Going Alone
Going alone means the picker plays the hand with no partner, against everyone else. At call an ace the picker chooses it by not calling a suit; at jack of diamonds it happens when the picker holds the J♦ or buries it. Alone, the picker wins or pays every defender’s share: four units at a five-handed table instead of two.
How a picker ends up alone
- Call an ace, by choice. Instead of calling, the picker announces they are alone. The whole table hears it, so from the first card every defender knows the other defenders are teammates.
- Call an ace, with nothing to call. No ace can be called, no ten can be called, and the table does not play card under. The picker plays alone.
- Jack of diamonds. The picker holds the J♦, or buries it. Nothing is announced; the table works it out when the jack never turns up on the defenders’ side, or when the picker plays it. Some tables let a picker holding the jack name another card as the partner instead; Sheepshead Club does not.
- Three-handed. The picker is always alone. See three-handed sheepshead.
What it pays
| Table | Picker with a partner | Partner | Picker alone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three-handed | none | none | 2 |
| Four-handed | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Five- and six-handed | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Each defender wins or pays one unit either way. Alone, the picker simply takes every defender’s unit. Schneider, schwarz, cracks and blitzes multiply it all in the usual way, so a cracked lone hand at five-handed is eight units to the picker or from the picker.
When going alone pays at call an ace
We measured it directly: each deal was played up to the call, then forked, once with the call our computer players would normally make and once going alone with every possible bury, both played out by strong players. On these hands, going alone beat calling by about 5 to 8 units a decision:
- seven or more trump including a black queen
- six trump with both black queens
- six trump with three queens, one of them black
- five trump with both black queens, a third queen, and a fail ace
Hands like these come up in about 7 deals in 100. The gain was positive from every seat, smallest from the second seat and largest for the dealer. Calling stayed better on seven or more trump with no black queen, on six trump with only one black queen and two queens, and on five trump with the black queens but only one more queen. Four trump should never go alone by choice: it lost about 14 units a decision.
About the numbers: they come from our own simulations, in which our strongest computer players play the same deals both ways and the results are compared. A unit is one defender’s base payment. They are measured at five-handed with the live table rules, against strong opponents, and they are averages, not guarantees for any one hand.
Alone, keep your aces
A lone hand buries differently. With a partner, a fail ace in the bury is 11 points banked and a void to trump into. Alone, that ace is a trick you can win without spending a trump. Lone hands that buried low fail cards and kept their fail aces did about 4 units a decision better than lone hands that buried the aces. Burying a trump to save an ace measured worse, though: keep trump first, then aces. More on what to bury.
At jack of diamonds, mind the jack
Picking four trump that include the J♦ means going alone on four trump, and it measured as a clear loser, about 4 to 6 units a pick. The same four trump without the jack, with a queen among them, is a good pick. The difference is the partner.
Related
- Defending against a lone picker
- Which suit to call
- What to bury
- How sheepshead is scored
- Jack of diamonds
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.