Following Suit
Yes. You must play a card of the suit that was led if you hold one, and all fourteen trump count as a single suit, so any queen, jack or diamond must be played to a trump lead. If you cannot follow, you may play any card you like. You are never required to trump, and never required to beat the card that is winning.
Trump is one suit
A queen or a jack is trump, so it never follows its printed suit. Three positions show the whole rule:
- Hearts are led and you hold J♥ 9♥ A♣. You must play the 9♥. The jack is trump, not a heart.
- Hearts are led and you hold J♥ Q♠ A♣. You have no hearts, so you may play anything: trump with either card, or throw the ace of clubs.
- Trump is led with the 7♦ and you hold Q♣ A♠. You must play the Q♣. You may not keep the queen back and throw the ace instead.
No duty to win, no duty to trump
Some trick-taking games make you head the trick or trump when you are out of a suit. Sheepshead does neither. Holding a winner, you may play low; out of the suit led, you may throw off a fail card rather than trump. That freedom is what makes the game’s two signature plays possible: schmearing points onto a trick your side is already winning, and letting a near-empty trick go so you can spend your trump where it counts.
Throwing a fail card when you cannot follow is called sluffing or throwing off. Playing a trump on a fail lead is trumping in. Both are in the glossary.
The call-an-ace exceptions
A called-ace hand adds a few duties, all aimed at making sure the picker and partner meet on the called suit:
- The partner must play the called ace when that suit is led, even holding other cards of the suit.
- The partner may not throw the called ace away on a trick of another suit. They may lead it at any time.
- If the partner leads the called suit, they must lead the ace itself, not a small card of the suit (Sheepshead Club’s default).
- The picker must keep their last card of the called suit until that suit has been led, or until the last trick. They may lead it whenever they like.
- A face-down under card is not part of the hand for following suit; it is played only to the called suit.
Reneging
Failing to follow suit when you could have is a renege. At a real table it usually comes out when the tricks are turned over and counted, and the penalty is a house rule; many tables simply score the hand against the side that reneged. Online it cannot happen. Sheepshead Club only lets you play a legal card, so a card you are not allowed to play cannot leave your hand.
Related
Play a hand
Sheepshead Club is free, with no ads and no account needed. Play a first hand with the coach beside you (about three minutes), or sit down at a table with computer players or real people.