Sheepshead

[BJE80]

Since we have a strong Wisconsin crowd out there. How many of you play? How often? I have a group that we get together and play but not nearly enough for me. Sometimes on lunch on Fridays we play at work. Great game that I never get sick of and wish I could find more people that know how to play.

How do you play?

Called ace?
JD?
Leasters or doublers?
Double on the bump?
Crack or no crack?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Since we have a strong Wisconsin crowd out there. How many of you play? How often? I have a group that we get together and play but not nearly enough for me. Sometimes on lunch on Fridays we play at work. Great game that I never get sick of and wish I could find more people that know how to play.

How do you play?

Called ace?
JD?
Leasters or doublers?
Double on the bump?
Crack or no crack?

are you speaking chinese? Never head of it....
I have lived in 7 states and i have come across a quite few local or regional games....always a fun time learning them!

 

[wiscwhip]

Grew up watching all my relatives play it, but I never learned. :( I love euchre and cribbage though, grew up playing those in my uncles bar with all the old farmers. Between my old German farmer relatives and those farmers who stopped in the bar, they taught me how to play euchre and cribbage very well. We host the Tri-State Euchre and Sheepshead Tournament at the Eagles Club here in La Crosse during Winter Rec Fest every January. I posted a link to the flyer from 2014. Plan a trip over next January!

http://laxwinterrecfest.com/pdf/euchre-sheepshead.pdf

 

[West Branch]

Last august we were doing some fishing in South Central MN and caught some sheepshead :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_drum

I knew a guy in college from Medford WI and I think he tried to teach us the game one night when having a few drinks. I do not remember how it goes at all.

 

[BJE80]

Here you go.

http://www.sheepshead.org/rules/sheepshead-basic-rules/

It is pretty much only played in Wisconsin only because of the high German settler rate. The rules of the game are pretty simple. Actually leaning how to play good and stagey takes quite a bit of time. It is definitely a complicated game to play right and really keeps you thinking. Once you know how to play you can't get enough. Finding people that know how to play can be tough.

 

[BJE80]

 

[EOB]

Used to play a lot. My buddies kept winning all my money so I stopped playing.
We played picker and the JD. Leasters and Doublers. Crack/Re-Crack or No Crack, it would depend on the stakes and who was playing.

 

[bueller]

Sheepshead: pain in butt when catfishing with nightcrawlers but they do make decent cutbait

 

[kabic]

you have to club them before you bury them.
you have to love them before your marry them,

aka club/spade/ heart/diamond ... the only way I can remember the order of trump but then again I dont\haven't played a lot.

 

[BJE80]

you have to club them before you bury them.
you have to love them before your marry them,

aka club/spade/ heart/diamond ... the only way I can remember the order of trump but then again I dont\haven't played a lot.

I've never heard that saying but it makes sense.

 

[Terrific_tom]

Play it on occasion, especially at family get togethers.

 

[j-bird]

I thought sheepshead was a fish! I have a VERY German heritage and have never heard of it.

 

[BJE80]

I thought sheepshead was a fish! I have a VERY German heritage and have never heard of it.

You are not from Wisconsin. ;)

Sheepshead or Sheephead is a trick-taking card game related to the Skat family of games. It is the Americanized version of a card game that originated in Central Europe in the late 18th century under the German name Schafkopf.
Although Schafkopf literally means "sheepshead," it has nothing to do with sheep; the term probably was derived and translated incorrectly from Middle High German and referred to playing cards on a barrel head (from kopf, meaning head, and Schaff, meaning a barrel).[citation needed]
In the United States, sheepshead is most commonly played in Wisconsin as well as the German counties in Southern Indiana, which has large German-American populations, and on the internet. Numerous tournaments are held throughout Wisconsin during the year, with the largest tournament being the "Nationals", held annually in the Wisconsin Dells during a weekend in September, October or November, and mini-tournaments held hourly throughout Germanfest in Milwaukee during the last weekend of each July.

 

[BJE80]

Play it on occasion, especially at family get togethers.

How do you guys play? Being up from that area I'm guessing JD is partner?

 

[BJE80]

Used to play a lot. My buddies kept winning all my money so I stopped playing.
We played picker and the JD. Leasters and Doublers. Crack/Re-Crack or No Crack, it would depend on the stakes and who was playing.

How the heck do you lose a lot of money at Sheepshead? That is one of the great things about it is that you could lose every hand all night and stiill only lose $10-20 max. Unless you guys play crazy high stakes.

 

[BJE80]

Club trump. JD partner. Leaster and double if alone. Like it better than euchre.

Whoa! Clubs are trump. Holy cats. I've heard about you people but never met any of them. Hahaha.

So everything is the same except clubs are trump? Or is there other differences?



Anyone who knows how to play sheepshead prefers it to Euchre. Euchre is the basic form and doesn't compare in complexity.

 

[wiscwhip]

I thought sheepshead was a fish! I have a VERY German heritage and have never heard of it.

That is odd because Southern IN is also one of the only other places it is popular, other than WI of course.

 

[BJE80]

haha. I learned to play from my college roommates who were all pretty much from Wausau. Believe its a marathon county thing. Everything else is the same I believe.

Club
Spade
Hearts
Diamonds

Jack of Diamond is partner.

Leaster/Double

I think that's about it.

Not that I am aware of. My land is in Marathon county and the people by my land all play diamonds is trump and JD partner.

 

[BJE80]

Maybe its a wausau thing. How does it work with diamond trump? Is it club, spade, heart after that?

Yes. Q's J's and any dimond is trump. For the Q's and J's is goes Club, Spade, heart and diamond. So it goes QC, QS, QH, QD, JC, JS, JH, JD. Then the rest of the trump.

 

[j-bird]

German counties in Southern Indiana, which has large German-American populations

Yep - that's me! That's why I was surprised I never heard of it. I will have to ask around some of the older generation.

My fathers family has been traced back to the black forest region of Germany along the french border.

Der Vater Land ist Weisenbach , Deutschland - keine Scheiße !