Mind control

Euchre QOD: “Paying attention is expensive”

Euchre Haiku:
Guess what they will lead
Hold a card in the middle
Now control their mind

Euchre Palaver
Maker – The person who orders up trump. Her team has to win at least 3 tricks or else will be euchred.

Savvy Strategies
To keep me amused and engaged in a euchre game, I like to try to predict the card that an opponent will play even before they play it. Often I will hold a card face down in the middle of the table while I wait for the opponent to lead. It drives them nuts when I can simply turn over the card that I was holding out as if I “knew” what they were going to play. Tossing in a “mind control” comment here and there reinforces their exasperation. It’s quite fun. And can also goad the opponent into making a “wrong” play. Some euchre players would rather prove you wrong by leading something you couldn’t predict than lead the right card to make the contract.

Here are some tips to do your own euchre “mind control”.

1. Play a card that doesn’t matter. Some euchre hands are so bad that you’ll only be able to follow suit once or not at all. For example, if you have a four card suited hand and that suit is led once, odds are you’ve got 3 dead cards. You can hold any of those cards face down knowing there is a good chance you won’t be able to follow anyway. But don’t let on that that is the reason you can play it. Always make it seem like you wanted to play that card.
2. Play a trump when your ordering opponent gets the lead. So the opponent orders and picks up a Bower. After she wins the first trick odds are pretty good that she’ll be leading back trump. You pull your low trump out of your hand before she can do it and hold it menacingly out over the playing field. When you flip your card over with a snap and it is the suit asked, you look like a genius.

3. Play a suit that hasn’t been led yet. If the person who won the previous trick was not the ordering partner, odds are pretty good that they won’t be playing back trump. Certainly your partner won’t and the ordering partner might not either. They also aren’t likely to play a suit that has already been led. That leaves only 2 suits left and gives you a 50/50 chance of picking the right one. Just pick the suit you’d like them to lead and hold it out, face down, in the playing field. The 50% of the time that you predict right makes them feel that you are controlling their brain.
4. When you have no other good ideas, try the card that you want to play. Sometimes there just isn’t enough information to accurately predict what the opponent will play. Though you can probably always get it down to a 50/50 chance. In these cases, just hold out a card that you would “want” to play. In euchre, and life, it’s best to be an optimist.

When you do inevitably pick the wrong card to play, casually pull back the card and congratulate your opponent on their ability to “block” your mind control. Compliment them one what a strong mind they must have. Then use the tips you’ve learned here at the Euchre Universe to crush them the rest of the game!

Euchre on the Web
Hey a mention about the blog in Gaper’s Block. However, I do wonder where they got the idea that we have an obsession with a rubber chicken.

Some Joe Andrews tips about euchre. He has some good information but I find it a little difficult to follow. Maybe the same could be said about the Euchre Universe. Anyway, in this article I disagree with the first play where the dealer trumps in at the first trick. I would throw off the loser 10 of clubs. “Lose early, win late”.

Thanks for your continued support!
Now, tell your friends about the Euchre Universe. Where else are you going to find a daily rubber chicken picture?