A little more on ordering

Euchre QOD: “Beware of watchcat”

Euchre Haiku:
Sitting with the left
Thinking about a loner
Does kitty have right?

Euchre Palaver

“Kitty” – These are the 4 cards that remain after everyone’s been dealt their 5 cards. The top card of the kitty is flipped over and is used during the first round of bidding. If someone orders it up, the dealer gets to replace one of her cards with the top card of the kitty. The remaining 3 kitty cards are never used in play.

Savvy Strategies

One of the 10 commandments of euchre states that you should never pass a biddable hand. The fact is that if you are too conservative at euchre you will lose much more often than you win. I like this advice but I would add that it doesn’t really apply for the person sitting in Seat 1 (the Lead Seat). Unless you have a really great hand (>23 card points) you should pass, so when it comes around to you first in round 2, you can pick an alternate suit. That prevents the dealer from getting to pick up a trump, allows you the chance to euchre someone and doesn’t diminish the value of your hand greatly. Take the following example

If Clubs are turned up, you would have 22 card points and should order up from any seat. However, in the Lead Seat you should pass because in Spades you would also have 22 card points and you wouldn’t be giving the opponents an extra trump or a chance for the dealer to short suit himself.

It’s ok to be conservative from the first seat in the first round. But be aggressive with your bidding in round 2.

League update:
Well, my partner and I kicked some euchredoodledo last night thumping our opponents 5 games to none. In the whole match they score a mere 21 points. I believe our performance might push us up into the top 5 teams. The thing that made it most enjoyable however, was the fact that one of our opponents was a complete know-it-all, poutie, jerk. He was rude to his partner, made no attempt at conversation and would’ve made a drama queen look reserved. Playing strangers can be a drag. But made less so when you kick their butt!!

Happy Valentine’s Day.