Who Is the Partner?
Until the J♦ or the called ace is played, nobody but the partner knows for sure. You can narrow it down: a player who leads a fail ace early is almost always a defender, a player who leads high trump leans toward the picking side, and at call an ace a player who trumps the called suit cannot be the partner.
What leads give away
- An early fail-ace lead marks a defender. The picking side wants trump pulled first; defenders want to cash aces before the picker can trump them. A player who leads the ace of a suit that was not called, early in the hand, is almost certainly defending.
- A high-trump lead leans toward the picking side. Leading a queen or a black jack pulls trump, which is the picking side’s plan. It is a lean, not proof: a defender with a strong trump hand sometimes leads one too.
- The called suit led low early marks a defender. At call an ace, defenders lead the called suit early to smoke the ace out. The picker usually waits, and the partner, if leading the suit at all, must lead the ace.
Our computer players use exactly these public signals, the first card each player led, and nothing hidden.
Who cannot be the partner
- At call an ace, a player who trumps or throws off on a lead of the called suit is void in it, so does not hold the ace. The partner must play the called ace when its suit is led.
- At jack of diamonds, a player who throws a fail card on a trump lead holds no trump, so does not hold the J♦.
- The picker never holds the called ace, so at call an ace the partner is always someone else. At jack of diamonds the picker may hold the jack, in which case there is no partner.
Reading it as the picker
You know your own hand and your bury. At jack of diamonds, if the jack is in neither, it is in one of four hands. Watch who schmears onto your tricks: a defender has no reason to throw an ace onto a trick you are winning. Until you know, treat every other seat as a possible opponent when deciding whether to schmear.
Reading it as a defender
Before the partner shows, any non-picker winning a trick might be the partner, so be cautious about schmearing onto it unless the signals say otherwise. A fellow defender who led a fail ace earlier is a safer bet than one who led a queen. If the picker announced going alone at call an ace, there is no partner at all, and every other defender is a teammate: see defending a lone picker.
Reading it as the partner
You are the only one who knows. Use that: the defense cannot plan around you, and the picker will learn soon enough from your schmears. At Sheepshead Club a recrack by a hidden jack-of-diamonds partner does not name the seat, so doubling does not have to give you away. More on playing as the partner.
What the table will not tell you
No table talk. Hinting at who you are, or asking who has the jack, is against the spirit of the game at every table and against the rules at most. Everything above comes from the cards that have been played, which everyone at the table can see.
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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.