Euchre Books

Bumppo's wit that sparkles the pages makes learning of Columbus Euchre a true pleasure. This isn't the euchre your grandma taught you; Columbus euchre plays for blood. Bumppo coaches players on how to "eat" a sixth card, carefully avoiding a misdeal; how to mislead or annoy your opponents with table talk ("That's the fist time I've ever been euchred."); and proper protocol when you are caught stealing the deal ("Oops.") Many rules of the thumb are listed that give insight to even the seasoned euchre player. (Second-hand-low, Third-hand-high, Show your partner the left, Next for your partner, Lead king from A-K-x, etc.) Of particular value are the sections on "What to Lead?" and "Going Alone." Bumppo's "Columbus Book of Euchre" offers something for both the beginner and the pro. It's the best book on Euchre strategy that I've ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the game.

If I knew a friend was about to play Lucifer in a game of euchre, I'd recommend the "Columbus Book of Euchre".................... by Natty Bumppo

Here's my 5 star review for you, Natty. I hope it helps.

Count me in! Here is my five star review for The Columbus Book of Euchre - the Greatest Card Game Book ever written! This book has it all! Pictures, funny stories, definitions, and so on. Bumppo rocks! The man knows Euchre. No doubt about that!
If we can get just a dozen more 5 star postings for this book, then we can bring the overall rating up to 5 stars. Tell your friends to get on to this review page in Amazon. I don't care if they don't know euchre from a hole in the wall! It's all about numbers. And besides, Natty is the nicest guy you will ever want to meet. My hero!

The Columbus Book of Euchre, 2nd Edition is an update of the
original book. A lot of the material is the still the same; a sort of "re-hash" of the old, and somewhat dull, 1982 edition. However, there are some interesting and informative additions.
And a sincere credit should be given for the positive features.
This book does have some great strategies and a wonderful home-spun humerous approach to the game of euchre. The fact that it does not have one illustrative hand of euchre is peculiar. But then again, fancy layouts of hands are not absolutely essential to get a point or two across. Overall, it is a decent book, and I liked it for the most part.

For the record, I looked at the reviews for this (newest) edition
a few weeks ago, and I noticed that some of the less than favorable reviews were culled. Thus, it appears that Mr. Bumppo has a sensitivity to any negative publicity.

Then we have a "cluster" of kids' five star reviews, which have
the effect of inflating the overall star rating for this book.
Some of these five stars reviews make the whole review process
a mockery, to say the least!

Finally, there is the persistent effort by Mr. Bumppo or his "fans" to continually post negative comments in forums and message boards about other writer's euchre books.

In spite of all of the above, I still recommend acquiring this
book, as it will improve your game.


Thus, it will be interesting, indeed, to see if this review, which
is honest and fair, is summarily deleted from this review area.

Right from the start - 5 big fat juicy stars! I have never heard of Solitare Euchre until I saw this book. That is a wonderful idea. And I love the way you socked it to the other Euchre writers for not knowing about Soilitare euchre, or two hand euchre, or not creeating it on their own. After all, if they knew anything about euchre, they should have included it in their books.
There is more to Euchre than the old timey regular 10 point game. That way of playing is dead, boring, and out of style, like disco or Elvis. Two handed euchre also rocks, and they did not have this in their books, either. 4-handed euchre is dead, Solitare, two hand, and 3 hand euchre is in.
You might be 80 years old, mr. bumppo, but you write like a kid, and think like a kid, and that works for me and my friends!

First I will say that this is in fact (sadly) the best Euchre book on the market. It consists of a fairly wide variety of hand situations and strategy as well as tidbits about the history of the game.

With that said, this book contains topics and ideas that are good for getting one's euchre brain into how euchre should really be played. HOWEVER, this book leaves a lot of unanswered questions and black holes that really need to be filled.

There are also a handful of points Andrews makes that are AT BEST arguable if not blatently WRONG. Things like this really get under my skin considering so many beginners will be reading this book. To start players off with FALSE strategy (yes there is such a thing) seems counterproductive to me. Here's an example:

Andrews claims that you shouldn't go alone when your team has 8 points (the game ends at 10 points). While in most cases this is true there are a PLETHORA of situations in which you should ABSOLUTELY go alone. Why? I'll show you one random example...

