Do you pull trump? Or do you lay off?
That’s the ultimate question any euchre player has to ask themselves when they sit across from their partner in pursuit of those coveted ten tricks. Pulling trump is a more aggressive move, while laying off puts the onus on your partner.
There is a case to be made for both, but often it comes down to the strategy you’ve formed over a lifetime of playing, the strategy passed down from your parents who battled your aunts and uncles at the dining room table late into those Saturday nights.
Yes, in the circles I’ve frequented in my life, euchre is a big deal. I
t’s not just a way to pass time, it’s a pastime. There’s a difference. Do poker champs think Texas Hold ‘Em is a just a way to pass time? No way – it’s strategy. And, so is euchre. It’s bragging rights. It’s pride. It’s survival. Okay, maybe not literal survival, but the only way to keep playing is to win and watch your opposing team sulk away and wait for their next turn. It feels good to stay at the table and call out ‘who’s up next?’ to the teams in waiting.
It’s a tricky game. Hell, even the name is tricky. I didn’t spell it right for the first few years I played, and it’s not clear where the term even came from. The popular theory is that it came from an old Alsatian game called Jucker, which was pronounced ‘yooker’ but how the modern spelling came to be is not crystal clear.
There are mentions of Eucre and Uker in American gaming houses in the early 1800s, so there’s a few clues. One theory is that the game was a brought to America by German settlers and soon spread from Pennsylvania to New York and into Canada. The term ‘bower’ may come from ‘bauer,’ which is German for farmer, so there’s a clue.
Another theory suggests that American prisoners picked the game up from French prisoners in the southwest of England in the early 1800s when French prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars and American prisoners of the War of 1812 were both imprisoned in the same Darmoor Prison in Devon (thanks Wikipedia).
Most theories point to euchre coming to America first, so why then is it so popular in Canada and not America? Well, here’s the thing, it’s only popular in Ontario, not Canada.
Even though it was once described as America’s National Game, it’s certainly not anymore. It has also been described as Canada’s National Game, but that’s no longer true either. It’s more like Ontario’s Provincial Game. And from what I remember, Grey County’s Regional Game.
It was a bit of a shock to me when I left to backpack through Europe at nineteen and found that no one in the hostels knew how to play the game, except for Ontarians, New Yorkers, a few Brits and some Kiwis. How could this game that was so ingrained in my upbringing not be embraced by the rest of the world?
Maybe it was just too strange of a game. I mean it is pretty weird. You remove half the deck to play it – strange. Jacks are the highest-ranking cards, not aces – weird. Points are called tricks – why? Scoring is done with two fives – okay. The strategy is to work together with a partner but you don’t know what each other has – annoying.
Not only is it a weird game, but it’s a real pain in the ass to learn. Most people who sit down to learn, end up giving up on it after the first few hands. My wife tells me she gets nervous to this day when the word euchre comes up – she spent most euchre sessions pretending like she knew how to play hoping she wouldn’t get found out. Yes, it moves fast, and the strategy is difficult to pick up right away. Plus, hands often get thrown in without playing them through when it becomes apparent that only one trick is gained. Three tricks earns one point and all five earn two, so the last cards are often tossed in when the last trick is meaningless. This aggravates people to no end who are trying to learn. Rightfully so.
This leads me to my overarching question: do you pull trump or do you lay off? Let me explain. Say that your partner made it trump and they are not going alone. It’s your lead. Do you like to lead with a trump card to put the control in your opponent’s hand with the risk of taking one of their valuable trump cards, or do you like to lay off – play a non-trump card – and risk your partner having to follow suit and losing the first trick?
See, I’ve never been too clear on the ‘right strategy’ here and tend to lead with a trump card (if it’s a low trump) to put the control in my partner’s hand. Therefore, I guess I’m a fan of pulling trump. But maybe it’s time to switch my strategy and lay off. Take the chance that my partner can take it anyways. Hope they’re double suited and don’t have to follow my lead. Keep my trump card for later in case I need it.
On the flip side, if you’ve made it trump, and it’s your lead first, do you pull trump from everyone at the table including your partner? Or do you lay off and hope your partner takes one for you. As the saying goes, ‘gotta rely on your partner for at least one, right?’
The fun thing about euchre is that I think there’s no right answer. It always depends on chance, so find your strategy, stick with it, and defend it fearlessly against any naysayers. When in doubt, pull trump – it’s more aggressive and that kind of competitive spirit is rewarded in card games.
And if you find yourself with a mit full of nines and tens, just sit tight and wait until next hand. You won’t be pulling any trump, my friend. Hopefully your partner utters those three beautiful words that will let you throw your hand in and watch as jump four points closer to victory: “I’m going alone!”
Words and photos by Jesse Wilkinson
