Monday Night Bid Euchre Club
Organizers: Jean Javanshir and Irene Ierullo
Location: 18 Wynford Drive, Suite 102
Website:
Bid Euchre, is the name given to a group of card games played in North America based on the popular game Euchre. It introduces an element of bidding in which the trump suit is decided by which player can bid to take the most tricks. Bid Euchre is very similar to Euchre, the primary differences being the number of cards dealt, absence of any undealt cards, the bidding and scoring process, and the addition of a no trump declaration. There is no kitty and no card turned up in bid euchre. It is a partnership game for four players, played with 32 cards (two decks of the top 16 cards each). It can also be played with three or six players and if three people are playing it is not a partnership game.
House and Game Rules
Fees:
The entry fee is $2.00, but newcomers always play for free.
Coffee, Tea and Snacks are $1.00, but coffee and snacks are always free on the 2nd Monday of each month.
Start Time:
Bid Euchre Lessons: 6:15 – 6:45
Registration 6:40 – 6:45
Game Play: 6:45 – 9:15 with no intermission. You can take a coffee or snack break when you have time between play or if you are sitting out.
End Time:
We stop play at 9:00, give out prizes and for anyone that wants to stay a bit later we play another game.around.
Table, Seating Assignments & Movement:
At 6:40 everyone will take a seat at one of the tables, the organizer will collect your $2.00 and give you a white or colored scorecard. If you have a white scorecard, your partner will always have a colored scorecard.
The tables are positioned so that North will be obvious and the North direction is posted on the wall with a large “N”.The person in the north seat will be the first dealer. Directions are also noted on the score sheet and this will help you remember who dealt last.
If we have an uneven number of players, 1 or 2 people will sit out for one game or we will create a 3-person table.
Note: There are different rules and score sheets for the 3 person table.
3 Player Table Rules:
4 hands of 8 cards are dealt. After the bid is determined the bidder goes alone and the other two go as partners against the bidder. The person that makes the bid can draw from the extra hand if it is a CALL bid. Someone from another table will take the extra hand and select the 1 or 2 cards to pass for the Call Bid.
Scoring : The bidder scores the number of tricks he takes and the other 2 each get the number of tricks theytake as partners.
For example: If the bidder takes 6,each of the others get 2 points each.
8 rounds are dealt out(this means 2 people deal 3 times and 1 person deals twice).
The 3 player rule sheet will be placed on the table to remind people how to play and the players can refer to this if necessary.
If you are playing at the 3-person table and you lose two games in a row, you will move on and the person in second place will remain at the 3-person table for one more game.
Uneven Number of Players and Sit Out Rules:
If we start the evening with 2 extra players, we will create 2 3 person tables or we will have 2 people sit out.
If there is an uneven number of players such as 25 or 26, the last person to arrive will sit out for the first game.
This person will be assigned a white scorecard so that the rotation will proceed in a clockwise (upward) direction. If another person comes in late, we will have two players sit out and the second sit out person will have a coloured score card and will rotate in a counter clockwise (downward) direction.
If you sit out for a game, you will add 32 to your scorecard for the missed game.
At the end of the first game, the person that sat out with a white scorecard will sit down at table # 1 (rotate in) and one of the winners from the highest numbered table will take a turn sitting out (rotate out) instead of moving on to table # 1.
At the end of the first game, the person that sat out with a coloured scorecard will sit down at highest numbered table (rotate in) and one of the winners from table # 1 will take a turn sitting out (rotate out) instead of moving on to the high table.
We do not play 2 handed euchre since we find it boring.
TIP TO HELP YOU KNOW WHICH WAY TO MOVE AFTER YOU FINISH PLAYING A GAME:
We have created two sided laminated cards which are placed on each table. One side of the card is used to help you keep track of the bids and the other side shows the table number and will tell you where to go after the game is finished. For example: If you are a winner, hold a white score card and were playing at table 3, you will move up to table 4. If you are a winner, hold a coloured score card and were playing at table 5, you will move down to table 4. Losers stay seated at the same table and switch seats so they will not be playing with the same partner in the next game.
Intermission and Movement
We do not have a designated intermission time, but we ask that you do not go outside for a cigarette break unless you know that you will not hold up the next table that you will be playing at.
We would also appreciate it if you could limit your cigarette breaks to 1 per evening.
Please do not get up after you are finished your games and interrupt other people still playing their games or stand over them while they are playing.