Let's say you're the dealer and the Jack of spades is turned. You pick it up and now hold both Jacks, the 10 of spades, and both red aces (JJ10 A A). You MUST pick this up alone so that you can almost assure your team of making 2 points. Well why not just take your partner too with such a strong hand? Because your partner can HURT your chance of marching and finishing out the game. Here's one way your partner can hurt you (there are multiple ways however)...

Lets say the 1st seat opponent leads out the Queen of hearts and your P trumps it (you would have taken it with your ace). Then your P leads back clubs which you are void in. You now trump in with your 10 of spades... and the 1st seat opponent overtrumps you. So much for your almost certain 2 points!

It is things like this that the book is missing. Yes it helps with basic strategy, some intermediate skills, and even into some relatively simple "advanced" plays. But there is really so much more to Euchre that this book fails to make note of.

If you read this book will you get better? Probably, assuming you're a beginner or intermediate player. Will it help you if you're an advanced player? I doubt it. My euchre experience has generally been based on online play and I can tell you that I am without question one of the best online (Pogo, Yahoo, etc). Believe me when I say that this book is strictly "good" but NOT great.

Feel free to email me with whatever euchre questions you may have and I guarantee that I will be able to answer them correctly and completely... something Andrews attempts and only comes marginally close to doing.


**In Response to Euchre Man IV's Post**

I never once claimed that you should always go alone on 8 points. I didn't even infer that you should in MANY or MOST situations. I simply stated an obvious one... one in which your partner has absolutely no chance in helping your team achieve two points. Indeed there are far more situations that you SHOULD take your partner when you have 8 points (duh) because typically your partner will have a positive effect on a given hand. My point was that there are in fact many times where they can hurt you. I assumed that anyone who could follow my initial example could think of other situations on their own... silly me. But here are a couple others you can chew on:

-You hold both Js and the three side Aces (or even the two Js and AK A in side suits... although there is SOME chance your partner could help you here.)
-You hold JJ+1 and A+1 (there are dozens of varieties of this hand... JJ9 AK, JJK AQ, etc etc etc.)

Furthermore, I will return the favor and quote you on a few of your eager yet remarkably uninformative and incorrect statements...

"Junk! Anyone can "stack" a hand with one of the bad case scenarios. Here, the left hand opponent leads a red Queen, and your partner hops up with a trump ( a lot of good players will trust their partner here, and throw off a side suit singelton. ) Nothing boils my blood more than to have partner to trump in 2nd seat and blow away my Ace! And of course, your partner just happens to lead your void suit, and your left hand opponent just happens to be void in THAT suit as well. Yeah, yeah yeah..."

-Okay, so does this mean your partner should lay off with his/her only trump when, for example, they are 3-suited and have no side ace to lead back to you? There are many cases that your partner MUST trump in because it is their ONLY chance at helping your team take a trick in the hand. Of course it would boil my blood as well if they took away my side suit ace winner... hence why going alone is the ONLY correct play. Am I saying that it is impossible to take two points even if you do take your partner? Of course not. But why risk having your partner mess up your sure two points? YOUR PARTNER WILL DO YOU NO GOOD IN THIS HAND! Is that clear enough for you? :) Oh also... you speak as if it would be so MIRACULOUS for a situation like this to arrise. There are only 4 suits in euchre... not 40. It is extremely common for a given player to be void in one or more suits. Trust me, this example is by no means far fetched.

Moving on... "There are many more instances where your partner can help you than hurt you. In the above example, partner made the wrong guess by trumping, a natural reflex action to be sure, happened to have only one trump, and then made another wrong guess by leading the suit which a designated opponent was void in."

-I already mentioned why trumping in on trick 1 is by no means always incorrect. But isn't it correct that your partner could also lead back to you the OTHER suit in which you (the dealer) has a side suit ace in (rather than leading back your void suit and you getting overtrumped)? If so, is there a chance an opponent is void in that suit thus allowing them to trump in? That leaves your partner choosing between 2 "incorrect" suits to lead back to you (that would mean 2 of 3 suits that haven't been played yet... or 67% chance he will choose an "incorrect" suit.)These possibilities are quite obvious to advanced players, nevertheless this book is indeed a good tool for those who are beginners or intermediate players.

