When to Order Up in Euchre

Count sure tricks, not pretty cards

The makers need three of five tricks. Your bidding question is simply: how many tricks will this hand take if that suit is trump, and can my partner supply the rest? Count like this:

• Right bower: one certain trick.
• Left bower: a near-certain trick. It loses only to the right.
• Trump Ace: a likely trick, especially with a bower beside it. Alone, it can fall to either bower.
• Any third trump: half a trick. Small trumps win by ruffing or after the big ones are gone.
• Off-suit Ace: half to three-quarters of a trick. It wins unless someone is void and ruffs.
• Off-suit King or below: nothing. Do not count it.

Add your partner's expected contribution, roughly one trick from an average hand. If the total reaches three, call. This is the reasoning behind the familiar three trumps or two with a bower rule: those holdings are worth about two tricks on their own, and an off-suit Ace plus your partner gets you the rest.

Round one, seat by seat

In round one the up-card's suit is the only suit on offer, and whoever orders it up puts that card into the dealer's hand. That simple fact changes what every seat needs.

First seat (dealer's left)

You need the strongest hand of any seat. Ordering up hands the dealer a trump, and if the up-card is a bower you are gifting the enemy the best card in the deck. You also have three players still to bid behind you, including your partner, who may have a better call. Order up from first seat with two bowers, or a bower plus two more trumps, or three trumps and two Aces. Two trumps and an Ace is a pass here.

One consolation: you lead the first trick, and with a strong trump holding you can start drawing trump immediately.

Second seat (dealer's partner)

When you order up, it is called assisting, and you can do it with a slightly lighter hand. Your partner, the dealer, gains the up-card as a trump and discards a weak card, which often leaves them void in a suit. Two trumps with a bower and an Ace is a solid assist. Two trumps without a bower and two Aces is reasonable. Do not assist with one trump and hope: if the dealer had a hand worth picking up, they would pick up on their own turn.

Third seat (dealer's right)

Two players have passed, including your partner, so your partner is not strong in the up-card suit. You are ordering into the dealer, who plays after you on every trick. Needs are close to first seat: three trumps headed by a bower, or two bowers. The saving grace is that if you pass, the dealer may turn it down and you get another chance in round two with more information.

Dealer

You have the easiest call. Picking up adds a trump to your hand and your discard creates a void, so your small trumps become ruffing cards. Count the up-card as one of your trumps: two trumps in hand plus a bower up-card is a comfortable pick-up, and three trumps in hand plus any up-card is automatic. If all three others have passed and you hold two trumps plus the up-card, you should usually pick up rather than turn it down, since nobody else has shown strength in that suit.

Round two: next and reverse next

If everyone passes, the dealer turns the up-card down and any other suit may be named. The turned-down card is now real information: the dealer looked at a hand plus that card and declined.

• Next is the other suit of the same color as the turned-down card. If a heart was turned down, next is diamonds. The dealer did not want hearts, so they probably hold neither red Jack; both diamond bowers are therefore more likely to be with you and your partner. First seat can call next with as little as two trumps, or one bower and an Ace, because the odds are favourable and the alternative is letting the dealer's side pick a suit they like.
• Reverse next is a suit of the opposite color. The turned-down card says nothing about those suits, so call them on strength alone: apply the normal three-trump rule. The dealer's partner is the seat most often right to call reverse next, since the dealer's weakness in the turned-down color hints at length in the other one.

The turned-down suit itself cannot be named in round two, so your choice is between next and the two reverse-next suits. If none of the three gives you a real call, pass and let the bidding come round to the dealer.

Stick the dealer

CardCouch plays stick the dealer: if all four players pass in round two, the dealer must name a suit. As dealer, this means passing in round two is never an option, so the only question is which suit. Name the suit where you hold a bower; if none, your longest suit; if tied, the suit whose Ace you hold. A forced call with two trumps and an Ace gets euchred less often than you would think, because the other three players have all passed twice and nobody has a monster.

As a non-dealer in round two, remember that the dealer is stuck. If you have a marginal call, weigh it against what the dealer might be forced into. With a weak hand and a weak partner, passing and letting the dealer name a suit they do not want is often your best chance at a euchre.

Let the score adjust your standards

• Far behind: lower your standards. A euchre costs 2, but so does passing while the opponents make hands. Call on two trumps and an Ace, and go alone with anything close.
• Far ahead: raise them slightly. You do not need to gamble; let the opponents take the risks of calling.
• Close and late, say 9-9: this is where players go wrong. Both sides need one point, and a euchre gives the opponents 2, which wins the game just as surely. Being "aggressive at 9-9" is a myth: a bad call loses the game on the spot. Call only with a real hand, and remember the dealer will be stuck with the call if everyone passes, which is fine when the dealer is your opponent.

Advanced: the donation, or block bid

Imagine the opponents are at 6 or 7 and you are at 9, the up-card is a Jack, and you hold nothing in that suit. If you pass, the dealer picks up the right bower and may go alone for 4 points and the game. The donation is ordering up anyway with your weak hand. You will probably be euchred for 2, leaving the opponents at 8 or 9, but you have taken the 4-point loner off the table and kept the game alive for your next deal.

This is an advanced play with real costs: you are volunteering 2 points, and sometimes the dealer had no loner at all. Use it only when a loner would end the game, the up-card is a bower, and your hand cannot stop a loner by other means. Never donate when the opponents are far back; a 2-point gift then is just a gift.

Worked examples