Etiquette and Attitude
We want this to be a fun and friendly environment, so negative comments and mean attitudes will not be tolerated. If your partner makes a mistake, please refrain from any negative comments.
Minimal and quiet conversation during game play is acceptable, as long as it does not slow the play down or hold up the other tables.
We would like to ask that you refrain from texting or checking for smart phone updates at the tables during game play, as some members have complained about it.
Game Description and Rules
Cards
Two packs of 16 cards containing J, Q, K, and A in each suit are used. The rank of the cards in the trump suit is: J (of trump suit, also known as the right bower; high), J (of the other suit of the same color as the trump suit, also known as the left bower), A, K, Q, (low). In the plain suits (no trump) the rank is: A (high), K, Q, J. When playing with no trumps, all four suits follow the 'plain suit' ranking.
Dealing
Cards are dealt one at a time to each player, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left. Each player receives eight cards. There is no kitty and no card turned up. At the beginning of a game, the north player deals first. Assistance may be given to individuals who have difficulty shuffling or dealing.
Bidding
Bidding is the key to the game, as it is essentially what makes it different from Euchre. Starting at the person at the dealer’s left, each player "bids" how many "tricks" he or she thinks it is possible to get in partnership with his/her partner (sitting across the table). Players may pass or bid. Common bids are 3, 4, 5 or 6. A bid must name the number of tricks to be taken and the suit or “no trump” as the case may be.
A bid is the number of tricks that a player wagers for his or her team to win and each bid must be higher than preceding it. For example, if someone bids 2 clubs, the next person can bid 3 no trump, then the next person can bid 4 clubs and the final person can bid 5 no trump.
If everyone passes, the same dealer will deal again.
Bidding only goes around the table once. That is, each player only bids once. At the end of bidding, he or she who bid the highest wins the bid and gets to name the suit, which will become trump.
All bids must be higher than the person before you, except in the following “Dealer’s Advantage” situation:
In order to help all players at the table remember the winning bid, we have added a laminated card and a bidding block to each table. One person will volunteer to place the winning bid suit on top of the winning bid number after bidding is complete.
DEALER'S ADVANTAGE BIDDING EXCEPTIONS:
1) If you are the dealer, you may make a NO TRUMP bid in the same amount as the person before you.
2) If you are the dealer, you may also make a Call 1, Call 2 or Moonshot bid if someone else has already called that bid before you. For example: If someone makes a Call 1 in Diamonds and you are the dealer, you can make a Call 1 in Hearts, Spades, Clubs or No Trump.
BONUS POINT BIDDING:Bidding does not generally exceed 6, but there are three special bids above that.
A “Moonshot”, also called a “loner”, is where the bidder plays alone with no cards from his/her partner if he/she thinks that he can get all the tricks. Ifall 8 tricks are won, the winning team will receive24 points. If the person that made this call does not get all the tricks, their team will lose 24 points.
A “Call 1”, also called "give me your best 1", is where the bidder gets to exchange one card with his/her partner (but does not get to choose or say which card he/she wants...he/she may only say the suit that is trump) and then plays alone against the other two players. You may look at He/she must get all eight tricks. If all eight tricks are won, the winning team receives 18 points. If the person that made this call does not get all the tricks, their team will lose 18 points.
A “Call 2”, also called "give me your best 2", is where the bidder gets to exchange two cards with his/her partner (but does not get to choose or say which card he/she wants...he/she may only say the suit that is trump) and then plays alone against the other two players. He/she must get all eight tricks. If all eight tricks are won, the winning team receives 12 points. If the person that made this call does not get all the tricks, their team will lose 12 points.
CALL 1 and CALL 2 RULE CLARIFICATION FOR PASSING AND LOOKING AT CARDS:
If you want to Call 2 cards from your partner, both of you will place 2 cards on the table in front of you will pick up the cards that your partner passes to you. You may not look at the cards and change your mind about the cards you decided to pass. This rule also applies for Call 1.
Signal Bid:The "one" bid
If you bid one, you are telling everyone that you are holding one jack and not much else.
Leading and taking tricks
At the end of bidding, the winning bidder then makes the opening lead and may lead any card. This is unlike the lead in euchre, which is always to the left of the dealer. The other players each play a card (playing clockwise) and must follow suit if possible. If a player cannot follow suit, he/she may play any card. There is no rule about who may play trump first. The trick goes to the highest trump or, if there are no trump cards, to the highest card of the suit led. The winner of a trick leads to the next trick.