And finally... "It's like saying, go alone with the score 8 - 8 if your partner is going to foul you up by having the wrong cards and making the wrong plays when the hand is laid out in a certain way. You have a much better chance of snagging five tricks with your partner's help, than by taking on the two opponents by yourself."

-I have already stated a number of situations in which your partner can ONLY hurt your chance at taking two points. Furthermore, in these situations that I have mentioned (specifically the original one for it is the most blatant)... can someone give me a reason to take your partner? Whether these hand layouts are very common or only occasionally seen is irrelevant. To disregard ANY situation in euchre would be ignorant if you are trying to become a better player because every hand and every play relates to other similar situations (after all, only 24 potential cards can be in play and only 20 are ensured to be in play in a given hand... that leaves room for quite a bit of repetition after hours of playing.) That is the basis of becoming a sound euchre player; you must relate past experiences to the cards you hold in your hand at this very moment and then, after a period of time, become aware of how to correctly play similar cards in similar situations.

Keep reading euchre books? Sure, go for it. But PLAYING is the only way you will experience the vast number of situations that occur in euchre. So go find some buddies, grab a few brews and have fun!

This book was great and extremely helpful for a beginning player. It is no wonder why Joe Andrews is the foremost expert in the game of Euchre, bar none. I can see why Bicycle put their name on it and not any of the others!

This is a job well done! Euchre is not rocket science, and the author makes a good effort to explain the game in great details from start to finish. Yes, there is a bit of 'fluff' with the excessive praise for his his friends, tournament directors, and sponsors. However, the game is well covered.

As for the previous post by the "Euchre Champion and the 8-8 score scenario" (and I quote) -

"Let's say you're the dealer and the Jack of spades is turned. You pick it up and now hold both Jacks, the 10 of spades, and both red aces (J J 10 A A). You MUST pick this up alone so that you can almost assure your team of making 2 points. Well why not just take your partner too with such a strong hand? Because your partner can HURT your chance of marching and finishing out the game. Here's one way your partner can hurt you (there are multiple ways however)...

Lets say the 1st seat opponent leads out the Queen of hearts and your P trumps it (you would have taken it with your ace). Then your P leads back clubs which you are void in. You now trump in with your 10 of spades... and the 1st seat opponent overtrumps you. So much for your almost certain 2 points"

Junk! Anyone can "stack" a hand with one of the bad case scenarios. Here, the left hand opponent leads a red Queen, and your partner hops up with a trump ( a lot of good players will trust their partner here, and throw off a side suit singelton. ) Nothing boils my blood more than to have partner to trump in 2nd seat and blow away my Ace! And of course, your partner just happens to lead your void suit, and your left hand opponent just happens to be void in THAT suit as well. Yeah, yeah yeah...

There are many more instances where your partner can help you than hurt you. In the above example, partner made the wrong guess by trumping, a natural reflex action to be sure, happened to have only one trump, and then made another wrong guess by leading the suit which a designated opponent was void in.

It's like saying, go alone with the score 8 - 8 if your partner is going to foul you up by having the wrong cards and making the wrong plays when the hand is laid out in a certain way. You have a much better chance of snagging five tricks with your partner's help, than by taking on the two opponents by yourself.

I will concede that the rule "Never go alone" with a score of 8-8 is a bit too rigid. But it does apply the vast majority of the time. But there are some extreme situations which will occur. Like I said, there are some layouts which do occur.

Another suggestion, to become a better player, read more than one book. I happen to like Ellis book, as well as Andrews' book.

The "Complete Win At Euchre" is a fine book, and helpful to players of all abilities. It has two flaws, one of which is the uncertainty of the history of the game. The author tries a "shotgun" approach by quoting various sources and writers, and leaves the reader with the impression that he is not sure just where Euchre really came from. The other fault I find with this book is the overdone praise that the author pours on his friends, sponsors, and tournament hosts.
However, he recovers quite nicely with a solid section of terms and definitions, and continues with several good chapters, including Mr. Lapp's "Ten Commandments of Euchre". I also liked the section about Loners. Finally, he has a complete chapter loaded with play-by-play analysis of hands as they happended in various tournaments. Some of the actual plays were very strange, but this is how they took place.
You will not be disappointed if you get this book. I hope that if and when the author updates The Complete Win At Euchre, he includes a little more information on other variations of the game, and up to date listing on places where to play Euchre on line. A four star effort which can be brought up to five stars with a little more work!

