Winning at Rook (4 player set partner, no 1’s 2’s 3’s or 4’s)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Bidding

Chapter 2 Discarding

Chapter 3 Counting Trump

Chapter 4 What do they have?

Chapter 5 Get out the Trump

Chapter 6 Helping your Partner

Chapter 7 Set ‘Em

Chapter 8 Bag ‘Em

Chapter 9 Block ‘Em

Definitions

1

Introduction

If you play Rook and you’re tired of losing or you win a lot but just want to win more, this is the Book for you. With these strategies and a lot of practice you should be able to not only win all the games where you have the better cards, but to start winning a lot of games where your opponents get better cards. It’s a lot of fun to get the Rook every hand, but it’s more fun to win a game when your opponents had the Rook on every hand. One of the most important keys to winning at Rook or any other game is to never give up. You never know what can happen. If you are way down in points and it looks like you have no chance, feel free to use the prayer I often do: God, Please let their computer freeze. AMEN!

(If you are a beginner, or even if you are not, it might be helpful to read the definitions first.)

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Chapter 1 Bidding

Bidding is what separates the good players from the great players. Good

players know how to get out trump, what to discard, when to play points and so on. But they often lose even when they had better cards, because it was stolen from them with great bidding.

If you are going set more than 25-30% of the time you’re bidding too high. If you are going set less than that, you are bidding too low. It’s a good idea to keep track of your bid to set ratio to see how close to 25-30% you are. Bidding too low is just as bad for your game as bidding too high. If you wait for a great hand it’s probably too late, because your opponents are too far ahead. You don’t need a perfect hand. You just need a hand that will make the bid 70% of the time.

There are 120 points total. In most games the winning bid will be 85, 90 or 95.

An average hand should make 80 points more than 70% of the time. It’s very important not to let your opponent have any cheap bids. So if your partner is not bidding you should always bid at least 80 or 85. Because if you and your partner don’t have good hands, chances are that your opponents will outbid you. If they don’t, there is a good chance that there is something good in the kitty.

When you’re thinking about bidding higher (90 and up) you need to look more at the holes in your hand rather than the good cards you have. (A hole is a card you have, that won’t be taking a trick, or a card you need, but don’t have.) If you have the Rook but no 14’s or 13’s you might be in trouble. If you don’t have the Rook but you have a lot of 14’s and 13’s but no good suits you’re also in trouble. A good suit is far better than good cards in all four colors.

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Example #1

If you have a Rook, 13, 12, 10, 8 in green and a black 14, 12, 6 and the red 5

you have a very good hand that you should bid up to 100 on. There would be 5 green trump out there so you would have about a 60% chance of getting one or more trump in the kitty. You also have about a 60% chance of getting a black card, which would be your weak suit.

So you can count on the kitty to fill one of the holes in your hand. You can also count on your partner filling one hole in your hand. He or she can fill that hole by playing one of your missing cards or taking a trick with a big card of another color. So with your Rook, G13, 12, 10, 8, B14, 12, 6, R5 hand you have 3 holes, Green 14, Black 13, and the Red 5. Not having the Green 14 seems like it would give you a lot of trouble, but chances are that it will at most take 20 points. Especially since you have the Green 10. The Black 13 will probably take at most 10 points. So, you had three holes in your hand, but after the kitty and your partner’s hand you will probably only lose one trick.

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Example #2

Now let’s say you have the G14, 13, 10, B12, 9, R10, 5, Y13, 12. This is a

hand that gets a lot of people in trouble. Because it looks good for trump but it’s full of holes. There are only 4 cards in this hand that will probably take a trick; the three green cards and the yellow 13. This leaves holes in your hand, which either must be filled by the kitty and your partner or those tricks will be taken by your opponents.

First of all having less than 5 trump after the kitty is going to turn out very badly for you. You also have no other good suit. So of the 5 holes in this hand, the kitty and your partner will fill two or three. That means that you will lose 2 or 3 tricks and 20 to 50 points on this hand.

I would probably bid 85 maybe 90 on this hand. This hand is also wonderful for bagging someone, but we will talk about that in Chapter 8.

