rest of the players should also play heart cards (unless they don’t have a card from that suit at all).
- Leading Player: A person who plays first for that trick is the one who “leads.” Usually, it’s the person to the dealer’s left who starts the lead once trump is decided. After that, the lead gets transferred to any player who won the last trick.
- Euchre: It’s, of course, the name of the game, but it’s also a situation in the game when the players who do not call trump take five tricks. As there are only five tricks per game, the team not calling the trump must take three or more tricks to win. Euchring the opponents gives the team two points.
How to Decide Trump
After the dealer distributes five cards to each player and takes five cards, they start bidding the trump. The process starts with the player on the left to the dealer choosing whether the face-up card should be trump or not.
If a player has more than three cards of the face-up card’s suit, they should select it as a trump. Once the trump is decided, the player asks the dealer to “pick it up,” and the dealer discards one of the cards they don’t think will win.
But if no player chooses the face-up card as trump, the card is flipped. Then the player to the dealer’s left is given a chance to choose a trump from any suit other than the face-up card’s suit.
However, if there’s a situation where no player decides on trump, they can choose to “stick the dealer.” It is a situation where the dealer selects a trump at the end of the second round.
The Order of the Play
Every player plays a card, starting with the person on the dealer’s left. Everyone needs to follow suit.
It’s important for the person playing the first card to start with a high, non-trump card. That’s because if everyone else also plays the cards of a similar suit, then the chances of winning the trick for the first person increase.
It becomes necessary to win a trick at this point of the game as there are only five tricks per hand.
Tips to Win Euchre
Here are four things you should do to win Euchre online and offline
- If you think you can win the game, call trump.
- You must not entirely depend on your partner as they might decide to play solo anytime. But counting on your partner for a trick could be beneficial if they are somehow able to indicate to you that they have a strong hand. You can’t be sure since you can’t see your partner’s cards, but it’s better to assume they can take a trick.
- Always keep an eye on the card that’s being played.
Conclusion
As you can see, playing Euchre online is simple, and you can master this card game by practice. Along with practice, you must also familiarize yourself with the commonly used terms of the game.