The best Euchre strategy starts with your seat. The dealer should pick up with two trumps in hand. The dealer's partner should order up with three, or two including the right bower. The players beside the dealer need four, because ordering up gives the dealer an extra trump. In round two, those two players should call "next" with as few as two trumps, and once you've made trump, lead it.
We measured every one of these by having the computer players from Poozee's Euchre play 20,000 hands. Here's how, what paid off, and the tips that made no difference.
How we tested
All four players bid and played by the rules of thumb our Medium computer uses. To measure a bid, we played the same hand both ways: whenever a player had to decide, we played the hand out once with them making trump and once with them passing, with everyone else bidding and playing as usual. The difference is how much the bid gained or cost their team, in points for the hand (their team's points minus the other team's). Playing tips were measured the same way on paired deals: the same 20,000 deals played once with the standard habits and once with one team changing a single habit.
A computer isn't a person, and your opponents won't bid exactly like ours. But because every comparison uses the same cards both ways, the luck of the deal cancels out.
In the tables, a number marked with * is within the normal ups and downs of the sample (less than two standard errors from zero), so treat it as about even.
When to order up: it depends on your seat
Here's the average gain from ordering up instead of passing, in points per hand, by your seat and by how many trumps you hold in the five cards you were dealt (1 to 4 or more, across the top). The left bower counts as a trump; the turned card doesn't (the dealer gets it on top).
| Your seat | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dealer | -0.15 | +0.98 | +1.73 | +2.40 |
| Left of dealer | -0.68 | -0.77 | -0.27 | +0.25* |
| Dealer's partner | -0.49 | 0.00* | +0.55 | +1.15 |
| Right of dealer | -0.70 | -0.66 | -0.22 | +0.35* |
The pattern is the turned card. When the dealer picks it up, that's one more trump for the dealer's team:
- Dealer: pick up with two trumps in hand, which makes three with the turned card. That gained almost a full point per hand. With a single trump it was a small loss (-0.15), and even when that one trump was the right bower it only broke even (+0.14*).
- Dealer's partner: ordering up gives the card to your partner, so you need less. Three trumps gained 0.55 points. Two trumps broke even overall, but split by bowers: with the right bower they gained 0.25, and with no bower they lost 0.12.
- Left and right of the dealer: ordering up hands the other team a trump. Three trumps lost points on average (-0.27 and -0.22), and even three trumps including the right bower only broke even (+0.02* and -0.01*). Four or more trumps came out ahead: +0.29 points per hand for the two seats together (272 hands). Each seat on its own saw too few of those hands (159 and 113) to pin down its number.
Pro tip: If you sit beside the dealer with three trumps, passing doesn't waste them. If the other team makes that suit trump, your trumps can help euchre them. And if everyone passes, the player on the dealer's left gets the first chance to name trump in round two.
Round two: call next from the dealer's sides
If all four pass, the card is turned down and anyone can name another suit. "Next" is the other suit of the same color (spades if clubs were turned down), and the two suits of the other color are sometimes called "cross." Here's the gain from naming a suit instead of passing, for the players on the dealer's left and right and the dealer's partner:
| Suit you name | Left | Partner | Right |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next, with 2 trumps | +0.28 | -0.51 | +0.68 |
| Next, with 3 trumps | +1.28 | -0.09* | +1.74 |
| Cross, with 2 trumps | -0.55 | +0.34 | -0.29 |
| Cross, with 3 trumps | +0.30 | +0.78 | +0.10* |
The old advice holds up. For the two players beside the dealer, next is worth calling with just two trumps, while the same two trumps in a cross suit lost points. The dealer's partner should do the opposite: next lost 0.51 points with two trumps, and a cross suit gained 0.34. Right of the dealer only gets to name a suit when the two players before them pass, so those cells are smaller (61 to 221 hands each).
Our Medium players use this: they count next as stronger from the dealer's sides and weaker for the dealer's partner. Switching that off cost 0.01 points per hand, small because the choice only comes up in the hands that reach round two.