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Example #3

Now you have a G14, 13, 11, 10, 6, 5, B14, 12, R7. You have three holes in

this hand. The first hole is the Rook. Not having the Rook can make bidding high very scary. But this is a hand you could easily bid 90 or 95 on. Remember you only need to make your bid 70 percent of the time. The chance of picking up the Rook in the kitty or your partner having it is 43.75%. If you got the Rook you would easily make your bid, maybe even 120. But even if you didn’t, there is a good chance the kitty and your partner would fill the other two holes and you would only lose the one trick to the Rook, which would be 20 to 30 points. So bidding 90 to 95 on this hand you should make it over 70% of the time.

So, remember to count on the kitty and your partner for two or three tricks. And when in doubt, bid.

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Chapter 2 Discarding

Discarding after you get the bid is fairly simple and can easily be done in 30

seconds, but if you get it wrong, it can be deadly for your hand. So let’s go over the basics. 1. Always keep the Rook and all the trump. A small trump is far better then a 14 of a non-trump. 2. Keep any 14 or any run starting with a 14 such as 14, 13 or 14, 13, 12. 3. If possible, keep all your weak cards in one suit. This exposes you to only one set of 14’s, 10’s and 5’s. This totals only 25 points. But if you lose tricks in two suits you risk up to 50 points. 4. Try not to keep any 10’s or 5’s for your weak cards. 5. It’s better to keep weak cards in a suit that you have the 14 in. 6. It’s better to keep weak cards in a suit where you can discard some points. For example, if you have to keep two weak cards and you have the R11, 8, 5 and the Y12, 8, it’s much better to keep the R11 and R8 than the Y12 and 8.

(The following examples consist of: the hand you were dealt, what you should bid, what you got in the kitty, and what you should then discard.)

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Example #1 Bid 85-90

Example #1 Discard

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Example #2 Bid 80-85

Example #2 Discard

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Example #3 Bid 90 or 95

Although you have a Red 14, 13, 8, yellow is the best trump since it gives you six trumps instead of four. Example #3 Discard

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Example #4 Bid 90-95

Example #4 Discard

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Example #5 Bid 80

Much better to discard the Black 10 than the Black 6. The Black 10 is higher, but it’s not going to take a trick anyway, so it’s better not to risk losing the 10 points.

Example #5 Discard

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Example #6 Bid 85-90

It’s safe to keep the Green 10 in this case because you have four Green cards.

It’s unlikely that anyone else will have four Green cards so you should be safe. Example #6 Discard

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Example #7 Bid 80

Example #7 Discard

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Example #8 Bid 95-100

It seems odd to put the 14’s in the Kitty but this is far better. If you have the 14, the 13 has the same power, so why risk losing the points? It’s also important to keep a winner in Yellow, Black, and Red. If you lose a trump trick and they lead back a non-trump you can use your 13 instead of wasting a trump.

Example #8 Discard

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Example #9 Bid 85

You have to keep four weak cards in two suits. The three black and then you might want to keep the red 11, but this would be a mistake. Neither the red 11 nor the green 8 will take a trick, but if you play out the red 11 you risk the 14, 10, and 5 of red being played. But by playing the green 8 you only risk the 14, since the 10 and 5 are in the kitty. Example #9 Discard

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Chapter 3

Counting Trump

Counting trump is as easy as counting to eleven, but it is one of the most

important parts of the game. Let’s say you have 5 trump and you get the bid. If 4 trump are played on the first trick and 4 trump are played on the second trick you should know all the trump are out. (4 + 4 + the 3 left in your hand = 11) Because you counted, there is no reason to waste another trump making sure no one has any left. It is also very important to count trump when your opponent or partner gets the bid. It lets you know how many trump they have and sometimes, more importantly, it tells you how many non-trump cards they have. Once you learn to count trump you should move on to remembering specific cards. Just start with remembering the big trump cards. Let’s say Green is the trump and you have the Rook, 14, 12, 10, 6, 5. The important cards to remember in this case are G13 and G11. Once you learn to remember the big trump then move on to remembering the big cards in the weak suit. Then the 14, 13, 12’s in all suits. Some players are even capable of remembering every card that was played and who played it.

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Chapter 4 What do they have?

