I learned euchre as a kid, watching relatives play at family gatherings. For years I was only allowed to sit at the table and watch the adults play. I learned alot during this time of observance. Finally, around age 12 or 13 I was allowed to play. The game became a bit of an obsession. While in college, I found a group of friends who came to my dorm room almost every single night to play euchre. It was the same four of us, almost without exception, every night. It was here that I came up with and perfected this system of cheating at euchre.
To be clear, I do not suggest that anybody try this method in any euchre game that is played for money. This should only be used in friendly games. Although I did use this method to advance to the championship game of a euchre tournament once. We ended up taking second place in that tournament only because we agreed with our opponents not to cheat in the championship game.
This system of cheating I developed is almost completely undetectable by either your opponents or others observing the game. If you use this system, combined with a little card stacking and modified strategy, you could be absolutely unbeatable at the game of euchre.
I've kept this system a secret for over 15 years now. I've taught it only to two other people. It's been quite some time since I've used this system for cheating, mostly due to the lack of euchre that I play these days. Poker seems to be the game of choice for most lately. Also, I rarely see the two people who I taught this system to and likely won't be playing very much euchre with them in the near future. With all of that said, I decided to finally share my system with the world, or anybody who happens to stumble upon this blog.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Super Euchre Cheat - Results Every Time
If you didn't notice, the title to this post is an acronym for SECRET. In order for this system to be successful, keeping it a secret is the most important thing. Tell only the person you partner with the most in euchre. Master the system between the two of you, and keep it to yourselves. Also, check out my Euchre Links pages at the bottom of this blog to learn more about euchre, some basic strategy, and ways that other people cheat at euchre.
Super Euchre Cheat System
This system is so simple, it's a little bit ridiculous. Some might consider it a form of 'table talk,' but in my viewpoint, neither you nor your opponent are doing anything outside of the rules of the game of euchre. The big secret is all in the way you hold your cards. That's it!
During the first round of bidding (deciding which suit is going to be trump) there will be one card turned up on top of the kitty pile in front of the dealer. Count how many cards in your hand match the suit of the turned up card, or the possible trump, including the possible left bower if you have it. Show this number to your partner simply by holding your cards in such a way that the number of fingers your partner sees on the back of your fanned out cards is the same number of possible trump in your hand. For example: the turned up card is a spade and you hold the ace of spades, jack of clubs and three red suited cards. Hold your cards with two fingers showing on the back, as shown in the picture on the left. If you don't have any cards that match the suit that is turned up, simply hold your cards as shown in the picture on the right.
Doing this alone gives you a huge advantage over your opponents just by knowing how many possible trump your partner has. What you do with this information is really the key.
You will now have to alter your normal strategies, for obvious reasons. One strategy I like to use with this system is to never let the first person on your team call up trump during the first round of bidding. Say for example that you are the first person left of the dealer. You have two possible trump, including the right bower, and your partner also has two. Normally you would call up trump thinking that you could get two tricks and count on your partner to get one. In this case it would be better to pass, knowing that your partner will call it up anyway. By doing this, you give your opponents a chance to call it up, thus giving you a really good chance to euchre them and gain two points instead of one. It won't always happen like this, but there is the outside chance that the person sitting to your left also has two trump and may call it up hoping that their partner (the dealer) has more trump in their hand. So basically, a good rule of thumb while using this system is to never call trump if you are the first person to bid on your team. You won't want to be too blatantly obvious though. If you have three or four trump, and your partner has none, you probably should call it up yourself.
Now I will explain what to do if everybody passes on the first round of bidding and the dealer turns down the card that was on top of the kitty pile. You may have to slightly change the way you are holding your cards, or the number of fingers that show on the back. In this way you are going to 'signal' your partner to let them know which suit is best represented in your hand. You will hold up one, two, three or four fingers. Each signal must be predetermined by you and your partner. Make it something easy for both of you to remember. I always went alphabetically. The suits in alphabetical order are: clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. In this case, one finger represents clubs, two fingers is diamonds, and so on. I did think of a more visual system that might be easier for some to remember. One finger could represent spades because the spade has one point. Two fingers for hearts because the heart has two halves. Three fingers for clubs because the club has three leaves. Four fingers for diamonds because the diamond has four points. This round of signaling can be complicated and can vary in many different ways depending on how you use this system. A good rule of thumb on this one is to try to be the first person to call trump if possible. If possible you don't want your opponents to call trump. Another variation of this part of the system is to only signal your partner one of the suits if you feel that you will be able to take at least two tricks with your cards. If you have a really bad hand simply hold your cards like the picture above on the right to signal your partner that you won't be of any help on this hand.
Lastly, what to do in the event that your team was not able to call trump in the second round of bidding. Say for example you both have poor hands and the other team calls trump. In this case, adjust your fingers again to let your partner know how many trump you have. Hopefully, with this knowledge, you will not have to play your trump on top of each others and better your chances of getting a euchre.
