Right Bower and Left Bower in Euchre

Why the Jack, and why “bower”?

In most card games the Jack is a middling card, so Euchre's order surprises new players. It is inherited: Euchre is generally traced to German-speaking card games in which the Jacks are the top trumps, and bower comes from the German Bauer, meaning farmer, which is also a name for the Jack.

Only two Jacks are promoted in any hand. The two Jacks of the opposite color stay where you would expect them, between the Queen and the 10 of their own suits. With hearts as trump, the Jack of Spades is just a spade.

The left bower changes suit, completely

This is the part that causes arguments. Once trump is named, the left bower is not “a Jack that happens to be strong.” It is a trump card in every respect, and it is no longer a card of the suit printed on it. Take hearts as trump, so the Jack of Diamonds is the left bower:

• A heart is led. You hold the Jack of Diamonds and no hearts. You must play the Jack of Diamonds, because it is a heart and you have to follow suit.
• A diamond is led. You hold the Jack of Diamonds and no other diamond. You are void in diamonds. You may play any card, including the left bower as a trump, but you are not forced to.
• A diamond is led and you hold the Jack and the 9 of Diamonds. You must play the 9. The Jack is not a diamond, so it cannot follow suit for you.
• You lead the Jack of Diamonds. You have led trump. Everyone who holds a heart must play one, and only the Jack of Hearts, the right bower, can beat your card.

Getting any of these wrong is the most common way to renege in Euchre, and at a strict table a renege costs 2 points. A useful habit: as soon as trump is named, physically move the left bower next to your trumps.

What the bowers are worth in your hand

• The right bower is a certain trick. Nothing can beat it, whenever you choose to play it. It is the best single reason to order up or call.
• The left bower is a trick unless the right catches it. Alone in your hand, with no other trump, it can be pulled out by a right-bower lead, since you must follow. With one small trump beside it, you can play the small one instead and keep the left for later.
• Both bowers are two tricks and control. Lead them and you usually strip the table of trump, which is why both bowers plus an outside Ace is the classic start of a lone hand.
• A turned-up Jack goes to the dealer. Ordering it up hands the dealer the right bower, which is fine when the dealer is your partner and costly when it is an opponent.
• Bowers explain “next.” When a suit is turned down, the suit of the same color shares its two bowers, and the dealer's side has just shown no interest in them. That is the reasoning behind calling next.

One side effect is easy to miss: the suit that lends its Jack is left with five cards, not six. Its Ace is a little safer to lead, and players run out of that suit a little sooner.

Bowers on CardCouch

Euchre on CardCouch uses the standard 24-card deck with both bowers and no joker. Once trump is named, your hand is sorted with the trumps first and the left bower placed among them, right after the right bower. Only legal cards can be played, so the game will not let you use the left bower to follow its printed suit, and it will make you play it when trump is led and it is your only trump. Some British tables add a joker, the benny or “best bower,” above both Jacks; that and other house rules are in the variations guide.

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