Strategy

Bidding

Overview

Now that you have a little taster of variance, Next, and Reverse Next, hopefully you are starting to open your game by calling more hands and taking more chances. It's time now to get into one of the best aspects of euchre, the bidding rounds, where the real strategy kicks in.

We are going to start by focusing on R1 (Round 1), which is all about positional strength. In R1, seat strength matters just as much as hand strength, and sometimes where you sit beats what you hold. In this article we'll go seat by seat to see how each one changes your odds, and thereby affects if and what you should call.

Once we've broken down R1, we'll move into R2 (Round 2), where things get a little trickier. The pressure ramps up, the safety net disappears, and every pass from R1 suddenly matters. R2 is all about being able to read the table. Understanding how R1 strategy connects to R2 decisions is what separates good players from truly dangerous ones.

Round 1: Ordering Up

In the last section, we learned how calling more often shifts your results. Now we'll refine that instinct by adding positional context, because in R1, where you sit can matter more than what you hold.

The Dealer

The most advantageous position is the dealer, S4. This is true for several reasons:

1. They can add a trump card to their hand.
2. They can create a void (short-suit themselves).
3. They may be the last to bid (if no one else ordered in R1), providing useful information.
4. They are the last to play for the first trick (1st street), which again provides useful information.

So, what do you need to order up as dealer? Without delving too deeply, there are 4 basic final hands (those you are left with as dealer after discarding) that you should be considering:

1. Three trump. Period. Even if it's just QT9 of trump with two off-9s, as the dealer, you cannot pass on a hand with three trump.
2. Rx. No matter how bad your other cards are, R9 is good enough. For the sake of getting your partner to trust you, never turn down a jack if you have any other cards of the same suit. Your partner may have passed with two trump and an off-A (or more) so as not to ruin your loner. They are trusting you to pick it up for Rx, so do not betray that trust.
3. Two trump and two off-As. Even two trump and one off-A is possible, but if your partner didn't order you up, you might need some luck. With two trump and two off-As, you have a really good chance of getting at least two tricks.
4. Keep reading to find out what the 4th hand type is!

In short: being dealer means you start with leverage. You have extra trump, control, and last-hand knowledge. Don't waste that advantage. Pick up thin if needed, especially with three trump or Rx. You're not just playing your hand; you're protecting your team's tempo.

Seat 2

The next best seat during R1 is arguably S2, for similar reasons to the dealer: you get the opportunity to put a trump card in your partner's hand, while also giving them the opportunity to void themselves. I find S2 the most fascinating to analyze because it's consistently undervalued. Here, you can order up trump with some impressively weak hands:

1. Two trump and an off-A. You have three chances to take a trick. You just gave your partner trump (likely not their only one) and allowed them to void a suit. This minimum holding is often enough to get your points.
2. R and an off-A. This isn't a call you have to make every time, but mathematically it's strong enough to net positive points from S2. The goal is to rely on your partner to capture at least one trick while your A carries. Ideally, your partner takes a trick, leads trump back to you, and you follow with your A (now stronger with less trump in the wild).

Seat 3

In S3, you need to be even stronger than in S1. This is because S1 has already passed, so they may not be much help. On top of that, the dealer (S4) can afford to order thinner than you can. The other BIG thing to remember is that if you order up the dealer (assuming S4 wouldn't have picked up), you are stealing a potential call from your partner in S1. If you are going to order from S3, you need to be sure of your play.

When I call from S3 in R1, I'm only counting on my partner to lead me trump, nothing more. I always assume I'll need to take all three tricks myself. I know I'm repeating myself, but it's vitally important to remember: a S3R1 call takes a call away from your partner.

Round 2: Next and Reverse Next

After everything we've covered about R1 bidding, what happens when everyone passes in the first round? Great news: you have been able to gather good information. A common euchre term is Next: the other suit of the same color as trump.

Let's pretend the A♡ was the turned-up card in R1. The Next suit is diamonds. If we've gone through R1 and moved to R2, we know S2 and S4 are likely weak in hearts. Following that logic, we can also infer that one or both red jacks are probably not in the hands of S2 or S4. This presents an opportunity for S1R2. Carpe Deinde, seize Next!

