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[ Sheepshead Quiz ]
So you want to test your
Sheepshead skills? I've written a number of brain teasers to see if you
measure up. Once you are done, you can call yourself an expert or maybe
just learn something in the process. Keep in mind that some questions
really don't have a definitive answer and the questions are not in any
particular order. Assume 5 handed, call an Ace play in all games unless
stated otherwise. The Sheepshead quiz was donated and updated by
Jim Mihal.
Question #1
You are the picker (and called Ace of Clubs
partner which has not yet been lead) and have these cards remaining:
 Jack
of hearts Eight of Clubs
You have the lead and you know that there is
one trump left which is higher than your Jack. (We can also assume that you
are not sure who your partner is or who has the high trump.) Which card
should you lead with?
Make your choice...
Answer #1
Lead the called suit (Eight of Clubs)! Why?
If your partner has the high trump, it
doesn't matter which card you lead- you win both tricks. But if your
partner does not have the high trump, and you lead the called suit,
it will take the remaining high trump to take the trick, making your trump
the high card for the last trick. And who knows, maybe the person with that
high trump also has a card from the called suit, in which case, the called
suit walks. Either way, you will get at least one trick.
What if you lead the trump? Bad news!!!!
You lose this trick and then have to hope that the last card in the
opponents hand is the called suit or you lose both tricks.
Question #2
You just picked the blind and have these 3
fail:
 10
of Hearts, 9 of Spades, and 7of Spades
Which cards do you bury and what ace do you
call?
Make your choice...
Answer #2
Bury the two Spades and call the
Ace of Hearts partner! Why?
It is tempting to bury the 10
and call the Ace of Spades but this is a poor choice. This almost
guarantees that the called suit, when lead, will get trumped (because you
already have two of the six fail spades). It may be a bit of a gamble but
almost a sure win if the called suit walks.
What if you "play it safe" and
bury the 10? OK, you have 10 in the bag but when the called suit is lead,
you will loose the ace (and probably the 10 of Spades) and if you are really
down on your luck, the suit gets trumped with an Ace of Diamonds....32
points right there!!!
I know what your
thinking.....you could lose your 10 of Hearts, Ace of Hearts (and more) if
the called suit gets trumped....but you have to figure that you can
get burnt either way...which one gives you the least chance of
failure?
The only instance where I would
"play it safe" is if I had the lead and had the Queen of Clubs. I could get
out two trump leads and hope that the called suit walks because most players
are drained of trump.
This particular problem is one
for the ages. There is no "right answer" but is a situation you will see
quite a bit playing Sheepshead.
Question #3
Is German "Schafkopf" the same as Sheepshead?
Yes or No
If different, how?
Make your choice...
Answer #3
The two games are similar but not quite the
same! Thanks to the many inputs from readers (see link at bottom of top
frame) I have found many differences from the original German game. For
starters, German Schafkopf is a 4 player game which uses a different looking
deck (Bavarian cards):
As far as I can tell, there is no blind (8
cards are delt each). There are many variations but unfortunately, I have
not yet translated these pages (all in German):
http://home.t-online.de/home/Florian.Cermak/
Here are the "German
Rules" which I got from Otto J. Penn.
Thanks to Thomas, griffin-harden, and Peter
Pommerenk for their input.
Question #4
You have 4 trump and 2 fail and are thinking
of picking the blind. Can you count on at least one trump in the blind?
Are your chances closest to:
1 in 3 (33%)
1 in 2 (50%)
2 in 3 (67%)
Make your choice...
Answer #4
Of course you need a trump to avoid holding a
"loser" fail. But odd as it may seem, you have a 63% chance of getting at
least one trump in the blind. Here is the math:
There are 10 trump and 16 fail on the table
what is the probability that the first card in the blind is a trump? 10/26
and the probability that the second card is also a trump is 9/25...so
multiply to get 90/650 or 14%.
Now the probability that the first card is a
is a trump is 10/26 and the next card is fail is 16/25...multiply to get
160/650. Also the probability the first card is fail is 16/26 and second
card is trump is 10/25...multiply to get 160/650. So the probability of
getting one trump is 320/650 (49%).
14% + 49% = 63% chance of getting at least
one trump....not bad!
There is only a 37% chance of getting 2 fail
in the blind with this hand.
The odds get slightly better if you only have
3 trump but I wouldn't pick unless those 3 trump are pretty good (or you
have lots of points to bury).