This chapter is about how to determine who has what cards in their hand. The best way to figure out who has what card is to eliminate two of the players from having that card. For example: The player to the right gets the bid and starts out by playing the 11 of trump and you have only one trump, the 10. So you play the 10. The player to the left plays the 5. So if that player had the Rook he would play it to keep your partner from taking the trick. Then your partner plays out a non-trump card. So right away you should know the player with the bid has the Rook. Red is trump and your partner takes a trump trick then plays back a yellow 5 and the player to your right who got the bid plays a Black 6. You play the Yellow 10. The player to the left plays the Yellow 8. You should be able to tell from this hand that your partner has the yellow 14 since the player to the right has no Yellow and the player to the left would have taken the trick if he had a yellow card over a 10. The player to your right gets the bid and gets out trump and you counted trump and know he only has one red trump left. But he still has four cards. Earlier he trumped in on a yellow trick and a green trick. Since there is only one red left and he has no yellow or green the only option left is that he has 3 black cards. The strategy of eliminating possibilities to determine where a card is, works well most of the time. However, if you’re playing an inexperienced player it can be much harder to figure out what they have since they often play in an unusual manner.

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Chapter 5 Getting out the Trump

This chapter is about what you need to do after you get the bid and discard.

You can have a hand full of great cards, but if you play them in the wrong order all those great cards won’t help you. 1. You always want to run your opponents out of trump.

I often see players who will play out their non-trump 14’s before they run their opponents out of trump. This is a huge mistake. You risk getting your 14 trumped, but if you wait until after trump is out, you risk nothing. Also many players won’t play out their trump because their opponents have bigger trump. If you wait, you put all the power in their hands. They can choose when and where to play their trump. But if you play out trump right away they will be forced to play their trump. They will win a trick, but often their partner will have to follow suit and will play a non-point trump or better yet their partner will throw the 14 of your weak suit. 2. Once you get out trump, stop playing trump.

You will need those trump to trump in on later hands. It also gives your opponents a chance to discard cards they don’t want. For instance if they have a lone red 7 and red is your weak suit and their partner takes a trick in red they would have to play the red 7. But if you kept playing trump they could discard the red 7 and when their partner took a red trick they could put points on. 3. Once you’re done playing trump it’s usually best to play your weak cards right away.

Let’s say after you get out trump you have two Red trump, the Black 14 and a Green 13, 11, 6 left. Many people would play the Black 14 next, but that is a huge mistake. You want to keep the 14 so when they take a Green trick they will probably lead back a Yellow or Black. And if they lead back Black you will take the trick with your 14 instead of wasting a trump. If you had to waste a trump it would leave you with only one, which might get you into a lot of trouble. It’s also important to play your weak cards right away because they have to follow suit.

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4. Whenever you lose a trick, trump back in on the next trick. You should always trump back in ASAP unless your partner is going to take

the trick or the other 3 players have played and there are no points on the trick. Then you probably want to play one of your weak cards. 5. Always keep a trump for the last trick.

The only exception to this is if you need to trump in, and you’re sure that all the cards you have left are winners.

95 percent of hands should follow the rules above, but there are some other

exceptions and I’ll cover some of them in the examples below.

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Example #1

It will probably take three trump to get out trump, then you should play the

red 6. You might think it’s better to play R14, R13, then R6 but the chances are very good someone else has three Red. So let’s say someone has the Red 11, 10, 7. If you play out the 6 they will play the 10 and his partner will probably have to follow suit and since the 5 is in the kitty they will only get 10 points; unless your partner has the 12, in which case they would get none. But if you play R 14, 13, then 6 the 12 will probably get played on one of the first two tricks and he will win the third trick with his 10 and his partner will be out of red and will play a 5 or 10 point card. Instead of only losing at most 10 points you could easily lose 15-20 by playing 14, 13, then 6.

Even if the 5 was not in the Kitty it’s still better to play the 6 first, because it’s unlikely they will be able to take a trick with the 10 and 5 on it.

Now let’s say you had R14, 13, 12, 6. It’s very unlikely anyone has 4 Red so you should play 13, 12, 14, 6.

There are some exceptions where you would want to play 14, 13, 6. But if you do, it’s much better to play 13, 14, 6. Because if the player to your left has the red 10 he may play it thinking his partner has the 14 or if he has no red he will play a point card.

