The Skat
Winning the bid means two hidden cards land in front of you: the Skat. What you do with them, pick them up or leave them down, shapes the whole hand before a single trick is played.
Read the official rule on picking up the Skat and playing Hand.
The Seven of Hearts and the Eight of Diamonds: nought Augen between them, going face down as your new Skat.
Picking up the Skat
Most hands improve with a look. Pick up the two cards, then push your two weakest back down: those buried cards still count toward your Augen at the end, even though nobody plays them.
Hunting a Grand upgrade
Sometimes a hand is one good Skat away from a much stronger Grand than the raw cards alone suggest. Picking up here isn't about improving a Suit game; it's a bet on what the two hidden cards might turn your Jacks into.
Suit Hand
Six or more solid trumps is enough to skip the Skat entirely. The upside is a higher game value; the price is committing blind, without ever finding out what those two cards were.
Grand Hand
Enough sure winners among the Jacks and top cards, and Grand is worth declaring without ever seeing the Skat either. The trade is the same as Suit Hand's, but Grand's base value is already high, so a blind commitment costs more when it misses.
Null Hand
Null Hand means committing to lose every trick without the Skat's two cards to help you. Only worth it when the hand is already safe on its own: nothing exposed that a defender could use to force a trick out of you.
What to drücken
After the pickup, bury your two weakest cards: the ones that would win you nothing in play. Their Augen count for you either way once they're down, so the only question left is which two you'd never have used.