Leaster Strategy
To win a leaster, take exactly one cheap trick early, then dump your aces and tens onto tricks other players are winning, and stay off the last trick, which carries the blind. You need at least one trick to win, so the player with the fewest points among those who took a trick collects.
The rules in one paragraph
A leaster is played when everyone passes and the table plays leasters. There is no picker and no partner: everyone plays for themselves, and the fewest points wins, but only among players who took at least one trick. The two blind cards go to whoever takes the last trick. If two or more players tie for fewest, each of them collects from every player who did not win. The all-pass page has the rest.
Get your trick early, and cheaply
A player with no tricks cannot win, so the first job is one trick with as few points in it as possible. Early tricks are usually the cheapest: everyone still has cards of most suits and follows with small ones. A trick of three sevens, an eight and a nine is worth nothing and is exactly the trick you want. Leave it too late and you may have to win a fat trick, or none at all.
Then dump
Once you have your trick, every ace and ten in your hand is a liability. When you cannot follow suit, throw your fattest card onto a trick somebody else is winning. That is the leaster version of schmearing, aimed at the other players instead of your side. Our computer players do exactly this: dump the fattest card that does not win, and if forced to win, win as cheaply as possible.
Your high trump are dangerous
The Q♣ wins any trick it is played to, and whatever other players throw onto it is yours. Get rid of high trump at a moment of your choosing rather than being forced to play them on a fat trick. When a trump is led and players must follow with trump, they cannot dump fail aces onto it, so that is often the safest time to spend a high one. Do not lead it into a trick where others are free to throw their aces on it.
The last trick carries the blind
Nobody has seen the two blind cards, and they could hold 21 points or none. Plan not to be holding the card that must win the last trick. Count the cards: by the last two tricks you can usually see who is stuck with the boss.
Watch everyone’s count
You do not need zero; you need fewer than everyone else who took a trick. If one player already has a big pile, they are out of it, and the real race is between the light ones. Sometimes the right play is to take a small trick that pushes a rival above you rather than duck it.
A short example
You hold Q♠ J♦ A♣ 10♣ 9♥ 7♠. If spades are led early you must follow with the 7♠, and if it happens to win a trick of small cards, your trick is done. If trump is led first, everyone holding trump has to follow with it, so few aces can land on the trick: a good moment to take your trick with the Q♠, if the Q♣ has not been played to it. Once you have a trick, wait for a suit you are out of and throw the A♣ and 10♣ onto other players’ tricks, and play the J♦ under a higher trump when you can. The 9♥ is a safe card to hold for a heart lead late in the hand.
Related
- Leasters, doublers and schwanzers: the rules
- Schmearing
- The endgame
- Doublers
- Leaster, in the glossary
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.