Life Lessons from Euchre

A lesson I have to learn over and again from playing euchre:

Never hold back. Always play to win.

Euchre, for the uninitiated, is a quick trick-taking card game. It's usually for four players, partnered up across a table (pro tip: it's better not to partner up with your spouse). The hands are short—just five cards each, from a deck of Nines to Aces, with four cards dealt into a dead hand. Trump changes each hand, declared by the player who thinks they can take at least three of the five tricks, or by the dealer—if trump goes around and nobody wants to call it. The Jack of the trump suit is the highest card (the Right Bower), followed by the Jack of the same color (the Left Bower), then the Ace, King, Queen, Ten, and Nine. The goal is to get to ten points, scored using 6s and 4s from the discarded deck. You score two points for winning all five tricks and one point if you only win three or four tricks. Your opponent scores two points if you called trump but they euchre you by winning at least three tricks. The highest score for one hand is four points—when you announce that you will "go alone" (with your partner giving you their best card) and you win all five tricks.

The game is lightning quick—with experienced players, sometimes the outcome is known before the whole hand is played and fistfuls of cards are thrown into the middle with either disgust or glee. So, every trick is important. Play your best card every time. Always play to win. Don't send a boy out to do a man's job. Go big or go home.

Still, after hundreds (perhaps thousands) of euchre hands, sometimes I still hesitate. Even though I have both Bowers and the trump Ace, instead of bleeding my partner's trump, should I play an off suit to see if they can win the trick? The answer is No. Your partner wins when you win. Play your best card. Every time.

If you don't call trump, you won't win. Call trump whenever you think you have a fighting chance, but don't call it when you have a crap hand. Remember that your partner has cards too.

Sometimes you can't win the hand, but you can win a trick. You can keep your opponent from winning more, stop them from getting two.

Sometimes winning is messy. You may not have the best cards but you can make do. You only need to get three tricks to get your one. It's okay if you don't win them all.

Sometimes you might have a great hand—both Bowers and a low trump—but you still don't win. Chance plays into everything. All you can do is play the cards you're dealt.