Card values in Skat: which cards count

Lesson 2 of 11, about 1 min

When you win a trick in Skat, you don't score the trick itself. You score the card points of the three cards in it. Only five kinds of card count: Ace 11, ten 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2. The 7, 8 and 9 are worth nothing and are called blanks.

Each suit holds 30 points, so the whole deck holds 120, and the declarer needs 61 of them. That makes counting the real skill of the game: one trick with an Ace and a ten is worth more than three tricks full of blanks.

One surprise for newcomers: the 10 ranks second, right below the Ace and above the King, in points and in trick-taking power alike. A side suit runs A, 10, K, Q, 9, 8, 7 from high to low. Here you practise adding up tricks until you can do it at a glance.