When to go alone
Going alone turns a march into 4 points instead of 2, but you give up your partner's help to take three tricks. Whenever a player made trump, we played the hand both ways, alone and with their partner. Here's the gain from going alone, where a "plain" card is anything that isn't a trump or an off-suit ace (the dealer's hand is counted after the pickup):
| Your hand | Gain from going alone |
|---|---|
| 5 trumps | +1.64 |
| 4 trumps and an off-suit ace | +1.15 |
| 3 trumps and two off-suit aces | +0.68 |
| 4 trumps with the right bower, and a plain card | +0.25 |
| 4 trumps without the right bower, and a plain card | -0.14 |
| 3 trumps with both bowers, an ace and a plain card | +0.74 |
| 3 trumps with the right bower only, an ace and a plain card | +0.07* |
| 3 trumps and two plain cards | -0.62 |
The rule of thumb: go alone when every card is a trump or an off-suit ace. With one plain card, go alone only with four trumps including the right bower, or with both bowers, another trump and an ace. With two plain cards, play with your partner.
Playing the hand
We then tested seven common playing tips. With the standard habits, South and North's average was -0.01 points per hand against East and West. Here's how much changing one habit cost the team that changed it:
| Change from the standard habits | Difference in points per hand |
|---|---|
| The maker doesn't lead trump | -0.10 |
| Defenders lead trump | -0.08 |
| Hold aces back instead of cashing them | -0.08 |
| Trump your partner's winning ace | -0.05 |
| Dealer discards the lowest card instead of emptying a suit | -0.03 |
| Never take a trick from a partner who could still be beaten | -0.02 |
| The maker's partner doesn't lead trump | 0.00* |
What those mean at the table:
- If you made trump, lead it. Lead the right bower if you have it, or your highest trump when you hold two or more. Pulling the other team's trumps protects your aces.
- On defense, don't lead trump. It helps the team that chose trump. Lead an ace, or a low card from your shortest suit so you can trump that suit later.
- Cash your aces early. An off-suit ace is a trick now. Wait, and someone may be out of the suit and trump it.
- Don't trump your partner's ace. If your partner's ace is winning, throw away a low card.
- As dealer, discard to empty a suit. If you have one lone card in a side suit (and it isn't an ace), discard it. Now you can trump that suit.
The tip that didn't matter
"Lead trump to your partner who called it." When your partner made trump, leading trump to them is common advice. In our tests it made no measurable difference (0.00 points per hand, well within the noise). The maker leading trump mattered; the partner leading it didn't.
Practice against the computer
On Poozee's Euchre, Medium bids and plays by the rules above. Hard goes further: it imagines many possible deals of the cards it can't see, tries each bid or card, plays the hand out and picks the best. Hint shows what Hard would do, for bids as well as cards. We play stick the dealer: if everyone passes twice, the dealer must name trump.
Keep playing
- Play Euchre with a computer partner
- Hearts strategy, tested the same way
- Play Spades, another partnership game with bidding
- Play Hearts
- Gin Rummy strategy, for a game with just two players
Frequently asked questions
When should you order up in Euchre?
It depends on your seat. In our tests the dealer gained by picking up with two trumps in hand, the dealer's partner needed three (or two including the right bower), and the players beside the dealer needed four, because ordering up hands the dealer an extra trump.
What does calling next mean in Euchre?
When the turned card is turned down, next is the other suit of the same color: diamonds after hearts, spades after clubs. For the players on either side of the dealer, naming next with just two trumps paid off in our tests, while the dealer's partner did better naming a suit of the other color.
When should you go alone in Euchre?
When every card in your hand is a trump or an off-suit ace. With one other card, going alone only paid off with four trumps including the right bower, or three trumps including both bowers and an off-suit ace.
Should you lead trump in Euchre?
Yes if you made trump: it was worth 0.10 points per hand in our tests. No if the other team made it: defenders who led trump lost 0.08 points per hand.