| "Next" Calls in Euchre
Suppose that you are sitting to the left of Dealer, with a new game underway, and the Jack of hearts is turned. You pass, the other two players do the same, and the dealer turns down this Bower. You hold a hand similar to this:
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This is not a powerhouse. So what do you do?
Call diamonds! Although your spade suit is stronger, the best strategy is to call "next" (the suit of the same color as the "turned down" suit). Why is this so? Well, let's see. The dealer declined the Right. This usually indicates a hand which is short in the suit of the turned trump, and has more cards of the other color suits. Chances are good that his partner did not hold the Left; he would have ordered, especially if he had the Left and a small trump, and maybe a side Ace. (Note: there are some pairs who will not order the Right into their partner's hand, but I'll address this topic in a future column.)
By going "next," you have knocked the Jack of hearts out of the game (it was declined by the dealer, and now the Jack of diamonds becomes the Right). Partner may have this Bower or it could be in the Kitty. In any case, your diamond Ace is a nice card, and with a modicum of help from Partner, you may win a point. If you meekly pass, you can rest assured that the next player (dealer's partner) will call a black suit and, perhaps, find his partner with some cards in that suit (after all, he turned down hearts).
Let's look at an extreme situation.
Dealer turns the Jack of hearts, and you hold:
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This is not a good hand, but it is your turn to call. Go with diamonds!
Yikes! With a singleton nine? Why not? If you pass, you know that the same thing will happen (a black suit call by the dealer's partner). Yes, you might get "Uked." Then again, you might catch your partner with good diamonds, and perhaps, a side Ace. There are players who will live or die with "next" calls, and they seem to win regularly. I have seen players who will call "next" with no trumps and a very weak hand. While I don't endorse such risky play, I must admit that I have seen this strategy work, especially in progressive (tournament) play.
Try "next" when you have to. It will improve your play.
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| The Ten Big Rules of Euchre, Part 2 of 2
Harvey Lapp is a Euchre expert who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He wrote a chapter in my latest book, "The Complete Win At Euchre."
(See the March column for rules 1 through 5!)
Rule #6: Thou shalt not leadeth trump to thine opponent's order.
If your opponents are the makers, you should NOT lead trump. It is very common to see players on the internet use this strategy (thus the name "the Internet Lead"); however, it is largely a mistake. Quite often, a team will order up a suit and the defender will have only one trump, the Right bower. This player knows he has a sure stopper, so he leads it immediately, very often pulling a valuble trump out of his partner's hand while only collecting small trump from his opponents. They now no longer need to lead their own big trump in order to find the Right; instead their Left or Ace of trump has now been promoted to "boss!" This makes their job a lot easier.
Although some possible scenarios might support a trump lead by the defense wise, it is usually a bad play.
Rule #7: When thou hath ordered trump, leadeth thy Right bower to smite thy foes.
In the majority of hands that you order up, you will commonly find that leading the Right bower is the best way to make other cards good in the end. This is especially true when you order up a hand with three trump led by the Right bower, and a second suit headed by the Ace. However, if you only have two trump cards and no Aces, you would probably do much better by leading an off-suit, hoping your partner takes a trick for you.
Rule #8: Ordereth not the Right bower unto thy partner's hand unless thou canst go alone.
This is conventional wisdom at work. You have to be able to count on your partner to always pick up the Bower unless he has a sure trick in all three other suits. If your partner is not guaranteed to do his part, the convention is not complete; therefore, you could order him up, but should still consider going alone instead. If you order up a Bower to your partner, you might deny him a chance to go alone (since the Bower is such a big part of a lone hand). Your team will score two points in this case, when you could have had four if you had passed. Many hands that might tempt you to order up the Bower can actually go alone with the Bower buried in your partner's hand. If your partner automatically picks up the Bower (unless he has a sure stopper in all three other suits, thus eliminating the opponents' possibility of a loner), chances are that the two of you will be able to connect on a couple of other tricks and make a point or two.
(This topic will be discussed in more detail in the next column. – Joe)
Rule #9: Goeth alone whenever thou canst, unless thy team hath eight or nine points.
If you have three sure tricks and a possible fourth, there is a good chance that your hand can go alone. In fact, much weaker hands can go alone at times. The value of a loner is obvious. You will score four points as opposed to two if you play the same hand with your partner. There are many cases where the cards that your partner holds will help you just as much by not being played.
Remember, the card that might stop your loner has a good chance of being buried in the kitty or sitting in your partner's hand. There is a lesser probability of the key card ending up in your opponent's hand, and your opponent would still need to get lucky and play it at the right time. Don't go alone if you have eight or nine points. Your partner might help you make two points to win the game. You don't need four points anyway.
By the way, loners rule in progressive, or tournament, play.
Rule #10: Thou shalt not complaineth about the cards that are dealt upon thee.
Sometimes it seems that every hand you get is useless. It's either weak as heck and multi-suited or it is a loner in the wrong color. Unfortunately, you can't just fold them and wait for the next deal. In the long run, we'll all end up with roughly the same amount of lousy hands. This makes the game approximately mathematically even. The very best Euchre players are doing well if they can stay consistently over .500 in the long run.
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