Exceptions would be if you lost a lot of points getting out trump and you couldn’t give up 10 points. Then you must play 13, 14, 6, because it has a better chance of not giving up any points. Another exception would be if you know your partner has a trump left. It’s unlikely your partner has three red and if he does he might have the 12 or 11. So you would play 13, 14, 6 and your partner should trump the 6.

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Example #2

Play the Rook out first and then finish getting out trump. Then play G13. If they take it, trump back in and play G12, if they don’t take the G13, then play the G12 next. However if you have three trump left and you know your partner has trump left you should play the B14 so if he has the B13 he’ll know it’s good. Then play a smaller trump than your partner has. Then your partner will take that trick and he’ll have a chance to play back the B13, Y14, G14 or the other winners he may have. Then you would play your G13, G12 on his winners. If he didn’t have any winners, you would trump the card he plays and then play G13, G12. Then finish with trump. You must have at least three trump left to use this strategy or it might turn very ugly.

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Example #3

If you have this hand you should probably re-read chapter 1. But we’ll go

over it anyway. First play the Rook. There is a good chance you will pick off the R13 or R14 in the first trick. So you should only lose one trump trick. But after getting out trump you will probably only have one trump left because it took three cards to get out trump and one to trump in after you lose a trump trick. Normally, you always want to be sure to get out trump. But in this case you will be in big trouble with one trump and B11, 9, 7, 5, so if there is one trump left out there when you still have two left and you think your partner may have that trump then don’t finish getting out the trump, but instead start playing your black. You should play the black in any case 7, 9, 11, 5. This gives you a good chance of winning with the 11 and 5, then finishing with trump.

This is a very ugly hand to play. If you bid 90 on this hand your chances of making it are probably about 30%. But with a little luck your partner will have a couple of the cards you need and you’ll make it.

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Example #4

Start with the G13; this will force them to use the Rook if they want to take

the first trick. If they don’t take it, play G11 then G6 then 5. But once they play the Rook then finish getting out trump by playing your smallest winning trump. Let’s say you play the G13 and the player to your left plays the Rook. Someone else plays the G12 on the first hand. Now he plays back a card and you trump it. Most players, including some of the very best players I’ve played with will just play the 14 and finish getting out the trump. That is a huge mistake. You have a perfect opportunity to steal points from the player to your left. Instead of playing the 14 you play the smallest winning trump you have. The 11. Now the player to the left sees the 11 and knows the 14 hasn’t been played. He has no green left so he plays points, thinking his partner may have the 14. So now you’ve stolen points away from him that he may have played on your weak red cards later on. You may even get the Y14, B14 or better yet the R10. Once you get out the trump you should play your Red 11, 9, 14, 7. But if all three players follow suit on the 11 your order should be 11, 14, 9, 7 since you discarded one Red in the Kitty there would be only two Red cards left. If you play the R14 after the 11 you will probably pick off the last two reds leaving your 9 and 7 as winners.

In any case, if you have a four card weak suit you should save either your smallest card or a point card for last, since it’s unlikely anyone would have four cards in your weak suit. This leaves your smallest card or point card as a winner.

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Example #5

Since you have the Y10 and Y5 you should start with a small trump. If you had the Y11 instead of the Y10 then you may want to start with the Y12 so you don’t lose your first trick to the Y10. So play out your small trump first Y6, 8, 9 until you get out the Rook Y14, 13. Use your Y5 or Y10 to trump back in after you lose a trump trick. Once you get out trump then play G7, 5, 14. You play the G7 instead of the G5 hoping your partner will take it with the G13 and play back a winner for you to throw your G5 on. If the player to your left takes the G7 then he will play out. If there aren’t many points on it you can throw in the G5 if it won’t set you.

Then the rest of the tricks are yours. If the player to your right takes the G7 you will probably need to trump in and then play out your G5. If you lost too many points getting out trump and you can’t give up any more, your best bet is probably G7, G14, G5. If your partner still has trump left you want to play G7, 14, 5 because he probably doesn’t have three Green so he should trump in on the G5. If your partner has a trump left and he discarded a green on an earlier hand you want to play G14, G5, G7. He should trump in on the G5. Then if he plays back a winner you throw on your G7.

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Example #6

Start with R13, 12, 7, 10 until you get out the Rook. Then play out your smallest winning trump if the player to your right played a trump on the last trick. If he didn’t then you should play starting with the 14 on down. This gives your partner a chance to discard points if he runs out of trump.