For example, if spades are trump, the jack of spades is the highest trump, followed by the jack of clubs (the other jack of the same color), which is considered a spade for this hand, the ace of spades, K, Q. The ranking follows the same pattern for the other suits when they are trump.
Score Keeping
One person will act as the scorekeeper and record all scores for everyone at the table on the main score sheet and also on the individual score sheets. At the end of play, everyone will watch the scorekeeper to make sure that he/she records and tallies the scores correctly.
The contracting side scores one point for each trick taken if it makes at least its contract, but is set back points if it fails to make its contract. The number of points set back depends on what was bid. For example, if you bid 3 clubs, but you only take in 2 tricks, your score will be -3 and your opponents will score +6 because they got the other 6 tricks.
In all cases, the opposing team simply scores one point for every trick they take. A side is "set" when it fails to meet its contract (the term "set" also functions as a verb in this game: a side playing defense "sets" the other side by preventing it from meeting its contract). As such, a side can have a negative score. If you bid a “moonshot”, “call 1” or “call 2” and fail to take all 8 tricks, you will be set back 24, 18 or 12.
The following score sheet can score 1 game. Note: NSWE stands for the position of each player dealing. A square table should be positioned in the room so that directions follow north, east, south and west.
Bids can be 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 or M, C1, C2 followed by the suit or no trump chosen (spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds or No Trump where aces are high and jacks are low.
We do not play No Trump Low.
The score for each hand is entered on the left of the diagonal line and the sub-totaled game tally is marked on the right side of the diagonal line.
Winning
Negative scores are allowed and are referred as being in the hole. If you are keeping score on a score sheet, this can be show by circling the score.
5 or 6 games of 8 hands will be played and scored on the “bid euchre” score sheet. At the end of all the games, the person with the highest grand total will win.
Prizes
1st Place: $3.00
2nd Place: $2.00
3rd Place: $1.00
Call 1 and the top 3 prize values will be doubled on the last Monday of the month.
Last Place: Free Play Pass
Lucky Draws: We award 2 loonie door prizes by draws at the end of each night for all the people that did not win one of the top prizes. One prize will go to a white scorecard holder and one prize will go to a coloured scorecard holder.
Moonshots: If you get a moonshot, you will yell out, “moonshot – pass the puppy” and the organizer will give you the puppy. The puppy will stay with that person until a time when someone else gets a moonshot. The person in possession of the puppy at the end of the night will win all the money from the puppy’s knapsack. If you have the puppy and someone steals it from you, you will win an instant $2.00 “Puppy Sitting Fee” consolation prize. The moonshot jackpot is progressive and will increase by $2.00 each week until it is won. If the moon shot prize is won, the jackpot amount will be reset to $5.00. Did you know that our puppy is called “Moonshot”? The Moonshot prize value will be doubled on the 1st Monday of each month.
Call 1 Prizes:
If you get a Call 1, you will put your name in the red box.
At the end of the evening we will draw 5 names from the hat and award $1 for each name drawn.
Ties: In the event of a tie, any prizes will be shared.
Special Prize Nights:
On the last Monday of the month we double all prize amount values, except for the moonshot.
On the first Monday of the month we double the moonshot jackpot and the moonshot consolation prize values.
Variations
3 Handed Euchre Table Rules:
4 hands of 8 cards are dealt, but one hand is placed to the side and is not used during play. You may not switch your hand for the dummy hand. After the bid is determined the bidder goes alone and the other two go as partners against the bidder. The person that makes the bid can draw from the extra hand if it is a CALL bid. Someone from another table will take the extra hand and select the 1 or 2 cards to pass for the Call Bid.
Scoring : The bidder scores the number of tricks he takes and the other 2 each get the number of tricks theytake as partners.
For example: If the bidder takes 6,each of the others get 2 points each.
8 rounds are dealt out(this means 2 people deal 3 times and 1 person deals twice).
The 3 player rule sheet will be placed on the table to remind people how to play and the players can refer to this if necessary.
Movement: The two people that will move onto other tables will always be 1 white score card holder and 1 coloured score card holder. Sometimes this is the two top score holders and sometimes it is not. If you are playing at the 3-person table and you lose two games in a row, you will move on and the person in second place will remain at the 3-person table for one more game.