Five-Handed Euchre
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Five-handed Euchre is a variation of the popular trick-taking game Euchre which adds an additional player and features a dynamic partner system. In five-handed Euchre, each player competes against all other players.
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[edit] History
Five-handed Euchre was originally created in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada by a group of idle volunteer fire fighters. The game has since spread throughout southwestern Ontario and into parts of the United States.
[edit] Deck
The five-handed Euchre deck consists of the Euchre deck with the addition of the eight of spades, hearts, and diamonds, the two of spades and the two of hearts. Jokers can also be substituted for the twos, so long as they can be differentiated; allowing for a high and low joker.
A variation of the game includes all four eights in the deck. This has no impact on game play, but it means there is an additional card in the kitty (the cards remaining undealt after all players have received five cards).
[edit] Trump
As in Euchre, the trump suit is dynamic. Cards in the trump suit outrank all other cards. The order of trump from highest to lowest is 2S,2H,RJ,LJ,A,K,Q,10,9, and 8 if applicable where RJ and LJ represent the right and left bower respectively. For example, if spades are trump, the order is 2S,2H,JS,JC,AS,KS,QS,10S,9S,8S. The 2S and 2H (also known as the big and the little two) or high and low joker are permanently part of the trump suit.
[edit] Play
Five-Handed Euchre is played essentially the same as Euchre with the game cycling through hands which consist of dealing, bidding, playing the hand and then scoring the hand until an ending to the game can be determined.
[edit] Dealing
As in Euchre, all players receive five cards. The cards are dealt clockwise starting with the player sitting to the left of the dealer. The remaining cards are set aside, and the top card is turned face up. The cards set aside in this fashion are called the kitty.
If a two is flipped, the dealer can not look at their cards. This situation is explained in the bidding section.
[edit] Bidding
The face up card is the initial proposal for trump. Each player, in clockwise order starting at the left of the dealer has the option to make the face up suit trump (a.k.a. make trump) or pass. Finally the dealer has the same option.
If the face up suit is selected, the dealer picks up the face up card. This occurs whether the dealer himself chose to make the suit trump or any of the other players. The player that makes trump becomes the bidder. The dealer must discard any one of their six cards face down into the kitty although the dealer may opt not to discard until after the bidder names their partner (see below).
If the face up suit is not selected as trump, then each of the players, in clockwise order ending with the dealer, has the opportunity to select any other suit as trump. Once again, the player who selects trump becomes the bidder. If none of the other players select a suit to become trump, the dealer must select a suit (the screw/stick the dealer variant of traditional euchre). Forcing the dealer to make trump in five-handed Euchre is more common as players may be more hesitant to make trump given the three on two format of the game.
The bidding player selects their partner by naming a card. The card named may not be a permanent trump card (2 or joker). The player who plays the selected card becomes the bidders partner for the hand, and if the card is not played (due to being in the kitty or having been discarded by the dealer) there is no partner. Players, including the bidder, are unaware of the partner's identity until the selected card is played. Thus if the bidder does not have a partner, he may not be aware of this until the last card is played.
The bidder may also opt not to select a partner, which means they are "going alone". A player who takes all 5 tricks while going alone is awarded four points. If a player names a card in the kitty and takes all five tricks, he is still only awarded two points for a sweep despite not having a partner. The player must intentionally go alone to qualify for the additional points.
A special situation exists if the dealer flips over a two or joker. Before looking at their hand, the dealer has the option of arbitrarily selecting a suit to be the trump suit or revealing a random card from their hand with the suit of the random card becoming the trump suit. If the dealer chooses the former, the bidding proceeds as usual with the two or joker being considered a member of the arbitrarily selected trump suit. If the dealer chooses the later, the dealer immediately picks up the two, discards a card of their choice then either selects a partner or chooses to go alone.
[edit] Playing the hand
Each hand consists of five tricks. The hand starts with a lead from the player to the left of the dealer. Following the lead, each player must follow suit if possible. If suit can not be followed, the player may play any card. After all players have played a card, the player who played the highest ranking card is declared the trick winner and the trick is cleared faced down. The highest ranking card is determined as: the highest ranking trump played, if no trump was played then the highest ranking card in the suit initially lead. The trick winner then leads a card for the next trick. Players may ask to see the last trick played.
[edit] Scoring the hand
Since teams shift from one hand to the next, each player maintains an individual score. Only players who have taken tricks during the relevant hand are eligible to receive points. This implies players may not receive points despite being on the successful team, which can cause competition within teams in addition to between teams. The number of points awarded for sweeps, euchres, and lone hands is the same as Euchre.
[edit] Ending the game
The game ends when a player reaches ten or more points while holding at least a one point advantage over all other competitors.
[edit] Alternate way of ending the game
The game ends when a player or players reach ten or more points. Should multiple players reach ten or more points simultaneously, the winner is the player with the lowest score at the start of the hand. If a single winner can not be selected, the game is a draw amongst those players with ten or more points.
[edit] Laying down a hand
If the outcome of a hand has been determined before all cards have been played, the players may lay their cards down face up. The hand is then scored as though all cards had been played. If a player throws in a hand in error (the outcome of the hand is still in question), the hand must be continued with that player's cards face up, and the player himself roundly criticized for sub-par performance. This is an advanced skill and is used by veteran players to expedite game play.
A "lay down hand" is a special case of a throw in, where a player may lay down their entire hand before a single card has been played. Strictly speaking a lay down hand must be 2S,2H,RJ,LJ, and A of trump unless one of these cards is known to be in the kitty (it was originally face up as the initial trump proposal and was turned down). However, some people might lay down a hand that is not strictly infallible such 2S,2H,RJ,LJ, and K of trump under the assumption that nobody has the set of cards required to beat them (A,Q,T,9,8 of trump). Finally, someone might lay down a hand like 2H,RJ,LJ,A, and K of trump. Since there is only one trick this individual could lose (2S), they bypass playing the hand and simply ask if anyone has the 2S.
[edit] Throw-ins
If a player's hand contains no Aces, face cards or trump they may opt to throw-in their hand. This rule is also known as the "No Ace, no face, no trump" rule. Following a throw-in, the deal passes to the left as though the hand was completed as usual.
[edit] Strategy
- Avoid helping the player in the lead (or any other player for that matter).
- If you are the partner, it is often advantageous to play the card named by the dealer even if a lower ranking card would win you the trick. By identifying yourself, you prevent the bidder from taking tricks from you in the future.
- Frequently the last point is the most difficult to win, as the other players, including your partner(s), may unite against you. If possible, it is often beneficial to refrain from taking a trick until the end of the hand, thus grabbing your point when the hand is already decided.
- Most of the time, when making trump, you will ask for the highest trump card not in your hand as your partner.
- An exception to the above rule, if you make trump by ordering the dealer, requesting the trump card shown by the dealer can be a good idea. This guarantees that your partner card is not already in the kitty, and lets you know who your partner is right from the start of the hand.
