Skewed Euchre Jargon (from the urban dictionary):
Eucharist: A large box of bed sheets.
Skewed Euchre QOD:
“I went to the store to buy a eucharist.”
Euchre Strategy:
I was testing out a euchre simulator today and came upon the following hand when I was in seat 1.
The upcard was the Queen of hearts and the dealer’s partner (seat 2) ordered it up.This brings to mind a question. What should you lead? Let’s look at the case for each.
Left Bower (Jack of Diamonds):
If you believe that the person in seat 2 is ordering with a weak hand, a trump lead might be good. You could be pulling out the dealer’s only trump and you would be setting up your Ace of clubs to win. The Left might even be the highest trump out so you’d be winning that trick too. However, you will likely be pulling out your partner’s trump and you’ve only got 1 other winner. I don’t like this lead.
9 of diamonds:
This is the “lead a loser” philosophy. Not a bad one when you are on offense but on defense, forget it. Sure your partner might have the ace of diamonds or might be able to trump it but the odds are not good. I’d stay away from this lead.
Ace of Clubs:
With three clubs, the ace of clubs doesn’t have a great chance of winning. (Somewhere around 50%) However, it’s not a bad choice. I like the King a little better however.
King of Clubs:
This one has just as good a chance of winning as the Ace of Clubs since you know they can’t both be played on the trick. However, you have the added chance that your partner will trump it, forcing the next player to trump higher if they’ve got it. Of all the cards, this one to me is the best option.
10 of Clubs:
This card is almost a certain loser and only makes your Ace of clubs less likely to win later. Of all the cards, I’d say that leading the 10 of clubs is the worst choice.
Euchring the opponents with this hand is not too likely. But you can improve your chances if you just lead the right card. According to the leading scientific research at the Euchre Universe, we say the King of Clubs is the best lead, followed closely by the Ace of Clubs.
I’m sure everyone in the rest of the euchre universe would agree.
2 comments:
Euchre master, thanks for stoppin' by. After running the scenario in a euchre simulator (a computer program designed to automatically play euchre and tally the results) I have to conclude that the Ace lead is best.
I agree with you about the Left and if you want to maximize your chances of getting 2 points with a euchre, the Left is the way to go. However, the Left lead also increases the chances that your opponents will march (or sweep) so leading that one when they have 8 points is not good.
According to the simulator, the Ace is better than the King. This must be because your partner will ruff a King but won't ruff an Ace.
Euchremaster
The simulator does take into account the score and seat position when making bidding and playing decisions. It has been designed to play an "optimal" strategy. Although, I didn't personally design it so there are definitely things that I would play differently than the simulator.
However, compared to other card games euchre is a game with few options and in the long run most of the differences in play between me and the simulator don't matter.
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