The Complete Win At Euchre rocks! It is all the Euchre book I need to become a better player. Really good stuff, here. I looked at the other recent review and was suprised to see that "The Complete Win At Euchre" was totally trashed, like it was worthless. Who cares about 2-handed Euchre? Does anyone play that game at Tournaments? Does anyone play the 2-handed game when they play Euchre with their families or friends?? I thought Euchre was almost always played with 4 players, or sometiomes, 3 players. As for "Solitaire" Euchre,it sounds interesting, but then again, is there a place on line where you can play this style of Euchre?

Then we have the 24 hands in the book. It is clearly said in the book that these hands were played at various Euchre events, and this is how they were played. It is always easy to see how you should have played a hand after it is over with. I enjoyed the stories, and learned from the way hands were played. It helps you learn from the mistakes that did happen in some of the hands. We are all just people, not machines. Other hands were most helpful to improve my way of playing. I really liked the section about the 10 Commandments. Even if a reviewer does not agree with a book, the book can't be all trash, and worth nothing. Read "The Complete Win At Euchre", you will be glad you did!

I bought this for a gift. Was I surprised to find it was a 31 page pamphlet, with the first 12 pgs nothing but intro and history of euchre. I'm now making a trip to the bookstore to find a book. Don't feel this is worth the money at all.

Tom Gallagher's WINNING AT EUCHRE is an excellent resource for any euchre player wishing to improve his game through an effective bidding system. The simple, concise format makes the book easy to understand. The author includes an index to define terms used in the game so strategies are clear. This book is the best on the market for an avid euchre player. Tom's system will definitely improve your game. The price is very reasonable also.

Gallagher's booklet has a Gorenesque point system for evaluating a euchre hand. And while that is its most salient feature, its best feature is the second little paragraph in the Introduction: "Euchre is a bidder's game. You must bid at every opportunity. . . . Just to sit back and pass or hope to euchre your opponents is a loser's game. . . ."

Another section, the three "Most Common Errors by Euchre Players," is right on: Passing a biddable hand, failing to lead trump on offense, leading trump on defense. (Trumping a partner's ace is left out, but it is enjoined - in bold type - on the previous page.)

The point system assigns four points to a right bower, three to a left, two to each other trump card, and one to each ace in the off suits, for a total of 20 "high card" points. Then the author concludes, and attempts to demonstrate, that you need 10 points to go alone, and that you should order or pick up with a net of 7 points (but need only 5 to "assist" - and that's a flaw, since it encourages a dealer's partner, who normally should keep his mouth shut in order to give his partner a chance to go alone).

But the math is a little fuzzy. For example, the author states that if you have 8 points, your opponents have 6, your partner has 3, and the pack has 3. The actual probability is, the opponents have 6.7, the partner has 3.3, and the pack (i.e., the three cards remaining "buried," or unseen) has only 2. On average each hand is 167 per cent as strong as the pack.

The author says, at page 3, that a 10-point hand "cannot be euchred." Accompanying the discussion of the point system is a one-page chart of "biddable" hands from 7 to 13 points. The chart lists four possible "10-point" holdings, all of which *can* be euchred, but omits two - (1) a left with three other trump and an outside ace, which also can be euchred (by Right-Ace-x of trumps held by an opponent), and (2) a holding of five trumps without bowers, which is the *only* "10-point" hand that *cannot* be euchred. The error lies in ranking a 9, 10 or queen of trumps as high as an ace or king.

And the author's assertion that you must have at least 10 "high card points" to go alone seems rather timid from one who says you must bid to win. Natty Bumppo's Columbus Book of Euchre, at pp. 42-43, lists four "8-point" holdings that are excellent candidates for loners, and even a hand of 2 or 3 points that will do the trick on a long shot.

None of which is to say the point system is shoddy - by and large, it works. But it is flawed. For further examples:

(1) It fails to distinguish between the value of a "next" ace and one of the other color. An ace off color is much more valuable.

(2) It fails to evaluate distribution. The Goren point system in bridge gives a void the second highest value, comparable to that of the left bower in Gallagher's euchre system. Also in euchre a singleton ace is worth more than a doubleton ace; an ace heading a three-card suit is virtually worthless, and a two-suited hand has a value not addressed by Gallagher.

