How to play Euchre well once you know the rules: the decisions that matter, and the habits that win.
There are seven trumps in a hand of euchre: both bowers, then ace, king, queen, ten and nine. With three trumps, especially if one is a bower, ordering up is usually sound. With two trumps and an outside ace, it is borderline, and your seat matters.
Remember the left bower. With hearts turned up, the jack of diamonds is a heart, so a hand with the jack of diamonds and two hearts has three trumps, not two.
Ordering up puts the turned-up card in the dealer's hand, which gives the dealer's side an extra trump. As the dealer's partner you are strengthening your own side when you order it up, so you can be bolder.
Sitting to the dealer's left, you are handing the opponents that card. Order up only with a strong hand. And when the dealer turns down the card, the suit of the same colour — called next — is often a good call, since the dealer has shown they are weak in the turned-up suit.
If your side named trump, leading it pulls the opponents' trumps out of the way so your aces can take tricks later. A lead of the right bower is almost always right when you hold it.
When the opponents named trump, lead an ace in a side suit instead, or a card your partner can win. Leading trump into them only helps them draw their own.
If your partner is already winning a trick, throw your lowest card rather than playing a higher one or trumping. With only five tricks per hand, wasting a trump on a trick your side already has often costs the hand.
Discard from suits where you have no winner, and keep a card that could beat a lead in the suit you are short in.
Taking all five tricks alone is worth 4 points, but taking only three or four is still just 1, and failing is 2 for the opponents. Go alone when you hold the right bower and at least two more high trumps, with the rest of the hand made of aces or trumps.
A hand with the right and left bower and the ace of trump will almost always take the three trump tricks; the question is whether the other two cards can win without partner's help.