Euchre for 2 and 3 Players: Two-Handed and Three-Handed Euchre
Euchre is a four-player partnership game, but it can be played with fewer. This page covers euchre for 3 players (3-handed, or cutthroat, euchre) and euchre for 2 players (2-handed euchre, a home variant). Jump to the 3-handed rules or to 2-handed euchre.
| Players | What it is called | Played on our tables? |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | The standard partnership game | Yes, this is what we deal |
| 3 | 3-handed or cutthroat euchre | No, rules for a real table |
| 2 | 2-handed euchre (a home variant) | No, rules for a real table |
3-handed euchre (three-handed euchre, usually called cutthroat euchre) is how you play euchre with three people: there are no partnerships, and whoever names trump plays alone against the other two, who team up for that one hand. It keeps the 24-card deck, both bowers and the five-trick hand. A march scores 3, and a euchre pays 2 points to each defender.
Play Euchre freeNote: our tables deal the standard four-player partnership game. The rules below are for playing cutthroat with a real deck. They follow the version published on euchre.com; groups differ, so agree the details before the first hand.
How to deal 3-handed euchre
- 24 cards as normal: 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in each suit.
- Deal five cards to each of the three players, and five more to the empty seat. That dummy hand has no player.
- Turn up the top card of the four that are left as the proposed trump.
- Bidding runs as usual: order it up or pass. If all three pass, the up-card is turned down and a second round lets anyone name another suit.
The temporary alliance
This is the whole character of the game. The player who names trump is the maker and plays alone. The other two are defenders for that hand only. They don't share a score, but both gain from euchring the maker, so they work together without ever being partners.
The alliance ends with the hand. Next hand the player who helped you may be the maker, and you will be trying to euchre them.
Three-handed euchre scoring
| Result | Maker | Each defender |
|---|---|---|
| Maker takes 3 or 4 tricks | 1 | 0 |
| Maker takes all 5: a march | 3 | 0 |
| Maker takes fewer than 3: euchred | 0 | 2 each |
Two things differ from the partnership game. A march scores 3, not 2, because the maker has no help. And a euchre gives 2 points to each defender, so a failed call costs you ground against two players at once. Cutthroat punishes a thin call much harder.
First to 10 points wins.
Three-handed euchre strategy
- Call much more carefully. You need three of five tricks with no partner, against two players working together. Both bowers, or one bower plus two other trumps, is a realistic floor.
- Gang up on the leader. With three separate scores, the two trailing players should let the leader's calls fail even at some cost to themselves.
- Defenders: only one of you needs to stop them. If your ally is clearly winning a trick, don't waste a high card on it.
- Remember the dead cards. Nine of the 24 cards are never played, between the dummy and the kitty, so a missing ace may well be out of play.
House rules for three
- Stick the dealer
- If everyone passes twice, the dealer must name a suit. If you play it in the four-handed game, decide before you start whether it applies here too.
- A defender going alone
- Some tables, euchre.com's version among them, let a defender play the hand alone against the maker, leaving the other defender out. Settle what it scores before anyone tries it.
2-handed euchre: how to play euchre with 2 players
2-handed euchre is a home variant for when only two of you are at the table. It is not something our tables deal, and there is no single standard version, so agree the details before the first hand.
Dealing and bidding with two players
The simplest version changes as little as possible: the usual 24-card deck, five cards each, a turned-up card, two rounds of ordering up or naming trump, and five tricks with both bowers.
Scoring 2-handed euchre
Each player is a side of one, so going alone does not apply, and the four-player scoring carries over unchanged: 1 for three or four tricks, 2 for a march and 2 for a euchre.
What changes with only two hands
- Most of the deck sits out. Only ten of the 24 cards are dealt, so from your seat a card you cannot see is far more likely to be out of play than in your opponent's hand.
- Every trick is head to head. With two cards to a trick, the lead matters even more: the second player always sees the card they have to beat.
Playing euchre with two people online
The online game here is the four-player partnership game, but two people can still sit at the same table: create a private room, share the code, and bots fill the seats nobody takes.
Keep reading
- How to Play Euchre: the four-player rules.
- Euchre Terms: bowers, next, cross and stick the dealer.
- Going Alone in Euchre: the four-player loner.