How to: Euchre

Euchre is a semi-popular card game involving four players. There are two teams in Euchre and you must sit diagonally from your partner so that the teams alternate each play. To win Euchre, you must score a preset number of points which is determined by an agreement of both teams.

To play Euchre, you need either a Euchre deck, or a regular 52 pack of playing cards. If you have regular cards, remove all of them except for the 9-A. You should have 24 cards.

To start a game of Euchre you have one player deal 5 cards out to each player. It doesn't matter what order it is, but most players like to alternate 2-3-2-3 until all but four are dealt. The top card of the four remaining cards will be flipped over face up. This will start a process called the "Bid".

Bidding is a process where all players have chance to decide what the trump suit is. In simplest terms, the trump suit beats every other card, except that of either the left bower, or a higher trump rank. The highest card is a Jack of the trump suit or the right bower, the second highest rank is the Jack of the same color suit, and then the trump suit down from King to 9. For example, If Spades was the declared trump, the best card is the Jack of Spades, the Second is the Jack of Clubs, then the King of Spades, and so on. If Hearts were trump, the second best card would be the Jack of Diamonds.

After the cards are dealt, the player sitting left of the dealer is the first player to decide whether or not the suit of the turned card becomes the trump suit. A player would tell the dealer to "Pick it up" if he thinks he and his partner can do well with that suit. If the player says pass, the decision goes on to the next player, then the next, going in a clockwise motion. As long as the bid is passed, the next player to the left has the same options of picking up or passing. At any time a suit is declared trump, the bidding is over and the play begins.

If the first three players all pass (meaning that none of them want to declare the suit of the trump), the dealer has his turn to either pick-up the upcard himself, declaring it trump, or to turn it over and start the second round of bidding.

In the second round of bidding, the dealer can pick up the card, or pass. Though, if he now passes, the upcard is turned over and following the same clockwise path before, the players can chose trump if they wish. If everyone passes and it gets back to the dealer, the dealer MUST declare the trump suit.