How to Play Euchre with 6 Players: Six-Handed Euchre Rules

Six-player euchre scales the classic game up by adding a third player to each team. You expand the deck a little and alternate the seats; everything else stays the same, including trump calling, the bowers, five tricks, and scoring to 10. If you know the four-player game, the switch takes about two minutes.

It’s a favorite at family gatherings and club nights where the table fills up. If you’re brand new, start with the standard rules.

What You Need

• Players: 6, in two teams of 3
• Deck: 32 cards: the 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A of each suit. From a standard deck, remove the 2s through 6s.
• Scoring: One score per team (score sheets)
• Goal: First team to 10 points

Seating

Teams alternate seats so no two teammates sit next to each other:

Clockwise:  A — B — A — B — A — B

Each player sits between two opponents, and each of your partners is two seats away. Draw cards or just assign seats before the first deal.

Dealing

1. Shuffle the 32-card deck and deal 5 cards to each player in packets of 2 and 3 (dealing guide).
2. That uses 30 cards. The last 2 cards form the kitty.
3. Turn the top kitty card face-up to propose trump.
4. The deal passes clockwise after every hand.

Card Rankings

The bowers work exactly as in standard euchre. The 8 and 7 rank below the 9:

• Trump (9 cards): Right Bower, Left Bower, A, K, Q, 10, 9, 8, 7
• Off-suits: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7

If hearts are trump, the J♦ is the Left Bower and counts as a heart, not a diamond. You can’t use it to follow a diamond lead.

Bidding

Standard two-round bidding, with six players:

• Round 1: starting left of the dealer, each player may order up the turned card (the dealer picks it up and discards) or pass.
• Round 2: if all six pass, turn the card down. Each player may name another suit or pass. If all pass again, redeal, or use Stick the Dealer.

The caller is the maker, and their three-person team is the making team.

Playing Tricks

1. The player left of the dealer leads.
2. Follow suit if you can; otherwise play any card.
3. The highest trump wins; if there’s no trump, the highest card of the led suit wins.
4. The winner leads the next trick. Play all 5 tricks. Each trick has six cards.

Scoring

Points go to the team. The first team to 10 wins; for a shorter game, play to 7.

Going Alone

After trump is set, the maker may declare a loner. Both partners lay their cards down, and the loner plays one against three.

• All 5 tricks: 4 points
• 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point
• Euchred: 2 points to the defenders

You need a strong hand, because three defenders means three chances to trump your aces. Think both bowers plus the ace of trump and another sure winner. See when to go alone.

Optional: the card-ask rule

In a popular variation (common in Ontario and parts of the Midwest), the loner may ask one partner for a card first:

1. The loner asks for their partner’s best card, or names a suit.
2. That partner passes one card face-down. The loner discards one card in return.
3. Both partners then sit out as normal.

This makes loners much more realistic in six-handed play. It’s covered in depth under Canadian Loner. Agree before the game whether you’re using it.

Variant: The Joker (Best Bower)

Add a Joker to make 33 cards. The Joker is the highest trump in every hand, above the Right Bower. With 30 cards dealt, the kitty has 3 cards. If the Joker is turned up, the dealer usually names trump before looking at their hand. This variant is common where British Euchre traditions carried over.

Six-Player Strategy

Calling trump

Your two partners hold 10 of the 27 cards you can’t see, compared with 5 of 19 for your single partner in the four-player game. So help from partners is more likely. But there are also 9 trump instead of 7, and three opponents each get a chance to overtrump. A good rule: call with about the same hand you’d call with in four-handed euchre, meaning roughly three trump including a bower, or two high trump plus an off-suit ace (bidding strategy).

Use your seat position

Every trick alternates opponent, partner, opponent, partner. After an opponent plays, the next partner in line can often win the trick cheaply. When the trick is already won by a partner, play low, even if you could overtake.

Lead to your partners

When you’re the maker, leading the Right Bower tells both partners you’re pulling trump. When a defender leads their best off-suit card, partners should keep their trump for later tricks.

Low cards matter now

All 32 cards are in play, but only 30 are dealt, so suits run deeper. Late in the hand, a 7 or 8 can win a trick if the higher cards are gone. Track the aces and kings the same way you would in card counting.

Four-Player vs Six-Player at a Glance

More than six? For 8 players, use double-deck euchre or set up two tables for progressive euchre.