Importantly, S1R2 can call Next thin. Let's look at some minimum Next calls from S1:

1. The Rule of Three. A combination of any three trump or boss cards (boss = highest card in its suit). For example: three trump; two trump and an off-A; or even one trump and two off-As.
   • Some people, myself included, will argue that having no trump, but all three boss cards for the non-trump suits, is a viable call.
   • I like to count the R as two when using the Rule of Three, which makes hands like R with off-A, and Rx, viable calls.
2. R and Kx (K doubleton) can be called in desperate times. Lead the lower card in the king doubleton to hopefully make the K a boss card. If your partner leads back trump, you can follow up by sucking out more trump with your now-boss K.

In S1R2 Next calls, you are banking on the bowers of the turned-down color being in your partner's hand or buried in the kitty. Your opponents turning down hearts doesn't mean they are weak in diamonds, just that they are not likely to have those jacks.

Next Loners in S1R2

A final point about S1R2 Next calls: your TRUMP strength can be lower when deciding to go alone. You still need good off-suits, but banking on one or two jacks being buried gives you a bit more leeway. Only call thin when the score makes sense (up or down by a lot, or with some wiggle room) and play the hand conservatively.

Breaking the Rule of Three

There are times when you may need to break the Rule of Three; for example, when you only have two trump, but the rest of your hand is absolute garbage. This is a defensive call. The strategy here is to make your BEST call, to prevent S2 from going alone. The same is true when your opponents have 9 points, never pass here.

Score Consideration

If you are winning 9 to anything (but especially 7 or 6), CALL SOMETHING. This is a free call. The goal is to prevent your opponents from having a shot at a game-winning loner. Even if you get euchred, that's fine because you're still at 9 points, and it'll be your deal on the next hand. Statistically, the dealing team wins the hand about 66% of the time.

Seats 2-4: Next and Reverse Next

The more passes that occur, the less we can rely on Next and Reverse Next of the up-card to guide us. Before we get into S2R2 specifically, we need to more thoroughly discuss Reverse Next.

Recall: if Next is the other suit of the same color as the up-card, then Reverse Next is the opposite. If the up-card is black, Next is black and Reverse Next is BOTH red suits, and vice versa.

Reverse Next is an extremely powerful tool that works on the same principle as Next. With Next, if S2 and S4 don't order the up-card, they probably don't have the jacks of that color. Wouldn't the opposite also be true? If the up-card is black and S2 and S4 don't order it, they're weak in black, so they must be stronger in red.

Start paying attention to other players:

• When S2 calls, how often are they calling a Reverse Next suit?
• If they call Next from S2, how strong was it?
• Was it fairly strong but they still got set?

You'll start to see patterns and develop a table sense for these Reverse Next calls.

Seat 2: Reverse Next

You Shall Not (Double) Pass!

S2R2 is one of the areas where most players can improve their game. A good rule of thumb is: unless you have at least two cards in Next, you should call Reverse Next.

Here's an example of a thin S2R2 Reverse Next order. The score is 4-4. The up-card is the K♤. Your hand: A♤ Q♤ Q♡ A♢ 10♧. Yikes, two mid-trump, an off-A, and four-suited. Not an ideal R1 order. But if we look into the R2 future, we're making a Reverse Next call consisting of: one trump, two off-aces, and still four-suited. Those hands don't look that different.

Two things to consider:

• There are only two cards between the Q of trump and an off-A: the 9 and 10 of trump.
• In R2 you have the bonus of knowing your partner wasn't strong enough in spades to order it up, so they should have some red strength.

Never forget that when you order up your partner, you're giving them a trump and allowing them to void a suit.

Analyze your hand. In a vacuum, S4 might be slightly stronger in red. Having a trump and likely a void in spades gives their hand added leverage. On your side, the second ace (diamonds) in the R2 call [1 trump + 2 off-As] is somewhat risky, since it's in Next and there are fewer diamonds left in the wild.

Consider the general trump distribution. You hold two of the seven trump, and the up-card makes three if claimed. That leaves four trump unaccounted for. Assuming a roughly even distribution of those four remaining trump, we might expect one in each opponent's hand, one in your partner's hand, and one buried in the kitty. As a team, you have four trump and at least one green ace.

Your goal as you play this out is to avoid losing two trump in the same trick, you want to play your trump separately.

If you see a player pass in S2R2, it should mean they have Next covered, but are not strong enough to call. Because they have Next covered, they're not forced to make a ridiculously thin call in Reverse Next, they can instead pass the call to the dealer.

It's a Trap!

By the time you get to S2R2, you've gathered a lot of information, and it's your team's last chance to go on offense. Let's talk about the fact that you even got the opportunity to call S2R2. Either S1 didn't have enough to call Next, or they're stronger in Reverse Next. Or both. But you do have to at least consider that this could be a trap.

