Ramsch

Ramsch happens when all three players pass in the auction: nobody wanted to declare, and now nobody wants the tricks either. Officially that triple pass voids the round; at this table you play Ramsch instead. It's played like Grand, only the four Jacks are trump, and there is no declarer: all three of you play for yourselves. Whoever ends the round holding the most Augen loses that total as minus points, and the other two stay at zero. The Skat is never picked up: it goes to whoever wins the last trick, and it counts there. Winning every one of the ten tricks instead, a Durchmarsch, flips the whole round: a flat +120.

Read the official rule on Ramsch scoring and the Durchmarsch.

Win a trick and you lead the next one

You're playing Ramsch, you have just taken a trick, and now you have to lead the next one. That is the whole mechanism of the round: whoever wins a trick opens the one after it. If your hand is full of cards that win by force, that drags you from one trick into the next, and the Augen pile up on your side without you ever making a decision. So the lead isn't something to hold on to, it's something you hand off. Three ways to do it. Lead a suit where your card isn't the highest one still out: if all you hold in Spades is the Nine of Spades9 while the Ace of SpadesA and the Ten of Spades10 have yet to fall, someone else almost certainly takes the trick and has to carry on from there. Lead low, the Seven of Hearts7 or the Eight of Hearts8 out of a suit where you keep a second low card, so you aren't forced to follow there with an expensive one next time. And when nothing else fits, lead your lowest card outside trump.

The Jacks are trump, and nobody wants them

You're playing Ramsch, it's played like Grand, and so only the four Jacks are trump: the Club JackJ over the Spade JackJ over the Heart JackJ over the Diamond JackJ. As long as higher Jacks are still out, the one you hold can still be beaten. Once they have fallen, yours becomes the highest card in the round and wins every trick it lands in whether you like it or not, along with all the Augen the other two threw in. So don't sit on the Diamond JackJ until the end. Lead it while the Club JackJ and the Spade JackJ are still out there. That does two jobs at once: the card that would have turned dangerous is gone, and since your Jack probably doesn't win this trick, you hand off the lead with it too.

A trick you're losing anyway is your chance

You're playing Ramsch, someone else has led, and none of the cards you're allowed to play beats what's already on the table. That trick is lost to you, and that is the best opportunity of the round: play the most expensive card that still stays under. If the Ace of HeartsA is out front and you hold the Ten of Hearts10, the King of HeartsK and the Seven of Hearts7, play the Ten. Its ten Augen land on someone else's pile instead of ending up on yours. First in line are the cards with nothing higher left above them, which will therefore take a trick unless you get rid of them in time: an Ace, which nothing in its suit can beat, or a Jack with nothing higher still out. Getting one of those out cheaply now always beats taking a trick full of Augen with it later. Playing last, you see the whole trick and know exactly what stays under. Playing second you have only seen one card and don't yet know how many Augen end up in the trick; you can still throw something away. It matters most once you're already at least ten Augen worse off than either of the other two: you're carrying the risk regardless, and have the least left to protect.

Get void, then use it

You're playing Ramsch, you're on lead, and nothing else is urgent. Then it's worth doing some groundwork: lead your shortest suit outside trump, the one with only one or two cards in it, and empty it out. If the Eight of Diamonds8 is your only Diamond, play it; the next time Diamonds are led you no longer have to follow suit there. That is where the gain sits: every later trick in that suit becomes a free chance to get rid of your most expensive card. Once you're out of the suit that was led, throw the card carrying the most Augen of whatever you hold outside trump, the Ace of HeartsA before the Ten of Hearts10 and that before the King of HeartsK. Reach for a Jack only when nothing else is left: a Jack ruffs, and then the trick you were trying to get rid of may well end up yours.

Keep the small card that covers your big one

You're playing Ramsch, someone else has led, you're second to play, and one player is still to act behind you. If one of your cards stays under what's already on the table, this trick can't come back to you whatever the third player does, so throw the most expensive of those. If instead every card you're allowed to play beats what's on the table, the third player can still take the trick off you: play your weakest, which gives them the best chance of doing exactly that and costs you the fewest Augen if they don't. Either way the same second idea applies, and it carries through the whole round: a small card next to a big one is what protects the big one. Hold the Ace of HeartsA and the Seven of Hearts7, and when Hearts are led you can play the Seven and keep the Ace out of trouble. Spend that Seven somewhere else first and the Ace stands alone, so the next round of Hearts almost certainly lands the trick on you, with everything the others threw in. That one small card is the one you hold back, even when you're free to throw something away. And when no rule seems to fit at all, the cheapest card is almost always right: it costs the least if the trick goes the wrong way after all.

When every card wins, win as cheaply as you can

You're playing Ramsch, someone else has led, and every card you're allowed to play beats what's on the table. There's no staying under this trick, so take it as cheaply as you can. Choosing between the Ace of SpadesA and the Nine of Spades9 when both win, take the Nine: no Augen instead of eleven, and the Ace stays with you for a moment when you can get rid of it cheaply. If two cards cost the same, prefer the one that had to win a trick eventually anyway. There's a temptation that goes with this, and it's worth resisting. Leading a card that is going to take a trick sooner or later while the trick is still small sounds sensible, and usually isn't: whoever wins leads next, and if you hold more cards of that kind, one cheap trick leads straight into another. Hand the lead off instead, while you still can.

Tricks nine and ten: the Skat rides on the last one

You're playing Ramsch, eight tricks are gone, and you have two cards left. The last trick is the most expensive of the round: whoever takes it also collects the two face-down Skat cards, on average about eight more Augen, which together with the cards in the trick comes to close to nineteen Augen against an ordinary trick's eleven. So from trick eight on you stop planning trick by trick and start deciding which single card you want to be left holding, shedding the high ones before then. Sometimes that means taking trick nine calmly: if it leaves you with the Seven of Diamonds7, you lead that last and only take the trick if neither of the other two still holds a Diamond or a Jack. Sometimes it means the opposite. If winning would leave you with the Ace of HeartsA, you'd have to lead the last trick with it and would almost certainly take it, Skat included; duck trick nine instead and somebody else leads the last one, where your Ace only wins if Hearts happen to be led. The worst card to walk into the last trick with is a Jack nothing can beat: that one wins it from any seat, no matter who leads.

Already safe: stop ducking

You're playing Ramsch, the round is well along, and it pays to do some counting. Add up the Augen you have already taken, then add everything that hasn't been played yet. If that total stays below what the player currently holding the most Augen has in front of them, you cannot lose this round however it ends. From there on there is nothing left to protect, and every further duck only costs you options. Play freely: win the trick with your strongest card when you can, and throw your most expensive one when you can't. Still holding the Ace of HeartsA and the Ten of Hearts10? Play them without a second thought. The one thing that matters is that you really count instead of guessing: it's your worst case that decides this, not your likely one.

The Durchmarsch: chasing one, stopping one

You're playing Ramsch, and one player at the table has taken every single trick so far. Suddenly the opposite of the usual goal is on the table: winning all ten tricks is a Durchmarsch and flips the round, a flat +120 instead of minus points. If you're the one with the unbroken run, the chase is only worth it late. Lothar only switches to it from trick nine on: a single lost trick undoes a Durchmarsch, and chasing one early collects exactly the Augen that make you the loser when it fails. Until then you're better off going on avoiding them. From there you lead your strongest card, a Jack first, and take every trick with your strongest winner. If someone else is the one running the table, stopping them outweighs everything else, including the caution about the last trick. Win the trick as cheaply as you can, with the Nine of Spades9 rather than the Ace of SpadesA when either would do. And when you're out of the suit that was led, don't feed them Augen: play your lowest card instead.