How to Play Euchre: Rules for Beginners

What you need

• A 24-card deck: the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit. Take a normal deck and remove the 2s through 8s and the jokers.
• Four players in two teams. Partners sit across from each other, so the seats go you, opponent, partner, opponent around the table.
• A way to keep score. A spare 4 and 6 from the deck work well (see below), or use paper and pencil.

The goal: first team to 10

Each hand, one team chooses the trump suit. That team is called the makers. The makers try to win at least three of the five tricks. The other team, the defenders, tries to stop them.

A trick is one round where each player plays one card. The best card takes all four cards. The first team to reach 10 points wins the game.

The deal and the up-card

1. Pick a first dealer any way you like. After each hand the deal moves one seat to the left.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals five cards to each player, starting on their left. The cards go out in small packets: 3 then 2 to each player, or 2 then 3. Either way, everyone ends up with five.
3. Four cards are left. The dealer turns the top one face up. This is the up-card. It is the first suggestion for trump.
4. The other three cards stay face down and are not used. They are called the kitty.

Trump and the bowers

Trump is the suit chosen for this hand. Any trump card beats any card of another suit. In the trump suit, the cards rank in an unusual order, because of two jacks called the bowers (it rhymes with “flowers”):

• Right bower: the jack of the trump suit is the highest card.
• Left bower: the jack of the same colour as trump counts as trump. It is the second-highest card.

The two red suits (hearts and diamonds) are partners, and so are the two black suits (spades and clubs). So the trump suit has seven cards and its partner suit has only five.

The left bower changes suit for the whole hand. When hearts are trump, the J♦ is a heart. If hearts are led and it is your only heart, you must play it. And you cannot play it to follow diamonds: if diamonds are led, it does not count as a diamond.

Calling trump: round one

Before any cards are played, the table decides on trump. It happens in up to two rounds. In round one, the only choice is the suit of the up-card.

1. Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player either passes or orders up the up-card. Ordering up means: “Make that suit trump, and dealer, take that card.”
2. Your partner can order it up too. That makes your team the makers.
3. The dealer speaks last. The dealer may pick it up (make it trump) or pass.
4. As soon as anyone says yes, the suit of the up-card is trump. The dealer adds the up-card to their hand and discards one card face down, so they still hold five.

Calling trump: round two

If all four players pass, the dealer turns the up-card face down. Now its suit is out for this hand.

• Starting again on the dealer's left, each player may name any other suit as trump, or pass.
• If everyone passes a second time, the cards are thrown in. Nobody scores, and the deal passes to the left.

House rule: stick the dealer. Many tables don't allow a throw-in. If the first three players pass in round two, the dealer must name a suit. Our online game offers this in Settings (off by default).

Going alone

When you make trump with a very strong hand, you may say “alone.” Your partner lays their cards face down and sits out the hand. You play the five tricks by yourself against both opponents. It is harder, but a clean sweep scores 4 points instead of 2.

• You must decide when you make trump, before the first card is led.
• If the dealer's partner orders up and goes alone, the dealer sits out. The dealer does not pick up the up-card. The up-card's suit is still trump, but the card itself stays out of play.

House rule: the Canadian loner. At some tables, if the dealer's partner orders up the dealer, they must go alone. The idea is that ordering up your own partner should be a sure thing. Our online game offers this in Settings (off by default).

Playing the tricks

1. The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick: they play any card face up. If that player is sitting out because their partner went alone, the next player leads.
2. Going left, each player plays one card. You must follow suit if you can: play a card of the suit that was led. Remember that the left bower belongs to the trump suit.
3. If you have none of the suit led, you may play any card, including a trump.
4. The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. A higher card of a different suit does not win.
5. The winner collects the four cards and leads the next trick. Play all five tricks, then score.

Euchre scoring

Only one team scores each hand. Count the tricks won by the makers (the team that chose trump):

Getting euchred is the big risk: you give the other side 2 points. So call trump only when you and your partner can likely win three tricks. More examples in our euchre scoring guide.

Keeping score with a 4 and a 6

A classic trick: each team takes a 4 and a 6 from the unused cards. Lay one card face down across the other, which is face up, so only some of its pips (suit marks) show. The pips you can see are your score.

• For 1 to 4 points, show 1 to 4 pips of the 4.
• For 5 and 6 points, switch: show 5 or 6 pips of the 6.
• For 7 to 10 points, show all of the 6 plus 1 to 4 pips of the 4. Ten pips showing means you have won.

If that feels fiddly, a pencil and paper work just as well. Our online game keeps score for you. Step by step: how to keep score in euchre.

Strategy tips for beginners

• Lead trump when your team called it. Pulling out the other side's trumps keeps your aces safe.
• Don't trump your partner's winning trick. If your partner is already winning, play a low card and save your trump.
• Count trumps. There are only 7 in all, including both bowers. Once you have seen five or six played, your next trump is often the best one left.
• Think twice before ordering up an opponent. Ordering up gives the dealer the up-card. If the dealer is on the other team, you are handing them an extra trump.

More plays to learn are in our euchre strategy guide.

House rules and variations

Euchre is played many ways. Agree on these before you start:

• Stick the dealer: no throw-ins; the dealer must name trump if everyone else passes in round two. Available as an option in our game.
• Canadian loner: if the dealer's partner orders up, they must go alone. Available as an option in our game.
• Defending alone: some tables let one defender play alone against a lone maker, for extra points if they euchre them. Our game does not use this rule.
• Who leads against a lone hand: some players have the person to the lone player's left lead, instead of the person to the dealer's left.
• Game length: playing to 5 or 7 makes a quicker game; some groups play to 11.
• Farmer's hand: a local rule for a weak hand of 9s and 10s. Tables define it three ways (all five cards, any three 9s and 10s, or three of one rank) and either swap three low cards for the kitty or redeal. It is not part of the standard game. See the farmer's hand rules.

Not four players? Try three-player euchre (cutthroat), two-handed euchre, or bid euchre for 4 to 6 players.

In our online game, stick the dealer and the Canadian loner are switched off by default. You can turn them on in Settings.