Playing as the Partner
The partner’s job is to get points onto the picking side’s tricks and to show up when it counts. Schmear your aces and tens onto tricks the picker is sure to win, never overtake the picker when the trick is already yours, and time your reveal: the jack of diamonds when a fat trick needs it, the called ace when its suit is led.
You know something nobody else knows
From the moment the partner is settled, you know which side you are on. The picker usually does not know who you are, and the defenders do not either. That is an advantage only while you use it carefully: a partner who plays like a defender for two tricks and then schmears a ten onto the picker’s trick has given the defense nothing to work with until it was too late.
Schmear onto the picker, but only when the trick is safe
When the picker is winning a trick and nobody still to play can take it, throw your fattest card that will not overtake: an ace, a ten, the ace or ten of diamonds if you have nothing better. If a defender plays after you and might still trump or overtake, hold the points back. Our measurements found the picking side giving away tens and aces this way often enough to matter when nobody checked who was still to play. More on schmearing.
Do not overtake the picker on a trick they are already winning. Last to play, with the trick yours either way, put the cheapest card you can on it, or a schmear, never a higher trump you will want later.
Jack of diamonds: timing the jack
- Show it to save a big trick. If the picker leads trump and a trick worth 20 points or more is forming that only your jack can secure, play it. Revealing yourself costs less than letting the defense take that pile.
- Hold it when hiding helps. If playing the jack just tells the defenders where to aim, keep it. While they cannot tell you from a defender, they will not schmear onto your tricks and they cannot plan around you.
- You must follow trump. If trump is led and the jack is your only trump, it comes out whether you like it or not. Plan for that moment rather than being surprised by it.
Call an ace: what the partner must and must not do
- When the called suit is led, you must play the called ace.
- You may not throw the called ace away on a trick of another suit.
- You may lead the called ace at any time; if you lead the called suit at all, it must be the ace.
Leading the ace early is usually a mistake: while the defense still holds trump, a defender void in the suit trumps it and collects 11 points plus whatever else lands. Once most of the trump has gone, cashing it is fine.
When you are on lead with no clear plan, a trump lead usually helps the picker: it draws defenders’ trump the picker would otherwise have to pull alone.
Doubling choices that are only yours
A partner who sat after the picker, and so never had the chance to pick, is a non-passing partner. Such a partner may show a blitz after the bury and may answer a crack with a recrack. At jack of diamonds a recrack from a hidden partner is not named at Sheepshead Club, so you can double without giving yourself away; a blitz, by its nature, shows your cards.
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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.