S1 not calling doesn't mean they're deliberately setting a trap. It could be:

• Their Next hand was just shy of the calling minimum.
• Their Next was just strong enough, but they also had enough strength in Reverse Next to block any loners or marches.
• They're strong in Next but don't understand the concept well enough.

A Little Too Quiet!

In S2R2, you're caught between:

1. Your duty to protect your team from S3.
2. Your duty to protect your partner from being stuck.
3. The risk of walking straight into a trap set by S1.

In general, you don't need to fear an S1 trap, especially if you trust your partner to do their job. Unless you have enough to cross the river (more on that below), your number-one priority is still to protect your team.

Going back to the four reasons S1 might have passed in R2 (trap, hedging, weak hand, or can't block an S3 Next call), making a Reverse Next call from S2R2 neatly addresses the weak-hand scenario. For the hedging scenario, calling your best Reverse Next combined with help from your partner still gives you a decent chance to score. That leaves just the trap scenario, but you should still take your shot rather than leave S4 to get stuck against a well-defended S1 hand.

Let's look at an example. Say clubs is the turned-up suit. If S2 and S4 weren't strong enough to order clubs, that tells you there's a shortage of black jacks in that team. If S1 doesn't call spades (Next), that suggests they aren't strong in black either. So look at your hand: if you've got only one (or zero) spades, where are all the spades? S3 has them. Silence from S3 is telling.

You order Reverse Next and take your chances against S1, because we have no chance against S3 in spades.

But Wait, There's More!

Sometimes the best move is actually to cross the river. In S2 and S4, crossing the river means calling Next.

Generally speaking, when crossing the river, you should expect no help from your partner.

There are times when you can call Next from S2 offensively. Example: the score is 4-4. The up-card is K♡. Your hand: J♢ A♢ Q♢ K♧ 10♧. With this hand you can expect to take three tricks on your own in diamonds; you don't want to give S3 or S4 the chance to call spades; and S1 has shown some weakness in diamonds by not calling Next.

The path to three tricks here is pretty straightforward. In an ideal situation, S1 won't lead clubs, so you take the first trick with your Q♢. Then lead your 10♧ and see how the hand unfolds. From there, your goal is to position yourself so that you're playing last in the second or third trick. Your JA♢ combo becomes unstoppable for the point.

Other times, you might cross the river because Next is your best suit and the score makes it critical that you don't let S3 call. In this case, it becomes more of a defensive call.

Generally, when calling Next from S2R2, you need to be strong. Ideally, you're holding at least three trump. There are exceptions, but remember: you should decide before passing in R1 whether you're prepared to call Next or pass in R2.

Seat 3

S3R2 plays a lot like S3R1; you still need to be strong to make a call, but there are a few key differences:

• In S3R1, any order you make takes away your partner's chance to call in S1R2. That's not the case in R2. If you've got a strong hand in either Next or Reverse Next, you can confidently make the call.
• Since S1R2 already passed on Next, you're free to call Reverse Next if your hand supports it.
  • If you've been paying attention to your partner's tendencies and you know they rarely call Next without a traditionally strong hand, you can sometimes stretch a thin Next call here. A thin S3R2 Next call becomes almost a defensive move.

Here's what the table has already told us:

• S1 didn't call Next → showing weakness in that color.
• S2 didn't call Reverse Next → possibly indicating they're stronger in Next.

If it gets to you in S3R2 and your hand looks balanced, maybe a jack and a couple of aces, it might make sense to stick the dealer and play for the set. Often when the dealer ends up stuck, it's because nobody is particularly strong in any one suit.

Seat 4

Finally, we've made it to S4R2, you're stuck as the dealer. In high-level games, this doesn't happen often. When it does, S4 is usually either thrilled, or extremely weak.

You could make an argument for ordering with two trump, an off-ace, and a three-suited hand. However, this is a good place to pass. Why? Because you're well-positioned to block spades and to be very helpful in Reverse Next for whatever your partner decides to call.

At this stage, the real decision revolves around your partner:

• Are they passing in R2 because they're weak in Next?
• Are they avoiding making a thin Reverse Next call and relying on you for help?
• Or are they simply weak all around?

By the time it gets all the way to S4R2, your aces become stronger than normal. If everyone else has already passed, it's likely no one has a dominant suit, meaning your aces are less likely to be trumped.

In short: when you're stuck, call your best suit. Next or Reverse Next doesn't matter. Trust the math: your partner's pass means they're probably fine in Next. Count trump, value your aces, and aim for control over flashiness.

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