"Second Hand Low"
Situation:
You are the dealer's partner. The Nine of Clubs is up.
Everyone at the table passes and your partner turns it down. Your hand:
Your right- hand opponent (RHO) also passes. In this case, although not a very strong hand, let's assume you order Hearts.
Basic Euchre Strategy
Harvey "the Rabbit"
Vol. 5
With
Your RHO calls Spades and leads the trump Ten:
It is important to always remember that euchre is a partnership game.
Attempting to take every trick that comes your way could often cost you a point and sometimes get you euchred.
Conversely, utilizing the assistance of your partner's cards can effectively double your team's offensive potential.
You could play any of your three trumps on it, and probably win the trick.
However, a better strategy in this situation would be to discard a low Spade and give your partner a chance to take this one. Remember...
"II. Thou shalt counteth upon thy partner for one trick."
That's the classic strategy tip that I have been told for about as long as I can remember playing euchre.
Of course, it's not always true that your partner is going to take a trick, but it is true that you should at least give your partner the opportunity to help out when you know you are not going to win all five by yourself . Otherwise, you would have gone alone, right?
In the situation above, there are 6 cards in the deck that could beat the Queen of Diamonds lead besides the trump cards in your hand:
Depending on the card that your left- hand opponent (LHO) plays, your partner could potentially take the trick if he has any of the six cards above in his hand.
The odds favor sloughing a nontrump "dud" in this scenario.
A tip from the Rabbit:
If you are the dealer's partner when your team declares trump and the player in first seat leads any non- Ace offsuit, let your partner have a chance to take it.
Only trump the offsuit Ace leads on the first trick.
Situation Two:
You are the dealer's partner. The Nine of Clubs is up.
Everyone at the table passes and your partner turns it down. Your hand:
or:
This presents a slightly different reason to consider playing low on the second hand.
Your opponent called "next" (see "Calling Next") and then led the trump Ten. This puts your guarded Left Bower in a predicament.
First, let's look at few scenarios that could happen if you play the Left Bower:
1. Your LHO could take it with the Right Bower, then lead back another trump that will crush your hopes of stopping the opponents from scoring 2 points. Result
2. Your partner might be forced to take the trick with his singleton Right Bower and make the eldest hand good for a point. If you could have played the bowers on different tricks, you may have had a shot at euchre.
3. You might be lucky to find that the Right is buried and the Left- hand opponent has no trump, but your partner has the Ace of Spades which gets swept up and the maker scores a point.
What will possibly happen if you play the Nine instead:
1. The LHO has no trump while your partner pleasantly surprises you with the Right Bower (and maybe later, the Ace), which produces a euchre. Result
2. The LHO has the Right Bower, which he plays. However, your Left Bower becomes promoted to boss trump in the process, thus preventing the opponents from scoring two points.
In Summation:
In the first scenario, your team is on offense and you play low on your first trick from the second hand position because the opponents lead a low card and you want to give your partner a chance to take it. Had they led an Ace, you would have ruffed it.
In the second scenario, your team is on defense and you are forced to follow a trump lead, but you choose to play low for multiple reasons. Most importantly because you know that there are two players following your card that are also forced to play trump, and you don't have the highest one possible. The player who made trump and then led low is indicating that he doesn't have any bowers, but instead is trying to draw them out. Don't help him.
Generally, as the second hand acting on a trick, you will quite often want to play low. There is still an opponent that plays a card after you, followed by your partner who gets the final action. Use your best judgement though, as there are times in euchre where most general principles will have exceptions.
-Rabbit
The eldest hand leads the Queen of Diamonds:
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