Euchre 101

In this tutorial, I will be describing how to play the card game of euchre.  Euchre is a great game to play at family functions, on bus trips, or any time you are looking for a fun card game to play.  I have been playing euchre for about ten years and highly suggest it if you are looking to learn a new card game.

The purpose of my instructions is for someone that has no background in euchre to understand how to play euchre. I will do this by explaining several key facets of the game that will be beneficial to a new player. First, I will explain some preliminary information (Step 1) like how many players can play, which cards are used, and how to sit at the playing table. Next, I will explain how to deal (Step 2) and then give detailed instructions on what trump is (Step 3), how to declare trump (Step 4), how to play a hand (Steps 5-9), and how to keep score (Step 10). Finally, key tips and strategies (Step 11) will be discussed to help a new player to the game catch on quickly. Enjoy and good luck!

Step 1 Preliminaries

Before we get started, here are some preliminaries to figure out before you can play.

Players:  Euchre is a card game meant to be played with four people. Euchre is played in teams, so before sitting down pick a partner and sit across from them.

Materials needed: Deck of cards, table, and chairs.

The Deck: Sort out a standard deck of cards. Euchre is played with 9's, 10's, J's, Q's, K's, and A's (J=Jack, Q=Queen, K=King, and A=Ace). Also, all of the 5's should be sorted out to use for scoring only. In summary, you should have 24 playing cards and four scoring cards.

Comments

[SWV1787]

I love this game but I must admit I have never met anyone outside the state of Michigan that knows how to play. In Michigan it is kinda our state game... Watch "Escanaba in Da Moonlight" if you want some idea of how big a deal Eucher is as well as deer hunting, local folk lore, and making fun of ourselves...

[jjewels119]

You must not travel down to Indiana often!  We play it all the time!!

[leadchipmunk]

I love this game!

You were very detailed too, and good pictures.

One thing I would add is that there are very many regional differences.

Some people play using only one of the nines (around here it is usually the 9 of hearts), others include the eights.

Around here we play "farmer's hand" where if someone has three 9s or 10s, they can lay them down and take the other three cards that were laid face down in the "kitty" (4 left over cards after the deal).

We also play "ace, no face" where if someone has an ace and no face cards, then all cards are raked in and the next person deals.

Another thing we do is called "stick the dealer," if no one calls trump after the deal and it goes back to the dealer, the dealer has to call something.

When we "go alone," it is worth 4 points for taking all of the tricks, and only one if three or four tricks are taken. We can also ask for our partner's best card and discard one of our own, but the most points you can get is 3.

There also is "defend alone." If the other team calls trump and goes alone, you can also go without your partner's help. If you can successfully get 3 or more tricks, you get 4 points.

There are also other ways to keep score, in my area we use two sets of 6s and 4s and score is counted the same way as the pair of 5s. Some people use a 2 and a 3 to keep score, but I ever could understand how to keep track of 10 points with only 5 pips.