How We Teach Euchre at Charleston Euchre Club

New to Euchre? Don’t worry — you’ll pick it up quickly, and our members are always happy to help you learn. We just ask that you review the basics beforehand so you’re ready to jump in.

Here’s your step-by-step guide to how we play Euchre at Charleston Euchre Club.

🎴 The Setup
Euchre is played with 4 players split into 2 teams. Sit across from your partner. The deck only includes 9s through Aces. Each player is dealt 5 cards. The remaining 4 cards form the kitty, and the top card of the kitty is flipped face-up — this becomes the potential trump suit. A hand consists of 5 tricks. First team to 10 points wins the game.

🃏 How a Hand Starts
After the kitty card is flipped, each player (starting left of the dealer) has one chance to tell the dealer to “pick it up” — making that suit the trump. If someone does, the dealer adds it to their hand and discards one. If everyone passes, a second round begins where players can name a different suit as trump. If all pass again, the dealer must call trump — this is called Stick the Dealer.

♠️ Trump and the Bowers
The Right Bower (Jack of the trump suit) is the highest card in the game. The Left Bower (Jack of the same-color suit) is second-highest and also counts as trump. For example, if Spades are trump, the Jack of Clubs is the Left Bower.

♥️ Playing the Hand
The player to the dealer’s left leads the first card. Players must follow suit if they can. If not, they may play any other card — including trump. The highest trump played wins the trick. If no trump is played, the highest card in the suit led wins. The winner of each trick leads the next.

♣️ Scoring
If your team calls trump and wins:
• 3 or 4 tricks = 1 point
• 5 tricks = 2 points
If you get euchred (fail to win 3 tricks), the other team earns 2 points.
Going alone and winning all 5 tricks scores 4 points.

♦️ Common Terms
Trump – The dominant suit that beats all others
Right Bower – Jack of trump; highest card
Left Bower – Jack of same-color suit; also counts as trump
Trick – One round of 4 cards played
Euchre – When the team that called trump loses
Going Alone – Playing the hand without your partner to earn bonus points

It’s easy to follow once you’ve seen a hand or two — and our members are always glad to help if you’ve reviewed the basics and are ready to play.

👉 Join us any Tuesday, Thursday, or 2nd & 4th Sunday
Play, meet great people, and have fun. Visit CHSEuchre.com for full event details and club info.

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