What Is Bid Euchre?

Bid euchre — also called auction euchre, pepper, or hasenpfeffer (depending on the region) — is a euchre variant that replaces the standard trump-calling system with a competitive bidding auction. Instead of deciding whether to accept a turned-up card, players bid how many tricks they believe they can take. The highest bidder names trump and tries to meet their bid.

Bid euchre adds more strategy and risk to the standard game. It requires all the fundamentals of regular euchre plus the ability to evaluate your hand in terms of a specific trick target.

What You Need

  • 4 to 8 players (4 is the most common)
  • 32-card deck (standard 24 plus 7s and 8s) for 4 players, or 48-card double deck for 6–8 players
  • Score tracking (pen and paper — bid euchre scoring is more granular)

Setup and Dealing (4-Player Version)

This guide covers the most common 4-player partnerships version:

  1. Players sit in partnerships — partners across from each other, same as standard euchre
  2. Deal 8 cards to each player from the 32-card deck (all cards are dealt, no kitty)
  3. No card is turned up — trump is determined by the winning bidder

With 8 cards per player instead of 5, hands are bigger and players have more information to work with.

The Bidding Phase

Starting left of the dealer, each player either makes a bid or passes:

Bid Rules

  • Minimum bid: 3 tricks (out of 8 total)
  • Maximum bid: 8 tricks (a sweep)
  • Each bid must be higher than the previous bid
  • A player who passes cannot bid again in that round
  • The dealer may match (rather than exceed) the highest current bid — this is the dealer’s privilege

Special Bids

Depending on house rules, these optional bids may be available:

  • Alone/Loner bid: The bidder plays without their partner (worth more points)
  • No-trump bid: No trump suit. All suits rank Ace-high with no bowers. Typically outranks a same-number trump bid.

Example Bidding Round

Player Bid
Seat 1 (eldest) 3
Seat 2 4
Seat 3 Pass
Dealer 4 (matches — dealer privilege)

The dealer wins with a bid of 4 and names trump.

Naming Trump

The winning bidder announces the trump suit (or no-trump). The bower system then applies as in standard euchre:

  • Right Bower = Jack of trump (highest card)
  • Left Bower = Jack of same-color suit (second highest)
  • Trump cards outrank all non-trump cards

In a 32-card deck, the trump suit now contains 9 cards (7, 8, 9, 10, Q, K, A plus both Jacks), making for deeper trump battles than standard euchre.

Trick Play

Trick play follows standard euchre rules:

  1. The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick
  2. Players must follow suit (remember the Left Bower rule)
  3. Highest trump wins a trump trick; highest of the led suit wins otherwise
  4. Winner of each trick leads the next
  5. Play continues for all 8 tricks

Scoring

Bid euchre scoring is based on whether the bidding team meets their bid:

Bidder Makes the Bid

The bidding team scores 1 point per trick won (not per trick bid). So a team that bids 4 and wins 6 scores 6 points.

Bidder Fails (Set)

The bidding team loses points equal to their bid. A team that bids 5 and wins only 4 tricks loses 5 points. Being “set” is the bid euchre equivalent of being euchred.

Defending Team

The defending team always scores 1 point per trick won, regardless of the bid outcome.

Scoring Table Example

Bid Tricks Won by Bidder Bidder’s Score Defender’s Score
4 5 +5 +3
4 4 +4 +4
4 3 (set) −4 +5
6 8 (sweep) +8 +0
6 5 (set) −6 +3

Special Scoring

  • Loner bid (made): Some groups double the bidder’s score or add a bonus
  • No-trump bid (made): Some groups add bonus points for the difficulty
  • Sweep (all 8 tricks): May carry a bonus in some rule sets

Winning

Games are typically played to 32 points. Some groups play to 24 or 50. Agree before the game starts.

Going negative: Yes, scores can go below zero. A team that gets set repeatedly can go deep into the negative. They must climb back to the winning target.

Strategy Overview

Bidding Strategy

Evaluate your hand by counting sure tricks:

  1. Both bowers = 2 sure tricks
  2. Ace of your longest suit = probably 1 more
  3. Additional trump = likely tricks (especially in an 8-card hand)
  4. Side Aces in other suits = probable tricks

Bid conservatively at first — getting set costs you your entire bid in negative points. It is better to underbid and make extra tricks (which still score) than overbid and go negative.

Push the opponents — if you suspect the opposing team has strength, making them bid higher increases the chance they get set. Sometimes a strategic bid of 4 forces the opponents to bid 5 on a hand worth only 4.

Playing as the Bidder

  • Lead trump to strip the opponents’ trump early — same principle as standard euchre strategy
  • Count tricks toward your bid — once you have met your bid, every additional trick is bonus
  • Protect your partner — unlike a loner, your partner is playing. Set them up for tricks.

Playing as a Defender

  • Win as many tricks as possible — every trick you win scores a point AND denies the bidder
  • Play aggressively — unlike standard euchre defense where you only need 3 tricks, here every trick matters
  • Force the bidder to ruff (play trump on an off-suit lead) to weaken their trump holding

Comparing Bid Euchre to Standard Euchre

Feature Standard Euchre Bid Euchre
Cards 24 32+
Cards per player 5 8
Trump selection Turned-up card + naming Auction bid
Tricks per hand 5 8
Scoring Fixed (1, 2, or 4 points) Variable (1 per trick, penalty for failure)
Game target 10 points 32 points (varies)
Complexity Lower Higher

Common Bid Euchre Mistakes

  1. Overbidding — The most common error. Getting set once erases multiple good hands. Bid what you can make.
  2. Forgetting the bower system — The Left Bower still changes suits. With more cards in play, this matters even more.
  3. Not counting all 8 tricks — With 8 tricks instead of 5, the strategic landscape is different. Hands develop more slowly.
  4. Ignoring the defender’s score — Defenders score every trick they win. A tight bid with minimal margin gives the defenders easy points.
  5. Never bidding alone — Loner bids, when available, carry big bonuses. If your hand is dominant, consider it.

Regional Variations

Bid euchre goes by many names and has countless local variations:

  • Pepper — A Midwestern variant, often played with 24 cards and 6-card hands
  • Hasenpfeffer — A closely related game, sometimes with different bidding rules
  • Double-Deck Bid Euchre — For 6–8 players, using 48 cards with two of every card (including two Right Bowers!)
  • Dirty Clubs — A variant where clubs are always trump if called at a specific bid level

The core mechanic — bidding for the right to name trump — is consistent across all versions.

What to Learn Next

Bid euchre builds on standard euchre fundamentals. Make sure you are solid on card rankings and basic strategy before tackling the bidding layer. For other ways to play euchre with different player counts, see three-handed euchre and two-handed euchre.