How to Play Euchre
The deck for cabin Euchre
Hunting Deck — $14.99
Big game, waterfowl and upland birds. Made for the lake house and deer camp table.
Shop the deck or the Fishing Deck →Players: 4, in two partnerships sitting across · Deck: 24 cards, 9 through ace in each suit (remove 2–8) · Goal: first team to 10 points.
Card ranking
In the trump suit, from high to low:
- Right bower — the jack of trump
- Left bower — the other jack of the same color (it counts as a trump card, not its printed suit)
- Ace, King, Queen, 10, 9
Non-trump suits rank Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9.
The deal
Deal five cards to each player (traditionally in batches of 2 and 3). Place the remaining four face down as the kitty and flip the top card face up.
Making trump
- Round one: starting left of the dealer, each player can order it up (make the face-up card's suit trump) or pass. If someone orders it up, the dealer adds that card to their hand and discards one.
- Round two: if all four pass, the card is turned down and each player may name any other suit as trump, or pass. Many tables play stick the dealer: if it comes back around, the dealer must name trump.
- The team that chooses trump are the makers. The person who chose can go alone, and their partner sits out the hand.
Playing tricks
The player left of the dealer leads. Follow suit if you can (remember the left bower belongs to the trump suit). If you can't, play anything. Highest trump wins; with no trump played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner leads next.
Scoring
- Makers take 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point.
- Makers take all 5 (a march): 2 points.
- Lone hand takes all 5: 4 points.
- Makers take fewer than 3: they're euchred, and the defenders score 2 points.
Tips
- Two bowers or three trumps with an off-suit ace is usually enough to call trump.
- Lead trump when your team called it; lead off-suit aces when defending.