Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Euchre Playoffs - Second Round

Some things shouldn't happen. The Cubs shouldn't have lost game 6 of the 2003 National League playoffs when leading 3-0 with 1 out in the 8th inning. The Greatest American Hero shouldn't have gone off the air after only 3 glorious seasons of superhero wackiness. The Urban Tribe shouldn't have lost to those punks on Move, Pitch Get Out the Way. Faster jogglers shouldn't have started running marathons before I broke the world record. And we shouldn't have lost a match last night. Unfortunate things shouldn't happen but they do.

The night started off brillantly. We played a couple of decent enough guys. Decent is a comment on their personalities not their play. Perhaps they are much better players than they showed in our match, but last night they had me scratching my head. How the hell could they be the 6th ranked team in this league?

The first game was a battle. We traded point for point until the game was tied 4-4. Then my LHO makes a loner to put us down 4-8. We battled back to 8-8 and won the game by euchring a questionable call by my RHO. But the seeds of doubt about one of our opponent's ability were sewn. He orderd us up (giving my partner the Right) from the first seat with Left, Ace, King of trump. But then he leads out the Ace of Spades. I trump & win with the lowly 10 (a singleton) and lead back the Ace of clubs. Everyone follows and we euchre them when my partner throws out the Right. A bold move that lost them the game. Clearly, he doesn't know the LTD rule. Lead Trump Dammit!

But the wheels really fell off in the second game. LHO goes alone right away. He has 4 trump (hearts) headed by the Left. His off-card was the King of spades. I lead the Queen of spades, partner plays the Ace and it wins. Our opponent pouts "that was the only thing that could beat me!" Next, she leads another spade. LHO trumps in with the King. I hold the Right, Queen and 10 of trump. Instead of overtrumping, I through a club. The opponent leads out the Left which I promptly cover with my Right. I lead the Queen of trump, he plays the Ace and is euchred when he tries to float the 9 of trump. That was terrible luck for my opponent. Getting euchred with Left, Ace, King, 9 trumps, plus an off-suit 10.

Unfortunately for them, he started to press, we euchred them 2 more times and were winning 6-0 after three hands. A sweep and a euchre gave us the game and match 10-0.

Next, we played against a couple of guys who were decent except for 2 pieces of strategy they followed. First, they would order it up and not lead trump. It mostly worked out for them but they got lucky on a couple of plays. But the worst thing was the donation strategy. They were winning 7-1 after making a laydown loner. My LHO orders me up the Queen of trump with only the 9 in his hand. We easily euchre them to push the score to 3-7. "I didn't want you guys to make a loner."

Now, I love the donation strategy but not when you're winning 7-1! When the score was 8-5 in the same game he donated again! Eventually, the score was 9-9 and we unfortunately lost when they turned over spades and ordered in Clubs. Yes, my partner could've ordered up spades (she had 3 and I had the left) but she was momentarily distracted and she just passed. The second game gave us more unfortunate luck.

After starting with a 2 point sweep, they proceded to get all the cards (even a loner). Eventually, they won 10-6. Now we move to the loser's bracket. We still have a shot to win it all, and that's just what we want to do. Stay tuned for details next week.

The Euchre Universe will be heading out of town for vacation so no posts 'til next week. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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