As you can see, using this system will give you a huge advantage over your opponents. It will not guarantee that you win every time. You still need the cards to fall your way. Go ahead and give this system a try. You likely will never get caught. I've used this system for over 15 years and nobody has been able to figure it out. I even told people that I was cheating and I've had them watch me and my partner like a hawk to try to figure it out, and they could not. You can use this system and not feel too guilty about cheating, because you really aren't doing anything against the rules. Just simply holding your cards differently throughout the game. If you really wanted to cheat, learn a little bit of deck stacking and card manipulation. Combine that with this system, and you truly could be unbeatable. But the likelihood of getting caught with any kind of card manipulation is much greater.
If you plan to use this system, make sure you only teach a very limited number of people, preferably just one person. Keep it a secret for as long as you possibly can. The game of euchre is so much more fun when you have a good idea of what is in your partners hand and you win most of the time. I am now going to send the link to this blog to all of my friends and family that I cheated over the years!!
Super Euchre Cheat System
This system is so simple, it's a little bit ridiculous. Some might consider it a form of 'table talk,' but in my viewpoint, neither you nor your opponent are doing anything outside of the rules of the game of euchre. The big secret is all in the way you hold your cards. That's it!
During the first round of bidding (deciding which suit is going to be trump) there will be one card turned up on top of the kitty pile in front of the dealer. Count how many cards in your hand match the suit of the turned up card, or the possible trump, including the possible left bower if you have it. Show this number to your partner simply by holding your cards in such a way that the number of fingers your partner sees on the back of your fanned out cards is the same number of possible trump in your hand. For example: the turned up card is a spade and you hold the ace of spades, jack of clubs and three red suited cards. Hold your cards with two fingers showing on the back, as shown in the picture on the left. If you don't have any cards that match the suit that is turned up, simply hold your cards as shown in the picture on the right.
Doing this alone gives you a huge advantage over your opponents just by knowing how many possible trump your partner has. What you do with this information is really the key.
You will now have to alter your normal strategies, for obvious reasons. One strategy I like to use with this system is to never let the first person on your team call up trump during the first round of bidding. Say for example that you are the first person left of the dealer. You have two possible trump, including the right bower, and your partner also has two. Normally you would call up trump thinking that you could get two tricks and count on your partner to get one. In this case it would be better to pass, knowing that your partner will call it up anyway. By doing this, you give your opponents a chance to call it up, thus giving you a really good chance to euchre them and gain two points instead of one. It won't always happen like this, but there is the outside chance that the person sitting to your left also has two trump and may call it up hoping that their partner (the dealer) has more trump in their hand. So basically, a good rule of thumb while using this system is to never call trump if you are the first person to bid on your team. You won't want to be too blatantly obvious though. If you have three or four trump, and your partner has none, you probably should call it up yourself.
Now I will explain what to do if everybody passes on the first round of bidding and the dealer turns down the card that was on top of the kitty pile. You may have to slightly change the way you are holding your cards, or the number of fingers that show on the back. In this way you are going to 'signal' your partner to let them know which suit is best represented in your hand. You will hold up one, two, three or four fingers. Each signal must be predetermined by you and your partner. Make it something easy for both of you to remember. I always went alphabetically. The suits in alphabetical order are: clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. In this case, one finger represents clubs, two fingers is diamonds, and so on. I did think of a more visual system that might be easier for some to remember. One finger could represent spades because the spade has one point. Two fingers for hearts because the heart has two halves. Three fingers for clubs because the club has three leaves. Four fingers for diamonds because the diamond has four points. This round of signaling can be complicated and can vary in many different ways depending on how you use this system. A good rule of thumb on this one is to try to be the first person to call trump if possible. If possible you don't want your opponents to call trump. Another variation of this part of the system is to only signal your partner one of the suits if you feel that you will be able to take at least two tricks with your cards. If you have a really bad hand simply hold your cards like the picture above on the right to signal your partner that you won't be of any help on this hand.
Lastly, what to do in the event that your team was not able to call trump in the second round of bidding. Say for example you both have poor hands and the other team calls trump. In this case, adjust your fingers again to let your partner know how many trump you have. Hopefully, with this knowledge, you will not have to play your trump on top of each others and better your chances of getting a euchre.
As you can see, using this system will give you a huge advantage over your opponents. It will not guarantee that you win every time. You still need the cards to fall your way. Go ahead and give this system a try. You likely will never get caught. I've used this system for over 15 years and nobody has been able to figure it out. I even told people that I was cheating and I've had them watch me and my partner like a hawk to try to figure it out, and they could not. You can use this system and not feel too guilty about cheating, because you really aren't doing anything against the rules. Just simply holding your cards differently throughout the game. If you really wanted to cheat, learn a little bit of deck stacking and card manipulation. Combine that with this system, and you truly could be unbeatable. But the likelihood of getting caught with any kind of card manipulation is much greater.
If you plan to use this system, make sure you only teach a very limited number of people, preferably just one person. Keep it a secret for as long as you possibly can. The game of euchre is so much more fun when you have a good idea of what is in your partners hand and you win most of the time. I am now going to send the link to this blog to all of my friends and family that I cheated over the years!!
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