How to Play · Lesson 4 of 10

Trump And Bowers

Practice right bower, left bower, and why trump beats any non-trump.

Trump Beats Everything

The trump suit outranks every other suit. Even the 9 of trump — the lowest trump card — beats the Ace of any non-trump suit.

When the led suit is not trump and you have no cards in that suit, you can play trump to take the trick. Opponents who followed suit with high non-trump cards lose to your trump regardless of their rank.

The Trump Hierarchy

Trump ranks from highest to lowest:

• 1. Right Bower — Jack of the trump suit. The highest card in the hand; cannot be beaten.
• 2. Left Bower — Jack of the same-color suit. Becomes trump, ranks just below the right bower.
• 3. Ace of trump
• 4. King of trump
• 5. Queen of trump
• 6–7. 10 and 9 of trump — lowest trump, but still beat any non-trump card.

The Left Bower's Identity

The left bower is printed as one suit but plays as another for the entire hand. If Spades are trump, the J♣ is a Spade — not a Club. This is the trickiest part of learning Euchre for most people.

• You must follow the trump suit if the left bower is led. In this example if the J♠ is led with Clubs as trump, you must follow in Clubs if you have any since the left bower is a Club for this hand.
• If you hold J♣ when Spades are trump and a Spade is led, you must play the J♣ (or another Spade if you have it) since the left bower is a Spade for this hand.

Using Trump Wisely

Leading trump early pulls trump out of opponents' hands so your Aces and Kings in other suits have a better chance to take tricks — this is called "pulling or bleeding trump."

• On offense, lead high trump (such as the bowers) early to force opponents to spend their trump when they have to follow suit.
• Avoid playing trump on a trick your partner is already winning — you waste a resource your team needs to take a later trick.
• On defense, conserve your trump where you can and use it to take tricks you can't follow suit on. Bleeding trump is typically not a good strategy on defense because you and your partner don't hold as many trump as the calling team and you don't want to run out too soon.