The Endgame
By the last two or three tricks, a sheepshead hand is arithmetic. Know how many points your side has and how many it still needs: 61 wins for the picking side and 60 for the defense, while the schneider lines are 91 and 31 for the picking side and 30 for the defense. Know which cards are still out, and whether your remaining cards are sure winners. If every card in your hand is unbeatable and you are on lead, lay them down and claim the rest.
Know the number
Keep a running count all hand, then do the subtraction with two tricks left. Suppose the picking side has 49 counting the bury and two tricks remain. It needs 12 more. If the cards still out include an ace and a ten, one good trick wins the hand; if they are all kings and sevens, it might not be reachable at all, and the play changes from scoring to holding the defense under 91. The counting page covers keeping that count without slowing the table.
Find the bosses
A boss is a card nothing still out can beat: the highest trump left, or a fail card when every higher card of its suit has fallen and nobody who might trump it has any trump left. In the endgame, lead your bosses first and make the other side guess with their last cards. A defender who still holds one high trump at the end often decides the hand: if that is you, save it for the trick with the most points in it.
Rules that bite on the last trick
- The called suit. At call an ace, the picker must keep a card of the called suit until that suit is led or until the last trick, when the obligation ends. The partner’s called ace, if still held, is played then too.
- The under card. With card under, a face-down card never played to the called suit is played on the last trick.
- The leaster blind. In a leaster, the two blind cards go to whoever takes the last trick, so the last trick is worth more than it looks.
- Schwarz. A side that has taken no tricks is one trick away from tripling its loss. Taking even one cheap trick late can be worth more than the points in it.
Laying down
“Lay ’em down” means claiming the rest of the tricks because every card in your hand is unbeatable. At a real table you show your cards and the others concede or object. At Sheepshead Club the claim is checked, so it is offered only when it is genuinely safe: you are on lead, and every card you hold beats everything still in play. Your cards are shown to the table, and all the remaining tricks and the points in the other hands go to your side. A claim does not change what the result is worth; it just saves the time of playing it out.
| You hold, on lead | Still out | Lay down? |
|---|---|---|
| Q♣ A♥ | J♠ and two small hearts | No: a trump is still out, so the A♥ could be trumped |
| Q♣ Q♠ | Only trump below the Q♠ | Yes: both cards are bosses |
| A♠ 10♠ | No trump; only low spades and clubs | Yes: no trump is left to stop them |
A sheepshead call ends differently
After a sheepshead call, a single trick lost loses the hand, so the endgame is about never giving one up, not about points. A laid-down hand that has already lost a trick is still a lost call.
When the result is settled
Once a hand can no longer change between win, loss and schneider, there is nothing left to play for. At a real table, that is when players start counting. Online, the last trick plays itself when there is only one legal card.
Related
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.