Trumps in Skat and the four Jacks

Lesson 3 of 11, about 1 min

When the declarer names a suit as trumps, every card of that suit beats every card of the other suits. A trump 7 takes a side-suit Ace. That is the whole privilege of trumps, and it decides most deals.

Skat's most famous rule sits on top of that: the four Jacks are always trumps, and they are the four highest, whatever suit is chosen. Among themselves they rank ♣J, ♠J, ♥J, ♦J, and the ♣J is the highest card in the game. Below the Jacks come the Ace, 10, King, Queen, 9, 8 and 7 of the trump suit, so a suit game has eleven trumps.

The catch: a Jack no longer belongs to the suit printed on it. In a hearts game the ♣J is not a club; it is a trump. In this lesson you pick out the trumps of a hand and put them in order until the ranking feels natural.