Brewery To Host Sheepshead Tournament April 11

The theme of classic, socially stimulating card games continues in tournament fashion at the Door County Brewing Co. on April 11.

Hot on the heels of their fun-filled cribbage tournament, the brewery promises an equally hearty, afternoon-erasing time with one of Wisconsin’s oldest and nuanced card games, Sheepshead.

Sheepshead is a game of German origin and was developed in the late 18th century. In the United States, Sheepshead is predominantly popular in Wisconsin. There are a variety of ways to play in both the rules and number of players involved.

“Because the Door Peninsula is a melting pot, in these days of blended family heritage, several ways to play are common,” said tournament host Bob Bultman, of Restore Door EcoLogical Services. “So the tournament will consist of rounds of different handed variations.”

The tournament is $12 to play and includes one draft beer or non-alcoholic beverage. The winner will receive a Door County Brewing Co. hoodie and a case of beer or a case of Sprecher Root Beer if under 21.

Keeping in mind the variations of the game, there is a basic framework upon which the game is played.

Sheepshead is played with 32 cards out of a standard 52-card deck. Each card has a different point value and strength. The goal is to obtain at least 61 points by taking a variety of tricks.

Commonly played with five players, cards are used in suits of sevens, eights, nines, tens, jacks, queens, kings and aces. Each player receives six cards, three at a time. After the initial round of three, two cards are placed in the middle of the table and this is called the blind. The remaining cards are dealt three at a time. The person to the left of the dealer deals the next round.

After the cards are dealt, the person to the left of the dealer has the choice to pick or pass on the blind. If you think you have a very strong hand, pick up and add the blind to your hand. Whoever ends up picking up the blind must then discard two cards. These two cards will not be played in tricks, but count toward your trick points. The picker then proceeds to pick a partner.

Each hand has two teams, the picker and partner against everyone else (opposing team). The partner is the player who initially holds the Jack of diamonds. If dealt the Jack of diamonds, you will most likely not want to pick unless you have a very powerful hand.

Teams need to acquire as many trick points as possible. The picking team has to acquire 61 points at a minimum plus any points gathered from the two dropped cards.

Player to the left of the dealer leads first, trick taker leads next. You must follow suit when possible. Trump suit is comprised of queens, jacks, and diamonds. Fail suits consist of the remaining clubs, spades, and hearts.

A difficult component can be remembering and understanding the ranking of cards. The trump cards, in order from high to low, are the queen of clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds, Jack of clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds, ace of diamonds, ten of diamonds, king of diamonds, nine of diamonds, eight of diamonds, and seven of diamonds.

The 18 fail cards, which have no order of power, are the ace of clubs, spades, and hearts, 10 of clubs, spades, hearts, king of spades, clubs, hearts, nine of clubs, spades, and hearts, eight of clubs, spades, hearts, seven of clubs, spades, and hearts.

There are a total of 120 points in a Sheepshead deck. Trick point values are as follows: ace of spades – 11 points; 10 of clubs – 10 points; king of diamonds – four points; queen of diamonds – three points; Jack of diamonds – two points; nine of hearts, eight of clubs, and seven of spades – zero points. Any trump card will take any fail card.

Is your confusion trumping your comprehension? No worries. Help will be available to clarify rules and nuances.

All proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the Restore Door EcoLogical Services program.

“The more the merrier!” Bultman said. “It’s for a good tree planting cause!”

The tournament begins at 1 pm.