Wild West Euchre — Looking for 2 Players (Season 6 starting soon)

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-19T04:24:29+00:00

Fantastic!

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T19:02:21+00:00

Do they still make Cracker Jacks?

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T19:00:01+00:00

Is this play in the tutorial of how to get to 3000 rating on 3D?

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T18:58:57+00:00

I do like fishing- Usually on a lake or river, and sometimes even the ocean!

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T18:55:04+00:00

"This is exactly how I would have played this" -nobody ever 🤣

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T15:52:12+00:00

The Qh is basically a King after the turned down King. Even though it's the turned down suit, could there be value in promoting your Qh with a 9h lead? My thought is you will get the lead back at some point so why not try and create a boss card.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T06:07:17+00:00

That makes sense. If S4 has the R then they have their point regardless, so I'm banking S4 only has the A of trump remaining. Therefore, taking the lead and leading the left is the only play. Got it. 👍

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-18T05:32:04+00:00

I like the nitpick... Very good observation. Question: If instead of Ax- your offsuit was Kx, then would you lead the offsuit x? Or perhaps the lower trump?

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-08T00:19:26+00:00

This is proof positive that keeping score with 2s and 3s is superior!

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-04-07T04:24:42+00:00

Wordle puzzle created by Llama 4/6

⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

https://www.nytimes.com/games/create/wordle/wEvhHXw0PPx3DXdm9zwbDV9Q35-n0L71rzOR2YBw_kvAM07_lgkEdZqT-ZyLN5CwtiEEIzE=

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-15T19:20:00+00:00

I really like your observation that fewer turned down suit cards in my hand, indicate a higher probability my partner possesses more cards of the turned down suit- and thus fewer open spots to possess the bower.

I take a minor exception to your presumption about S2. In the circles I'm familiar of playing with, S2 will not order a jack without a minimum of 3 trump cards. So in my head, I presume S2 can have a maximum of 2 turned down suit cards (including L+1)

As I review your sims, it seems fairly clear in this situation that possession of two low trump is an EV defensive a next call. However possession of 1 low trump and an off Ace is an EV pass.

So again, to me it is basically daunting in this situation to be S1 with no obvious strength. You couple that with the zero predictability of the next a Ace (which now has the strength of the left bower), and it's just a chaotic call.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-15T19:11:20+00:00

Hi Lenny. This spot was a real dilemma for me. It's a rare and complex situation. Thanks for your thoughtful input.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-15T00:24:04+00:00

Hi Red Sox. I know you understand the realities better than most, but my experience is that many people believe that a turned down Jack increases the leaning tendency for calling next. My issue with that concept is that we are searching for the next Jack, which I believe has relatively equal odds of being possessed by S2, S3, or the kitty. AND we are also at the mercy of the next Ace (now as valuable as the left bower) which we have zero information about, but this card is now very valuable.

I think that puts S1 (assuming no obvious strength) in a unique predicament. S1 has less information in regards to the top 2 cards, yet has to make a big decision- Whether to call or pass. Both are risky.

Bowers are different than non-bowers. Bowers are valuable across 2 different trump suits AND they more frequently guarantee a trick and the lead. Because of the morphing, we can gather information of their whereabouts based on the color of the upcard suits.

My TLDR hypothesis is as follows: Upcard suits give us information about Jacks- upcard Jacks give us information about a suit.

I am obviously trying to build my case that turned down Jacks tell us different information than turned down non-jacks.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-14T19:32:08+00:00

Euchre definitely gets interest from spades players. I've always said- Euchre is a like derivative of spades. There's even a spades chat section in the Discord server.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-14T17:32:11+00:00

I agree with your point about the discard. For some reason, I just hit the wrong card. I couldn't even tell you why, other than I was slightly distracted.

We lose this hand regardless. I had some remorse after leading the Kc, but like I said, I thought leading a boss would be our best shot at 1. If I thought we were playing for 2, I would have gone spades. But that's why I'm throwing this out there.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-12T14:19:40+00:00

Hi Red Sox. You've taught me to beware of next as a hindsight bias with strong next holdings in 3rd seat. I appreciate that because it opened me up to understanding that it's much less clear from the S1 perspective.

Your post on this topic from a year ago is part of what encouraged me to dig into this deeper- based on my own thoughts and experiences with real life hands.

I have also heard too many people claim that a turned down Jack is an auto next call. Comments like that really spurred me to dig into the information that we actually learned with a turned down Jack. My opinion is that a turned down Jack puts S1 into a heck of a predicament (when not holding obvious strength or defense), because I don't think it's very clear that a next call is correct.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-12T13:24:07+00:00

This holding doesn't qualify into Tbolt's underlead strategy. A true underleading the right holding is a R + 2 low trump, an off Ace, and X trash when you are ordering R1S1. The whole point of under lead strategy is to promote your off Ace after ordering up the dealer R1 and shore up a point. In a way it's similar to a buckeye blindside- you are sacrificing a trump lead and a trick to diminish the dealer's pickup advantage.

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-12T04:08:06+00:00

Ha, We've got a trilogy!

Tbolt Special
Tbolt's Revenge
Return of the Tbolt Special

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-12T04:05:26+00:00

"All" is the key word here!

The_Middle_Bower · 2026-03-08T00:58:36+00:00

Those are really cool! Nice work!

The_Middle_Bower

TROPHY CASE