Once you get out trump your next card should be the G11. If the player to your right has the Green 14 he might not play it because he thinks you have a lot more weak Green cards. Also if he has the G14 and G12 he may take it with the G12 and then play back the G14, which you would trump. Then you play Y7, 12, 14. If your partner still has a trump you play Y12, 14, 7. If your partner has a trump and discarded a Yellow earlier you play Y14, 7, 12. In both cases your partner should trump the Y7.

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Example #7

This is a nice hand to have. Start with the Rook, then Y 13, 11, 9, 8, 6, 5.

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Example #8

Get out the trump with G13, 12, 14, Rook, 9, 8. I think you’re more likely to trick the player to your left into giving you points by playing G13, then G12 rather than playing G12, then G13. They will be more likely to see it as a trick playing G12, then G13. Once you get out trump play Y12, Y14, B14.

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Chapter 6 Helping your Partner

This chapter is about what you should play when your partner has the bid.

The basics are: 1. Don’t play points unless you’re sure you or your partner will take the trick. 2. Don’t discard winners on your partner’s trump trick. 3. Discard your points (except 14’s) on his winning tricks ASAP. 4. If you take a trick, this is the order that you should lead out cards if trump is not out. If you don’t have a. move on to b. and so on.

a. Play a winning trump card. Like the Rook or the 14 if the Rook was played or the 13 if the Rook and 14 have been played and so on

b. Play a non-trump 14 c. Play your highest non-point trump d. Play the 5 of trump e. Play your highest non-point card (but obey rule 6)

5. If you have the Rook, play it on the first trump trick. There is only one exception to this rule. If your partner plays out a non-point trump, the player to your right plays a non-point card and you have the Rook and the trump 13. In this case it’s better to play the 13. 6. If you take a trick before trump is out, never play back a non-trump suit that has already been played out once by you or by anyone else. Especially if it’s your partners weak suit. If you do it may get trumped by your opponents. This includes if you have a 14, 13 in the same suit. It’s better to play your 14 and than change suits and save your 13 for later.

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7. If you take a trick after trump is out.

a. Play any non-trump winners you have. b. Play back the highest non-point card you have in your partner’s weak suit. c. Play back the highest non-point card you have.

8. If you still have a trump but your opponents don’t, don’t lead out with it. Save it to play on your partner’s weak cards. If you lead it out you waste your trump and one of your partner’s trump.

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Chapter 7 Set Em’

This chapter is to help you take the maximum amount of points when your

opponent gets the bid. Even as little as 5 extra points can set someone and change the outcome of a game. A lot of players only pay close attention when they get the bid. Buts it’s even more important to pay attention when your opponent gets the bid. It’s easy to know what tricks you’re going to take but the hardest part of setting someone is knowing when to play points on a trick your partner is going to take.

Another big part of setting someone is which cards to discard when you don’t have to follow suit. You have to keep all the cards in a suit that you have a winner in and discard as many of your smaller suits as possible so if your partner takes a trick in one of those suits you can play points. But you also want to try to keep all the points in your hand until you can take a trick with them or you have a chance to play them on a trick that your partner has taken or will possibly take.

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Example #1

Let’s say Green is trump and on the first trick your opponent leads out the Rook and you play the G13. The second trick your opponent leads out the G12 and you take the trick with the G14. Now, it is important for you to make him use as many trump as possible. This gives him less trump to use later on. You may even be able to run him out of trump before the end of the hand. In which case the last tricks and the points in the kitty would be up for grabs. So the best card to play is the Yellow 12. If the bidder is to your right then you would need to play the Y14 to force him to use trump. You don’t want to play Black or Red because he might have the 14, then he won’t have to waste a trump. But he’ll have to trump the Y12 because your partner might have the Y14.

Now let’s say yellow is his weak suit and you take it with your Y12. Anytime you can play a non-trump suit two or three times before your opponent can get out trump you give your partner a chance to trump in. Next you play the Y14 and the bidder plays a small yellow. So your next card is the Y10, your opponent plays the Yellow 13. Now your opponent didn’t get a chance to get out trump so if your partner had three or more trump and didn’t have three Yellow he would trump in on this trick. He may even trump in with a 10 or 5, which gives you four tricks in a row and 30-60 points.

