Bid Euchre Rules

Players, deck and deal

The point of bid euchre is that everything is in play. Nothing is left in a kitty, so a bid rests entirely on the cards you hold. The three common set-ups:

The six-handed double-deck game is the one most people mean by “bid euchre” in the Midwest; partners sit three seats apart, so each side has every other seat. With two identical cards in the deck, the two copies of a card can land on the same trick. The commonest rule is that the first one played wins; some tables rule the second. Settle it before you deal.

The deal itself follows the usual pattern: start on the dealer's left, go clockwise, deal until the deck is gone (see how to deal in Euchre). The card ranking is standard: right bower, left bower, then Ace down to 9 in trump.

The bidding

1. Start on the dealer's left. Each player bids a number of tricks (one to the number of cards held) or passes. There is one round only.
2. Each bid must beat the last. A player who passes is out of the auction. If everyone passes, most tables throw the hand in and the deal moves on; some force the dealer to bid, in the spirit of stick the dealer.
3. The high bidder names trump. Any suit, and at many tables no trump as well: no bowers, Jacks between Queen and 10, highest card of the suit led wins. Some groups add high or low no-trump, where low means 9s are high and Aces low.
4. The high bidder leads. At most tables the player who won the auction leads to the first trick; some keep the standard rule that the dealer's left leads. Play then follows the normal rule: follow suit if you can.

Because a bid is a promise, bid what your hand can deliver with partner's help, not what you hope for. With six cards a partnership bid of three or four is ordinary; five or six is a statement.

Scoring a bid

The commonest rule: if the bidding side takes at least as many tricks as it bid, it scores the number of tricks it actually took, so overtricks count. If it falls short it is set and loses the amount bid; scores can go negative. The other side scores the tricks it took, bid or no bid. Two frequent differences:

• Some tables score a made bid as the bid amount only, with no credit for overtricks.
• Some tables give the non-bidding side nothing unless the bidders are set.

Game is to a total far above the standard 10: 32 and 50 are common with six cards, 64 is seen with double decks. Compare the ordinary Euchre scoring of 1, 2 and 4 points per hand and you can see why a bid-euchre evening swings so much more.

Take-all bids: shooting the moon and pfeffer

Most versions have a special top bid for taking every trick. In the four-handed six-card game it is usually called pfeffer or pepper; in others shooting the moon. It is normally played alone, partner's cards face down, and is worth a premium: double the normal value or a fixed bonus, with a failed attempt costing the full amount. The exact figure differs from table to table. Hasenpfeffer, which adds a joker as the top trump and a one-card widow, belongs to the same family; both are described on the Euchre variations page.

How it differs from standard Euchre

• No up-card and no kitty. You cannot order a trump into the dealer's hand, and there is no second round of naming a suit.
• A number, not a yes or no. Standard Euchre asks only whether you will make trump; bid euchre asks how many tricks.
• Overtricks matter. In the standard game a sixth trick does not exist; here every trick is a point.
• Going alone is built into the top bid rather than being a separate declaration.

The standard game, with its two bidding rounds and game to 10, is the one you can play against the computer here: four players in two partnerships, you and a computer partner against two computer opponents. Bid euchre is not offered.

Frequently asked questions

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