General Strategies
1. Note the cards led. Theyoften provide clues as to the nature of the hand from which the lead comes. This is particularly true in "no trump"
hands.
2. Note when Jesters are played. They often indicate a suit that the person playing the Jester wants to avoid.
3. Make your move to steal a trick when you are one of the last to play or with players not wanting more tricks playing after you.
4. A flexible hand is one that contains Wizards, Jesters and/or a long suit containing both high and low cards. Generally you should try to squeeze as
many tricks as possible out of a flexible hand and at the same time make sure someone else fails to make his bid.
5. When the number of tricks called for are even and it appears that everyone will make his/her bid, look for ways of making your own bid while
forcing others to go over or under their bid. Do not be satisfied simply with making your own bid unless you have a difficult hand to play.
6. Be prepared to go down additional tricks once you have failed to make your bid. Dont worry about losing another 10 or 20 points if you can stop
other players from making their contract.
7. Be prepared to intentionally not make your bid if it is to your advantage on the scorepad. For example if your main rival has bid 6 tricks and you
have bid 0 you will record 20 points and he will record 80 if you both succeed. Its better to break yourself if you can break him too. Then you both
lose 10 points.
8. Pay special attention to the person leading on the scorepad. Watch for opportunities to disrupt his/her plans. For example if there is a trick that
he/she clearly wants to take, that may be your best time to play your Wizard and steal the trick.
9. Some of the strategies mentioned above can be summed up by saying that you should play defensively as well as offensively. To do this effectively
you must keep an eye on the scorepad. You must know the individual scores, exactly how many tricks each player wants, and by how much the contract has
been over-under-bid or whether the bids are even.
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