The Handbook

Everything we have written down, in one place. Start at the top if you have never played. Each rule and each piece of strategy has its own page below, for when a hand goes sideways and the table needs a ruling.

Jump to: learning · rules · strategy · variants · questions · at the table · the club

Learning the game

Learn to play A beginner's walkthrough. The deck, the trump order, and one hand played out.
How to play sheepshead The rules in plain English: picking, burying, partners, and how a hand is scored.
Glossary Schmear, schneider, schwarz, mauer, blitz, crack, leaster. What the table is saying.
Sheepshead FAQ Short answers to the questions people ask most, each with a link to the detail.
How to teach it A plan for somebody else's first night, and what to leave out of it.

Rules, topic by topic

How many cards in sheepshead The 32-card deck, how to make one, and how many cards each player gets at three to six handed.
How to deal Shuffle, cut, the usual packet pattern, who picks and leads first, and misdeals.
The trump order All fourteen trump from the queen of clubs down, and why jacks are not their suit.
Card points and counting to 61 Ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2, and why a 60 to 60 hand goes to the defense.
How picking works One chance each from the dealer's left, no bidding, and which seats can crack afterward.
The bury What the picker may lay down under each partner rule, and whose points they are.
Following suit Trump is one suit, you never have to trump, and the called-ace exceptions.
Calling a ten When the picker holds all three fail aces, and why their own ace goes under.
Card under The face-down card for a call into a void, also called the unknown.
Going alone How a picker ends up alone, what it pays, and which hands should do it.
Cracking and recracking Who may double the stakes, how the recrack goes around, and blitz cracks.
Blitzes Black queens, Indian and Johnny: when to show them and how often they come.
The sheepshead call All four queens, four times the stakes, and every trick or nothing.
Schneider and schwarz The double and the triple, and why the picking side needs 31 while the defense needs 30.
Scoring and settling up The picker's two shares, the partner's one, and how every multiplier stacks.
Doublers The next hand at double, and how a run of passed-out hands stacks.
The schwanzer The passed-out hand that is never played: the biggest trump holder pays.
House rules Everything that varies from table to table, what we do by default, and what you can switch.

Strategy, topic by topic

Strategy overview When to pick, what to bury, how to play the picker's hand and how to beat it, on one page.
When to pick Trump count, trump quality and seat, with the numbers behind them.
When to pass The hands that look like picks and are not, and what a pass costs.
What to bury Bank points, make a void, keep your trump, and keep your aces when alone.
Which ace to call The short suit, planned together with the bury, and when to lead it.
Leading as the picker Pulling trump, knowing when to stop, and the called-suit lead.
Playing as the partner Schmearing onto the picker and timing the reveal.
Who is the partner? Reading the leads before the jack or the called ace shows.
How to defend Cash aces, smoke out the called ace, and keep your trump for overtaking.
Defending a lone picker Every other player is a teammate. Play like it.
Schmearing When it is safe, and why you throw points, not power.
Counting trump Fourteen trump, the top eight by name, and what to do with the count.
When to crack Rarely, and on trump. What a void and a good seat are not.
The endgame The last tricks by arithmetic, and when to lay your hand down.
Leaster strategy One cheap trick, then dump everything, and stay off the last trick.
Common mistakes Sixteen of the expensive ones, each with the fix.
The coach How it decides, what it costs you to ignore it, and what it refuses to say.

Variants and formats

All variants Three to six handed, both partner rules, cracks, blitzes and leasters in one table.
Jack of diamonds The partner rule where the jack finds you, whether you wanted it or not.
Call an ace The picker names a fail ace, and the rules that come with calling it.
Three-handed (cutthroat) One picker alone against two defenders. No partners, nowhere to hide.
Four-handed Seven cards each, a four-card blind and bury, the picker alone against three.
Five-handed The standard game: a two-card blind and one hidden partner.
Six-handed Five-handed with the dealer sitting out, the tavern and tournament format.
Leasters, doublers and schwanzers What happens when everybody passes, and why your table probably does it differently.
Running a tournament Seating, rounds, scoring by net, and the calls you need to settle before the first deal.

Questions people ask

Is sheepshead the same as Schafkopf? Close cousins, not the same game: what carried over from Germany and what changed.
Sheepshead vs euchre Fixed trump against a chosen suit, points against tricks, a hidden partner against a fixed one.
Where sheepshead comes from German Schafkopf, the crossing, and how it ended up in Wisconsin taverns.

At the table

Badges A field guide to every marker on a seat: dealer, picker, partner and the rest.
What counts as a ranked hand Which tables rank, why easy bots do not, and how hands are weighted.
Provably fair deals Every shuffle is committed before the cards come out. Here is how to check one yourself.
Score tracker Keep score for a live table, in a browser, with no account.
Printable score sheet A blank score sheet, with a cheat sheet on the facing page. Free, and made to be photocopied.

The club

Starting a club Name it, set your house rules once, send the invite, and open your table on club night.
Joining your club Open your club's link, make a free account, and you are at your club's table. With pictures from a phone.
Where to play sheepshead online Every site we could find, compared fairly, including where the others are stronger.
Coming from get61? What will feel familiar here, what is different, and how to bring your group.
What's new Everything that has changed here lately, in the order it changed.
Privacy What we collect, what we keep, and how to have it deleted.

Club Night runs Wednesdays at 7:00 PM Central. Come sit down.