Official Euchre Thread

I always wanted to make an official something!

The wife and I are in a weekly Euchre league - I played a ton in HS, and we both played a lot in college, but I hadn't played much since I picked up poker and my new brain is now conisdering the game in a different way. Here are some random questions I have been thinking of:

1) How poor should your hand be to pass when your partner deals and turns over the right?

My gut - you have 2 or less trump and no other winners or

1/0 trump and then only one ace that may go

better than that you order it up?

2) now you're the dealer and your partner passed when you turn over the right.

I think you pick it up unless:

you have no other trump or just one with no winners

you have an awesome helper/euching hand - say two aces and maybe a bower and the suits set up well

3) Your parnter deals and turns over the Ac. You have the 9c and the Kc along with some other junk and pass. Partner picks it up. Opp leads the As and you have no spades. Which trump do you throw?

4) you have all nines, tens or queens, no trump, the other team dealt and called it, now you must lead. What do you throw and why?

5) I am going to wait to post more to see if anyone replies and if I can remember I have a thread in house of cards.

1) 2 suited with 2 trump. Maybe 3 suited with 2 trump and an A.

Guess those are both easy. I'm not ordering it up if I figure to win one trick. If my partner can win 2 she'll pick it up. I've never considered if I know I have one, and maybe have a second. Again, I probably leave it on my partner.

2) Pretty much.

3) Default, I lead the 9c. Now that I've thought about it I would play the Kc. Without a blocker the K basically becomes garbage.

These type of decisions I feel matter maybe 1 out of 100 games. It takes pretty specific holdings for it to matter one way or the other.

4) From experience, it doesn't matter.

5) You would do that.

Pretty sure I was on a sick heater, I used to be unstoppable. 2007 was a bad year. It started on New Years getting skunked 2 out of 3 games and winning maybe 2 tricks in the third. Here's hoping I run better in 2008.

My Q:
6) How much of Euchere do you think is luck/skill?

90/10 and I think 95% of that "skill" is preflop.

is this setback?

I don't know what setback is

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My Q:
6) How much of Euchere do you think is luck/skill?

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I would have said about 90/10

BUT, we have played 4 nights, three matches or whatever each night. I have only seen one obvious misplay in the 4 nights, and the wife and I have won 2 out of 3 matches each night, and the last two we either had 8 or 9 when we lost. PLUS, our loss tonight we were up 7-0 and I did not win a trick the rest of the match, no bowers, Aces never rode, etc. So now I'm wondering if it's more. If there is a skill edge, it must be calling or not calling, mostly making thin calls I think. Mayne the occasional sneaky pass when you have a good euching (is that how we spell it?) hand.

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If my partner can win 2 she'll pick it up

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two things are awesome about this:

1) seems logical

2) you assume partner is a she, BOC?

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3) Default, I lead the 9c. Now that I've thought about it I would play the Kc.

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totally agree, this has to be correct, right?

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These type of decisions I feel matter maybe 1 out of 100 games. It takes pretty specific holdings for it to matter one way or the other.

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I would normally agree, and playing with tons of college students who were 6 times over the limit re-inforced this belief, but again, my wife and I are killing it. The session is 8 weeks and we're halfway through, we'll see. If we can go all the sessions, or even all but one, winnning 2 of 3 I will be amazed.

I guess by "skill" I meant some ability that allowed you to beat people beyond just experience. I feel like you could write a "guide" to euchere (bot essentially), I guess I mean "I" could write it from the knowledge & experience I have. It's not like you can adjust to loose or passive play. Problem with a guide is there are just sooooo many situations, but I feel they're all quantifiable (more a simple chess than a simple poker).

I would say your villains are either too tight pre, or you're on an upswing. Especially if you don't see villain mistakes.

I assumed girl because you said you were playing with your wife. :-/

Some random pre thoughts:
1) Always call/order if you have 2, unless you're in first position and you have a better 2nd suit. Then obv pass. I guess I occasionally pass from 2nd position if I know the person in 1st is a nit, although at the game you describe I wouldn't expect this to happen often.

2) 2 suited > 3 suited with stronger cards >>> 4 suited with all off Aces.

3) I always check hands like red J, black J, red A, black A. (Eucoring hand?). Either you're winning or your not. No reason to call.

Set 5 last night, we took two of three again, including a 10/0 with no loners. I keep assuming we'll just run awful some night, although I'm not sure what a reasonable sample size is. We are third (through 4 sets), one team had won 10/12. The standandings are the points you get in each match, win or lose, except you get a two point bonus for winning.

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1) Always call/order if you have 2, unless you're in first position and you have a better 2nd suit. Then obv pass. I guess I occasionally pass from 2nd position if I know the person in 1st is a nit, although at the game you describe I wouldn't expect this to happen often.

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I assume you mean if your partner dealt? Surely you are not ordering other team up with something like K9 trump+garbage?


One general spot I had a few times last night:

You order it up with Jxx trump plus one Ace plus say a K from first position:

1)You lead the Ace and take the trick, everyone follows suit

2) You lead the Ace and take the trick, everyone follows suit EXCEPT your parnter, who throws a 9 off

3) You lead the Ace and take the trick, everyone follows suit EXCEPT the player to your left, who throws a 9 off

What do you lead now?
Does it matter if the K is a 9?


It feels to me like guesswork - once last night I got euched like this leading the right (partner had left only), and once we got euched because I didn't and the woman to my left had the left only and I could have pulled it.

I meant you know you have 2 tricks. Then started to think about criterion that lets me know I have 2 and realize it was a long list.

K9xxx I wouldn't even think I had one likely trick to win.

1) If the A wins I lead the J. If you don't end up winning it probably doesn't matter what you did.

2) If my K is the same suit as the 9 I play it hoping my partner short suited herself and we have a shot at all 5.

If the K is different suit, hmmm. At this point your K is either good, or it's not, no sense worrying about it. If my xx trump are strong (i.e. I can win 2 with just the cards in my hand) I lead the J easily.

If I have JT9, or JQT I would have led the K in the past, given up the lead and re-evaluated. I think now I would lead the 9 or T, you would have a real good idea of where you stood after that.

3) If K is same suit, then I lead the J with strong trump. With weak trump I think you need to lead your lowest trump. Can't lead the K, leading the J is basically a flip like you said (although not a terrible move), so that's the only option.

If K is a different suit it's a little more complicated. I'm leaning towards leading a rag trump (or the J if your trump is strong), for similar reasons.

I look at this situation and think you called it because your hand is awesome and you can win 3 by yourself. So play it as such. If you loose that A you need to start relying on your partner some.

4) Could we get rich by writing this book?

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Originally Posted by drmcboy

4) Could we get rich by writing this book?

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How serious is this?

Honestly it sounds like fun, I would like just dealing out 1 million hands and figuring out how to play them, I just can't decide if anyone would buy a book about euchre. I did a quick google before posting this and the online info seemed really lacking

~checks amazon~

meh, there are some out there. One had people posting that they had not read the book but were friends with the author so it deserved 5 stars...

I've tried the game on Hoyle Card Games, but don't really care for it. Might be better live though.

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Originally Posted by swiggidy

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Originally Posted by drmcboy

4) Could we get rich by writing this book?

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How serious is this?

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I have no euchre specific input, but I just think that books titled:
"Why you lose at ______"

sound good.. so if you write a book you should call it that... gl.