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Example #2

Let’s say Black is the trump and the bidder is to your right. He leads out the Rook. Now you must decide which card to discard. This may seem unimportant, but it is very important which one you discard. First determine which suit is most likely to be his weak suit. You do that by looking at your own cards. In this case the most likely weak suit is Red then Green then Yellow. You have no possible winners or points in red, so the first two cards that you discard should be the R9 then the R12. This will allow you to play points on any red tricks your partner might take. You should keep your Green at first because if your partner takes a green trick you have green points to play on it. Your Y12 is your only real possible winner. Since you have four yellow you can play small yellow cards on the Y14, 13. This would leave your Y12 as a winner.

Anytime you have a 14 you have a winner. If you have a 13 with one other card in that suit you have a possible winner. If you have a 12 with two other cards it’s a possible winner. Or if you have an 11 with three other cards and so on. Since your yellow 12 is a possible winner you want to keep it and since it’s a 12 keep at least two other Yellow cards. If your opponent took all the tricks and never revealed his weak suit until the end you should discard in order: R9, R11, G7, Y8, G5, G10, Y5, Y12, Y10.

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So Black is trump and the player to your right gets the bid for 90. He leads out the Rook and you play your R9. His partner plays the B10. Your partner plays the B6. Then he leads out the B14. You play the R11. His partner plays the Y9. Your partner plays the B9. He leads out a B12. Now is your chance to play points, since the B13 hasn’t been played yet your partner may have it, so you play the G10. His partner plays the Y11. Your partner takes the trick with the B13. Your partner plays out the G14 and he trumps in with the B5. You play the G7. His partner plays the G8. The he leads out the B9. Since your partner may have the B11 you play out the Y10. His partner plays the R8 and your partner plays the B11. Your partner leads out the R9. He plays the R14. You can now assume that his weak suit is Red because he played the R14 and he doesn’t have Green and you know where the Y12, 11, 10, 9, 8, and 5 are. So you don’t need to save Yellow anymore so you play the Y8. His partner plays the R11. He then leads out the R6. Your partner may have a winning red so you play the G5. His partner plays the G9 and your partner takes the trick with the R10. Now you’ve set him with 35 points.

This example shows that if you pay attention and play points every time your partner may take a trick, you can set them even though they had very good cards.

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Chapter 8 Bag ‘Em

Bagging someone is when you don’t outbid your opponent with the idea that

you can set them. Chapter 7 is much more in depth on how to set someone. This chapter is to help you decide when to bag someone rather than bid. This strategy should be used when your opponents are very close to going out and you’re not. Like 290 to 140. Even if you made your bid they only need 10 to win. The other time to use it would be when your chance of bagging them is a lot greater than your chance of making it if you got the bid.

Normally to bag someone you will need the Rook and one winner in three of the four suits.

Example #1

This is a great hand to bag someone with. Any suit they pick as trump you’re going to win at least 2 tricks in. You will also win one or two tricks in his weak suit. So in total you should win three or four tricks and 40 to 80 points. This will make him look pretty stupid with his 90-point bid.

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Example #2

This may look like a good hand to bag someone with, but it’s not. There is a good chance if you let them have the bid for 85 or 90 their trump and weak suit will be Green and Yellow. Then the only trick you will be taking is with the Rook. You will have to play it right away and your partner will still have to play trump and you will only come away with 20 points. This is a hand you should bid on since you will easily make 100 points.

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Example #3

This is not the best hand to bag someone with, but if you can get them to bid 90 you have a very good chance of setting them. If red or green is the trump or the weak suit you should take three tricks or more and easily set them. But if trump is yellow, which it probably will be, then your only trump trick is the Rook. You’ll have to play it in the first hand and probably won’t have any points played on it. Then if the weak suit is black you will take at most one trick with no more that 10 points on it. This leaves you with 20-30 points, which is not enough to set a 90 bid. You have a much better chance if black is trump and yellow is the weak suit. You will take two trump tricks including the third one. Which your partner should put points on if he is out of trump. Also, if yellow is the weak suit it allows you to put points on any Yellow trick your partner takes. If black is trump and yellow is the weak suit you should easily set a 90 bid.

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Chapter 9 Block Em’

Blocking is another thing that separates a good player from a great player.