Gregory Hoerth states: "Even though
statistically the answer is correct, from playing, I think odds that trump
are in the blinds increase as more and more people pass. So if I'm at the
end, and all four people passed, I think my odds are higher that a trump is
in the blind."
I agree, as long as you don't sit with a
filthy mauer!
Question #5
You find that you are not the partner and
have the first lead. The Ace of Spades is the called partner and you have
this hand:
Queen of Spades, 10 of Hearts, 7 of Hearts,
Ace of Clubs, King of Clubs, 9 of Spades
What do you lead?
Make your choice...
Answer #5
This is known as the "Lone Queen of Spades
Trick". Normally you would lead the 9 of Spades automatic!!! But here is a
case where you could add some trickery to the game. You have to figure the
picker for the top queen. On the pickers first lead, you will lose your
queen! But if you lead your queen, you will fool the picker into thinking
that you are the partner and he/she will schmear points to you. Then you
come back with the called suit.
Can this backfire? Sure....your team-mates
might have the big lady and overtrump your queen!!! Would that make the
picker happy :) and your team-mates mad:( or maybe one of your team-mates is
short of spades and you just drew his one and only trump*&%$#&^!@#
Note: I've played this game since 1961 and
have not had a chance to play this "trick"! If you are an long time
player, you have heard of this situation! Ever happen to you?
Question #6
Would you pick on this hand?
Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds, 9 & 7 of
Diamonds, 8 of Clubs, King of Hearts
Make your choice...
Answer #6
This hand is known as "Red
Death". Holding the two red queens looks awful good and you have two
more trump to boot!!! What more can you ask for? Most players would pick in
an instant....but wait! You have no sure trick in this hand...nothing to
bury and I've seen some of the best crash and burn on hands just like it
(including myself). It is quite possible to get no tricked with this
hand and I've been there! So you have to ask yourself one question....do
you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?
As for me, I would pick, no questions, if I
had the lead (with no help in the blind...lead the 7 of Diamonds and go
fishing) or if I was on the end (hoping nobody maured). But I would think
twice if playing a doubler or "double on the bump" (but would most likely
grab'em otherwise). Beer helps a timid player and of course, if anyone sees
your hand after everyone passes....watch out you filthy maure!
Question #7
You have:
Queen of Clubs, 7 of Diamonds, 10 of Spades,
King of Spades, 7 of Clubs
The picker called Hearts and you just trumped
it and now have the lead with the picker at the end. What do you lead?
Make your choice...
Answer #7
The general rule is "long suit through the
picker, short suit with the picker at the end"....hoping the picker is
carrying a loser (which works much better in 3 & 4 handed play). But not in
this case! You must lead the King of Spades here. Why?
Most likely you will loose this trick because
the picker at the end. However, you know you have the lead coming again
when you play your big queen. The second time the same fail suit is lead
your team-mates will be all over it. Wow! You mean you'd lead a 10 with the
picker at the end? You bet! One of your mates will go high, forcing at least
a queen out of the picker (or may even take the trick). If you can make the
picker blow a queen on a fail lead, you are doing OK.
Question #8
You are the partner with the first trump lead
in the game and the picker (your mate) is not at the end. You have
these trump cards:
Queen of Diamonds, 9 & 8 of Diamonds
What do you lead?
Make your choice...
Answer #8
Lead the 9 or 8 of Diamonds. Why? If you
lead the queen, the picker will surely overtrump it if he/she had the big
lady (to insure the lead)...so you would be throwing away a queen. If the
picker had a weak hand and did not have the big lady (say just the queen of
spades), then the picker would be in a dilemma....do I play it and flush out
the lady? If so, the picker would have done so with the 8 of Diamonds lead
(again a waste of your queen). Or maybe, the picker has the queen of spades
and decides to save it....fine, except you could loose the trick to
the queen of hearts....and the picker is still left with the big lady out
there :(
If the picker has the queen of hearts and
spades (but not the big lady), the picker will lay a queen and flush out the
big ma. Your queen will be high card soon.
Let the picker take control here and lead out
a low trump (that alone should make the picker happy)! If the picker has
only 2 of the 3 top queens, your queen will most likely be a high card soon
and it should take a trick later.
BTY, if the picker is at the end (instead of
on your left), you lead out the queen...no questions asked! Why? Because
your lead will either flush out queens from your opponents, or give you the
lead again if not overtrumped (the picker would not overtrump you).
