Card Points and Counting to 61
Sheepshead card points are: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2, and nothing for the nine, eight and seven. The 32-card deck holds 120 points in all, and the picking side wins with 61 or more. At 60 apiece, the defense wins.
The whole deck, counted
| Card | Worth | How many | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ace | 11 | 4 | 44 |
| Ten | 10 | 4 | 40 |
| King | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| Queen | 3 | 4 | 12 |
| Jack | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Nine, eight, seven | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Deck | 32 | 120 |
Aces and tens are 84 of the 120 points. Everything else is small change, which is why players talk about where the aces and tens went and almost never about the kings.
Where the points sit
Trump holds 45 points: 12 in the queens, 8 in the jacks, and 25 in the ace, ten and king of diamonds. The three fail suits hold 25 each, 75 together. So most of the points live in fail cards, and a fail card cannot protect itself: once a suit has gone round, the ace of it is 11 points that any trump can capture. Points are won by holding trump and by putting your side’s fat cards on tricks your side is taking.
Why 61
61 is the smallest score that is more than half of 120. The picking side has to take a majority of the points, and an even split is not a majority, so a hand that finishes 60 to 60 goes to the defense. That one point is the price of seeing the blind and choosing the bury.
What counts for whom
- The picking side counts every card in the tricks the picker and partner took, plus the bury.
- The defense counts every card in the tricks it took.
- At Sheepshead Club the bury counts for the picking side even in a hand where it takes no tricks. Some tables only count the bury once the picking side has won a trick; agree on it before you start.
- In a leaster nobody picked, so there is no bury, and the two blind cards go to whoever takes the last trick.
Counting fast at a real table
- Count the smaller pile and subtract it from 120. Defenders with two tricks are quicker to count than a picker with four.
- Aces and tens first. An ace and a ten make 21, two of each make 42. Then kings, then queens and jacks.
- Do not forget the bury. It is the most common counting error at a kitchen table, in both directions.
A worked count: the picker buried the A♥ and 10♠ (21 points) and the picking side took two tricks, one worth 26 and one worth 17. That is 21 + 26 + 17 = 64, so the picking side wins, and the defense has the other 56. Check it by counting the defense’s pile: if it does not come to 56, somebody miscounted.
The scoring lines
| Picking side ends with | Result |
|---|---|
| No tricks at all | Lose triple (schwarz) |
| 0 to 30 points | Lose double (schneider) |
| 31 to 60 points | Lose |
| 61 to 90 points | Win |
| 91 to 120 points | Win double (schneider) |
| Every trick | Win triple (schwarz) |
The two schneider lines are not mirror images of each other; the schneider and schwarz page explains why. What each line pays is on the scoring page.
Related
- The trump order
- Schneider and schwarz
- How sheepshead is scored
- The endgame: counting your way to 61
- Printable cheat sheet with the point values
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.