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Bid Euchre
Bid
Euchre is the name given to a group of games played in North America
which are based on Euchre, but with the trump suit chosen by whichever
player is prepared to contract to win the largest number of tricks.
There is
no standardization of the rules; most of the variation concerns the
number of cards in the deck (quite often a double deck is used), and the
exact bids allowed.
Our
tournament dates and accommodation details are
here.
General Rules
Players: Most often there are four players in fixed partnerships,
partners sitting opposite.
Rank
of Cards: As in Euchre, the highest trump is the jack of the
trump suit (right bower), then the other jack of the same colour (left
bower), then ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9. The other suits ranks ace
(high), king, queen, jack, 10, 9 - except that the suit which is the
same colour of trumps has no jack. When the bid is 'no trumps', all four
suits rank A-K-Q-J-10-9. In some versions of Bid Euchre, the nines, or
the nines and tens are omitted from the deck.
Usually
a double deck is used - containing two of each card. When two identical
cards are played to the same trick, the first to be played beats the
second.
Deal:
All the cards are dealt out equally to the players.
Bidding: Each player has just one opportunity to bid,
starting with the player to the left of the dealer, going around the
table clockwise, and ending with the dealer. A bid is a number of tricks
(one or more), which the bidding side contracts to win if they are
allowed to chose trumps, and a proposed trump suit or 'no trump' - for
example '4 spades' or '5 no trump'. At your turn you must either pass or
bid a larger number of tricks than the previous bid if any. There is no
rank among the suits, so it is not possible to outbid a bid in one suit
with an equal number of tricks in another suit (this is unlike 500 or
Bridge).
In some
versions there are additional bids to play alone; in which case your
partner puts his or her cards face down and takes no part in the play.
Sometimes these lone bids allow you to exchange some cards with partner.
In this case the bidder discards the relevant number of cards face down
and the bidder's partner passes an equal number of cards face down to
the bidder to replace them. Both players must decide which cards to pass
before seeing the cards passed by the other.
Play:
The highest bidder is declarer and the trump suit is the suit named
in the bid. The high bidder leads to the first trick. The rules of play
are as in Euchre - you must follow suit, and if void of the suit led you
may trump or discard at will. The left bower(s) count for all purposes
as belonging to the trump suit. In double deck versions the first played
of two equal cards beats the second.
Scoring: If the bidding side win at least as many tricks as
they bid, each side scores one point for each trick they won.
If the
bidding side fail to make as many tricks as they bid they are set, and
lose a number of points equal to the number of tricks they bid. The
other side still score one point for each trick they won. It is possible
for a team's overall score to be negative.
Games
are played to a target score. A team wins if at the end of a hand in
which they succeed in a bid, or defeat the opponents' bid, their score
is equal to or above the target. You cannot win by reaching the target
by means of odd tricks made as the opponents of a successful bid. If you
reach the target in this way, the game continues until either team
fulfills the winning condition.
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