Euchre glossary
- Bower
The bowers are the two highest trumps. The right bower is the Jack of the trump suit and the highest card in the game. The left bower is the other Jack of the same color and ranks second. After the two bowers come the Ace, King, Queen, 10, and 9 of trump.
The left bower counts as a card of the trump suit for the whole hand. For example, if hearts are trump, the Jack of Diamonds is the left bower and counts as a heart. If hearts are led and it's your only heart, you have to play it.
Usage
- My opponent in first seat had both the left and right bowers.
- I led the right bower to pull trump out of my opponents' hands.
- Eldest hand
Eldest hand is another name for first seat. You'll see it in lots of other card games too.
Some people call third seat, the player to the right of the dealer, the "pone".
- Euchre
Your team is euchred if you or your partner chose the trump suit, but together you didn't take 3 or more tricks in the hand.
Each Euchre hand has 5 tricks. If your team calls trump, you need to take at least 3 of them.
If your team is euchred, the other team scores 2 points and your team scores nothing. It's still 2 points if you went alone.
Usage
- We got euchred!
- First seat
First seat is the player to the left of the dealer. They get the first chance to call trump. They also lead the first trick, unless their partner in third seat goes alone.
Some people also call this player eldest hand. My articles sometimes say "first chair".
Usage
- First seat led the trick with a trump card.
- As first seat, I decided to use the next strategy and call the other suit of the same color as the turned-down card.
- Lead
Whoever plays the first card in a trick leads that trick. The winner of each trick leads the next one.
Usage
- I led the 4th trick with my Ace of Hearts, but it was trumped.
- Third seat
Third seat is the player to the right of the dealer and the partner of first seat. My articles sometimes say "third chair".
The seats are numbered in the order players get to call trump. First seat is left of the dealer and second seat is the dealer's partner. Third seat comes next. The dealer goes last and is just the dealer.
When third seat calls trump, first seat leads the first trick and can lead trump to their partner. If third seat goes alone, first seat sits out and second seat leads instead.
Usage
- I was in third seat, so my partner and one opponent had already passed.
- My partner called trump from third seat, so I led a low trump to clear the way.
- Trick
A trick is the pile of cards, one from each player in the hand, that goes to whoever played the strongest card. The highest trump wins the trick. If nobody played a trump, the highest card of the suit that was led wins it.
It can also mean one round of play, when each player plays one card.
Usage
- I snagged the trick with my Jack of Spades.
- I took all 5 tricks, so I should have gone alone!
- I led spades on the first trick.
- Trump
The word "trump" can be a noun or a verb.
The trump suit is the suit the "maker" picked. That's the player who called trump for the hand.
A trump card is any card of the trump suit, plus one extra Jack. If a black suit is trump, the Jack of the other black suit is a trump card too. The same goes for the red suits. For example, if spades are trump, the Jack of Clubs counts as a spade. The Jack of Spades and the Jack of Clubs are then the two highest trumps. They're called the bowers.
To trump is to play a trump card on a trick that was led in another suit. You can only do that when you're void in the suit that was led. Any trump beats every card of the other suits, so even the 9 of trump beats an Ace. If someone has already trumped the trick and you play a higher trump, that's called over-trumping.
Usage
- I chose clubs as the trump suit.
- My opponent trumped the trick, but then my partner over-trumped him!
- I didn't have any trump, so I led with an Ace.
- Void
You're void in a suit when you have no cards of that suit.
In Euchre, the left bower belongs to the trump suit. If hearts are trump and the Jack of Diamonds is your only card with a diamond on it, you're still void in diamonds.
Usage
- I was void in spades, so I didn't have to follow suit.