TEHKUMMAH—The Expositor has been receiving reports of an addictive form of euchre that has been making the rounds at the Tehkummah Seniors Triangle Club and Providence Bay Community Hall, but indications abound that this pastime has been lurking unheralded in the back country for quite some time some time. The Expositor sought out contributor Pat Hall, our in-house expert in all things Tehkummah, to talk about this latest phenomenon.
“Yes we have been playing bid euchre,” admitted Ms. Hall. “It is a lot like euchre, except you bid.” Ms. Hall goes on to confess that “I am quite enjoying it.”
Ms. Hall took pains to point out that she is not the one organizing the event. “That’s Margaret Case, she’s the one who put all this together.”
Deep research by The Expositor (we had a gander on Google) has revealed that what is actually going on at the Tehkummah Triangle Senior’s Hall may be a form of double deck bid euchre, played with a double deck of cards containing only 9 through the ace of each the four suits, but since it combines the two decks there are two of each of those cards—thus double bid euchre. But we stand to be corrected.
“You deal out all of the cards to four people, who then take turns bidding on a hand,” she said.
When “trump” (or “no trump”) is decided on by the player with the highest bid, that suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades) becomes the top ranked cards with the opposing jack of the same colour being the second highest card in that trump.
The game involves scoring, with the highest points recorded at the hall to date coming in at 277. “I have only got up to 204, so far,” said Ms. Hall.
A player scores 35 for first place, 25 points for second place and 15 points for third place. Since the game is played with partners, the score goes to both players, but the players move from table to table throughout the competition. “You are changing partners all the time,” said Ms. Hall.
Once the bidding is complete, highest bidder is declared the declarer with the trump suit being the suit named in the bid. The declarer leads the first trick. The rules of play are as in euchre, so you must follow suit, and if void of the suit led you may trump or discard at will. The left bower(s) (aka the opposite jacks of the same colour as the trump) count for all purposes as belonging to the trump suit. In double deck versions the first played of two equal cards beats the second.
“It is very important not to lose the lead,” said Ms. Hall. “It can go downhill from there very quickly if you do.”
A bid euchre tourney at the Tehkummah Triangle Club will have 24 players taking part, so that means six tables in play, although apparently there is plenty of room to spare should more people show up. Each player antes up a $5 entry fee. “And then there is the 50/50,” said Ms. Hall. “That’s a dollar too.” High stakes indeed.
It can ramp up even further from there. “If you lay a card down in front of you and you can’t make your bid, you pay a dollar,” said Ms. Hall.
Lay a card down in front of you?
If you have a very strong hand, you can lay one or two hands down in front of you and your partner will pass over their best cards, but beware, you can’t tell them what you want.
“I got caught like that a couple of weeks ago,” said Ms. Hall. “I laid two cards down in front of me, but my partner didn’t really have any good cards. So I lost 12 points, well we both did really, me and my partner.” Sounds tricky. In fact, there is a lot of strategy involved in the game.
“It’s really hard to explain,” said Ms. Hall. “You will just have to come out and try it yourself sometime.”