Question #9
You are the picker (Ace of Hearts
partner...which has not been played yet) with these cards remaining:
Jack of Clubs, 10 & 7 of Hearts
You have the lead, you know that your partner
(which lead out trump earlier) has the only remaining trump...a low Jack in
his/her hand. What do you lead? (From a game played on 9/12/98)
Make your choice...
Answer #9
Lead the 7 of Hearts. Why? If you lead the
trump card, you will suck the last trump out of your partners hand. When
you then lead the called suit, the partner takes the trick....so far, so
good. But the last trick may be lost (and lost big) because the partner may
not have a good card to lead.
To avoid the problem, lead out the 7 and let
the partner take the trick. Then you must rely on careful play by your
partner to insure getting all the tricks (see next question).
BTY, if you lead the 10, you get the trick
and a bunch of sure points. The partner has the lead and if they lead out
their last trump, you will have to over-trump it (you are still OK if the
partner leads fail...can you see why?...if not, see the next problem). Then
you are left with the 7 for a lead...but what if one of your opponents has a
higher Heart? Bad News and you get burnt!
Question #10
First read the answer to the last question.
What should the partner lead after the first trick (above) is
played?
Make your choice...
Answer #10
Put yourself in the partners position now!
The partner should then lead with their fail
suit (and hope that the picker is not holding a card from that same suit).
Because the picker will take the trick with the high trump and the last
trick will be taken by partner (because they have the only remaining trump).
This is assuming both the picker and partner are on the same page!
In fact, if the partner holds (and plays)
the high card of the fail suit, it is guaranteed because it it will take the
trick.
The partner knows that the picker has one
fail left (even though it is a good one, but the partner doesn't know that)
and also the high trump card (if they were paying attention). If the
pickers fail card is of the same suit as the partners and neither player has
the high card in that suit you will lose the trick anyway you look at it.
What if the partner leads the trump? It sucks
the last trump from the picker and gives the picker the lead. Then you have
to hope the picker has the high card of the fail suit in his/her hand. If
the pickers fail suit is of the same suit as yours..no harm no foul (same as
above). But if you have different fail suits....you just messed up because
you could have had both tricks guaranteed.
Question #11
You picked and are playing it alone. You
lead out three big queens and have a no tricker going. The only problem is
there is still one trump (a Jack of Spades) in the hand of the player to
your left. What do you lead?
Jack of Hearts, 9 of Diamonds, & Ace of Hearts
Make your choice...
Answer #11
Play the Ace of Hearts! If you lead out the
small trump, it will be taken and three opponents will get a chance to
schmear points, giving them schneider. But if you play the Ace of Hearts,
it places the player to your left with a tough decision. If he/she trumps
it, all other players must follow suit and it may not give schneider. If
he/she (player to left) does not trump it (which is a better choice), it may
draw out the 10 of Hearts out of an opponents hand which could be the
only schmear card that player has! If that is the case, no schneider!
From a game played on 10/23/98 (brilliant
insight by Mark Herder)
Question #12
The picker called Ace of Hearts and you are
at the end (as partner). The picker just lead out the two black queens
which sucked out 10 trump. Next the picker leads out the Queen of Hearts
and luckily, all the remaining trump fall and you have the last play. What
do you play?
Ace of Spades, 7 of Spades, Ace of Hearts, 7 of Clubs
Make your choice...
Answer #12
It is tempting to schmear the Ace of Spades
to your mate but don't do it! Play the 7 of clubs. The picker will
likely play the called suit next. After you take the called suit, your Ace
of Spades is good as gold (and who knows, it may make the 7 of spades high
for the last trick....which it did on 10/23/98)
Question #13
You picked up a great hand which included all
the queens except the queen of spades, the two top jacks, and the king of
diamonds. You are playing it alone (on a doubler, yet). You trump the
first fail lead with a jack, and come back with the big lady...but still no
queen of spades. So you lead out the other jack only to find that your
opponents just got schneider . This is what you saw:
Crap! They got 30 points - schneider.
Now the next lead is the 8 of hearts and you
see this:
and you have What
do you play?
Make your choice...
Answer #13
Play the king of diamonds! The trick may be
lost because the person to your left may still have trump...but who cares!
They already have schneider and the worse that can happen is 22 points fall
after your play...still no game. You then take the last two tricks and win.
Chip blew this one on 6/25/99 and we'll never let him forget it (he lost
the game). BTW, can you see another way this could have been played when
you lead out the jack (to force out the queen)? It may be worth a point to
lead out the queen of hearts instead of the jack. Perhaps someone may be
reluctant to schmear points thinking that the picker has all top queens and
is trying to bluff points out of them. |
