Euchre
Euchre Players and Object
Euchre is not currently offered at CarbonPoker, but keep your eyes peeled for announcements on new and returning games. Open your Carbon client to see all of the games currently offered.
Euchre is a popular trick-taking card game that is played world wide and is the newest side game on offer here at Carbon Poker. Using American based rules, try your hand with and against fellow live players as you play to win.
It is played with four players in two partnerships and a deck of 24 standard playing cards. Partners face each other across the table, and the 24 cards consists of the A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9 of each of the four suits.
When a suit is named as trumps, it will outrank any other suit regardless of the cards individual value. Euchre is similar to 500, in that it makes use of bowers. For example, if hearts is named trumps then the highest card is the Jack of hearts. This is referred to as the right bower. The second highest card is the left bower which is the other Jack of the trumps suits colour - in this case the Jack of diamonds.
Card Rankings
Right Bower (the jack of the trump suit)
Left Bower (the other jack of the same colour as the trump suit)
Ace
King
Queen
Ten
Nine
The Deal
The dealer is initially selected at random and from then on rotates clockwise throughout the game. Each player is dealt 5 cards, with the next card being dealt face up on the table up to start the bidding. The dealer then offers in turn starting with the player on their left, if they would like the suit of the upturned card to be trumps.
Specifically the may choose to - Pass, Order Up, or Go alone.
Order Up
If a player chooses to order up, they then become the makers and between them and their partner they must win 3 of the 5 tricks. If the win all 5 tricks, double points will be awarded. The dealer must pick up the up card, and then discard a card from their hand.
Going Alone
If you have an exceptional good hand, you may wish to go alone, in this case, your partner lays down their cards and you play alone against your two opponents.
The Play
If no one accepts the trumps that are offered, each player is then given the opportunity to declare a new suit as trumps.
Any card may be led, and each player in clockwise order must follow suit by playing a card of the same suit as the card led if possible. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card including a trump.
Remember that, for purposes of following suit, the Left Bower is considered to belong to the trump suit and not to any other suit.
The trick is won by whoever played the highest card of the suit led, unless a trump was played in which case the highest trump wins. The winner of each trick leads the next one.
Objective
The objective in Euchre is to win tricks. Each hand consists of 5 tricks, and when either you or your partner declares trumps, this is staking that you will win 3 of the 5 tricks. The winner of the trick is the player who plays the highest card, however you have to follow suit, unless you are short suited.
Scoring
If all four players are playing then the scores are as follows:
- If the makers win 3 or 4 tricks they score one point.
- If the makers win all 5 tricks they score two points.
- If the makers take fewer than three tricks they are said to be euchred, and the defenders score two points.
If a member of the makers' team is playing alone and wins all 5 tricks, the team scores 4 points instead of 2 - otherwise the scores are as above.
The game is played to 10 points - that is, the team who first reach 10 or more points over several deals win the game.
Buy-ins and Reserves
When you register for the Euchre game, a buy-in, entry fee and an amount equal to both the buy-in and entry fee will be taken from your balance (2x(buy-in + fee)). This second buy-in + fee is a "reserve".
When a player times out, they and their partner are considered to have lost, so the prize pool (ie the total of the buy-ins) is distributed between the two other players. The player who timed out has the "reserve" amount credited to their partner's balance.
E.g.Buy-in = $1.00, Fee= $0.10
4 players = $4 prize pool
Each player pays $2.20 to enter ($1.10 for entry and $1.10 for reserve)
Player 1 and 2 are partners
Player 3 and 4 are partners
If the game is played out to the end and players 3 and 4 win, they will both receive $2 in winnings (total of $4 = prize pool) and also receive their reserve of $1.10 each back (total $3.10). Players 1 and 2 will only receive their reserve back ($1.10).
If player 1 doesn't respond in time, players 1 and 2 will lose the game. Players 3 and 4 will both receive $2 in winnings and also receive their reserve of $1.10 back (total $3.10). Player 1 will not receive anything back but player 2 will receive their reserve of $1.10 back plus player 1's reserve of $1.10 (total of $2.20 which is the buy-in + reserve that player 2 paid to enter the game).
This means that players are penalised for timing out but their partners are not affected by the timeout.
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