(3) It gives no value to kings. While a king often has no value in euchre, it has tremendous value in a two-suited hand or if its ace is buried or in partner's hand.

Another problem with playing by the numbers is that each euchre hand is situational - it's not only the cards that matter, but also the position (where you sit at the table, which is *so* much more important in a short game like euchre than in a long game like bridge or spades), and the score (many things you will do at 6 or 7, or at 8 or 9, or when your opponents are at 6 or 7 or at 8 or 9, you will not do at other scores). You play by Gallagher, I play by instinct, and I'll beat you.

Finally, would it be picayune to point out that the author has the horse on the rider (p. 45)? That he thinks "next" is "Nix"? That he lacks true bravado, or humor, as on page 39, where he writes, "Dealing out of turn . . . is considered poor sportsmanship if . . . done intentionally"? Not in Columbus, where stealing the deal is part of the game!

The book is OK; it's interesting. But it is too formulaic: It does not capture the intuition, the essence, of euchre.

A well thought out "point system" to bidding worked well to take the deal and only average results to those that play by the seat of there pants. Euchre is a game of luck but this system eliminates stupid bids, believe me that when I say that.

thank you.

Well organized. Comprehensive, but concise. Easy to read and follow. Bidding methodology excellent for both novice and experienced player. Sample hands very useful to aid understanding of the author's bidding system. I thought I was a pretty good and experienced player before I read the booklet, but it improved my game significantly! And, I've seen it greatly help others who were much too cautious in bidding.

This is an instructive and useful little book. And it's one of only two books in print on euchre that get it right (the other is The Columbus Book of Euchre, by Natty Bumppo). There are no glaring errors.

There are some highly helpful hints on what to lead, and an interesting suggestion to lead a nine to save an ace (pp. 25-27. The author may have a point, but he does not explain it). There's an interesting section on bid euchre (both "partner" and "buck"), with good instruction.

There are some annoying grammatical errors, such as "lead" as the past tense of "lead" going on for several pages beginning at page 23 (the author finally gets it right with "led" at page 32), and some syntactical number confusion (e.g., at p. 32, "If diamonds is trump . . . ," and at p. 38, "In buck euchre each player plays for himself . . . . Each player bids on the number of tricks each feels they can win").

And because the book was printed before personal computers made "desktop publishing" a household possibility, it's not the most attractive book out there: The only color is on the cover, and the small type makes it a little hard to read.

But the content of the book makes it well worth the price.

I've read the one star review, and I suspect the reviewer might be a ringer in support of someone else's book. I could be wrong, though. I learned euchre with this book. I found it effective, quick to read, and I was online playing the game with people around the world, occasionally winning. Worth the price.

I cannot believe I bought this book. At the time, there was only one review and (for some reason) it was given 5 stars. Euchre is NOT a difficult game to learn. But there are many strategies to learn if you want to be an expert player. This book covers none of them.

Basically, we sit through a make-believe hand of Euchre, while the author describes how to throw a card onto the table. After about 12 cards are thrown, you turn the page only to find that you're now looking at the back cover -- and you haven't learned a single thing.

Save your money. Do not buy this book. If you want to learn the basics of Euchre, have a friend teach you. If you want to learn about Euchre strategy, buy the Columbus Book of Euchre. I purchased it at the same time I bought this piece of worthless .

It's just too bad the author had to smear his grandpa's name by putting it in the title of this book.

I see that this is the third review. The first reader had modest expectations about the book and was well rewarded, as was I. The second expected an advanced strategy discussion and was disappointed. The fault here is the reviewer's, not the book's.

This short beook is clearly designed to get the reader to the table and to have some fun. It's EXACTLY what a first-timer needs. It won't give you the experience of a ten year player but will simply get you the basics. And that it did quite well.

I never played Euchure in the cafeteria in high school, so I was not prepared for my husband's family's Euchre marathons. I would just sit on the sidelines, trying to get the hang of the game, with no success. Even private tutorials were no help (we all know your husband can't teach you anything, right?).

So my husband bought me this book for xmas last year, as a last-ditch effort before I became permanently classified as Euchre-challenged.

This is one hell of a book. I sat out the tournament and read it, cover to cover, and now I get it. I actually get it! Thanks, Grandpa Lou. (Shame you're not related to my husband!)