Three-Handed Sheepshead
Three-handed sheepshead, often called cutthroat, is the leanest version of the game. There is no hidden partner and no negotiation: whoever picks is alone against the other two, every hand. It is what a group of three plays when they want the real game rather than a substitute for it.
How it differs from the five-handed game
- The picker is always alone. No jack of diamonds, no called ace, no wondering who is on your side. You picked, so it is you against both of them.
- Points move faster. With two defenders instead of three, each player holds more of the deck, so a single trick swings a larger share of the 120 points available.
- The blind matters more. When you are taking on the whole table by yourself, two unseen cards are a larger part of your case for picking at all.
- Picking is a sharper decision. Alone means alone in the scoring too, so a marginal hand that would be fine with a partner behind it is a losing pick here.
What about a partner at three?
The published rules we know of describe three-handed sheepshead one way only: the picker alone against the other two. A partner rule at three leaves a single defender against a pair, and none of those sources says how such a hand would even be paid. So at Sheepshead Club three-handed is always cutthroat, whichever partner rule a table has chosen, and a three-player private table does not offer a partner setting. If your group plays a three-handed partner game of its own, it is a house rule we do not deal. The lone-picker defense page is worth reading for the two defenders.
What stays the same
Everything else is the game you already know. The same 32-card deck, the same fourteen trump in the same order, the same 61 points to win, the same bury, and the same doubling family of cracks and blitzes. The rules page covers all of it, and the variants page maps the rest of the house rules.
Play three-handed here
Cutthroat is live, with the picker alone and paying or collecting from both defenders. There is a standing three-handed table on the site, and you can open a private one for your own group. It is the count to reach for when only three of you turn up and nobody wants to sit out.