Blocking is when you bid not because you think you will make it, but to prevent your opponents from getting the bid. I’ll give some examples of real games where blocking helped me win when I had no other chance.

Game #1 Opponent got the bid and made 100. Score is 20 to 100 Opponent got the bid and made 105. Score is 35 to 205

My partner passes and the player to my right bids 95. I have a horrible hand and my partner passed so he doesn’t have a good hand either. This means they probably have really good hands so if I pass they will make 95 and the game will be over. So even though I have a bad hand my only chance to win the game is to bid 100. So I bid 100 and they make 45 and I go set. Score is -60 to 250 My partner gets the bid and makes 120. Score is 60 to 250

My partner gets the bid and makes 90. Score is 150 to 280

I get the bid and make 120. Score is 270 to 280

I get the bid and make 105 We win 375 to 295

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Game #2 I get the bid and make 95.

Score is 95 to 25

Opponent gets the bid and makes 120.

Score is 95 to 145

I get the bid and make 120.

Score is 215 to 145

Opponent gets the bid and makes 95.

Score is 240 to 240

The next round the player to my left bids 90, my partner and the player to my right pass. I have a good five-card suit but all my other cards are small non-point cards and I don’t have the Rook. So I think about my odds. Since my partner passed he probably doesn’t have a good hand and if he did I only have 10 points to put on his tricks and we need 35 to set them. I have a good suit but that won’t help me set them. The chances of my suit being trump or his weak suit are slim. So I think he has at least an 80 percent chance of making his bid. Even if we set them they still have a chance of coming back to win. So if I pass that leaves my chance of winning at about 15 percent. So I think about my odds if I bid. I normally wouldn’t think about bidding 95 on this hand because I don’t have even close to a 70 percent chance of making it. I don’t have the Rook or any other good cards except my five-card suit. I think my odds of making 95 points are about 40 percent. But if I make 95 I win the game and if I don’t I sill have a chance to come back and win. So if I bid my chance to win is about 50 percent. 50 percent is a lot better than 15 percent right? So I bid 95. They make 30 and I go set.

Score is 145 to 270

My partner bids and makes 105.

Score is 250 to 285

I bid and make 120.

We win 370 to 285 (The details may have changed but the stories are real.)

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Definitions

B Black Bagging When someone has a good hand but doesn’t bid high with the purpose of setting his opponent. Blocking Bidding high when you don’t necessarily have a good hand to prevent your opponent from getting the bid. This is usually when your opponent is within 120 points of winning. BOAT (Bid Over Any Time) This means feel free to overbid me at anytime. Counting trump or counting a suit Keeping track of the number of cards in trump or another suit that have been played. There are 41 cards total. 11 in the trump suit (10 + Rook) and 10 in each of the other suits. CTMS (Chuckle To My Self) This is when you see something funny, but you don’t actually LOL. It’s more like you CTMS. G Green Getting the Bid The player who bids the highest and gets to choose trump. Get out trump This is when the player with the bid plays out only trump until his opponents have no trump left. This should be done by the bidder at the beginning of every hand.

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Hole A weak spot or card in your hand. Kitty The 5 cards in the middle the bidder gets. The winner of the last trick gets the points the bidder discarded into the kitty. Lead out The first card played in every trick. Play in suit You must play the suit that was lead out, if you don’t have that suit you may play any suit you wish. Set When the bidder doesn’t make the number of points or more than he bid. Then the amount of points of the bid is deducted from his score. Suit Each color: Red, Black, Yellow, and Green is a suit. R Red Rook This is the card with the big bird on it. In this game it is always the biggest trump and must be played in suit as a trump. RTO (Rook Trump Only) Rook is always trump and must be played in suit as trump. All the examples in this book are “RTO” Trick A trick is when all four players play out one card. There are 9 tricks in each hand. Trump Trump is the suit picked by the bidder each hand. It has more power than any other non-trump card and can only be taken by a bigger trump card.

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Weak Card This is a card you are fairly certain will not be taking a trick. Weak Suit When the bidder discards he will normally keep trump, winners, and one suit that has weak cards in it. The suit with the weak cards in it is the weak suit. Winners This is the highest card not yet played in its own suit. If it’s played in suit and not trumped it is a certain winner. Y Yellow

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