In Joker, taking lots of tricks is not enough: points come from bidding exactly. A bid you make scores (bid + 1) × 50, so two bid and two taken is 150, and three on three is 200. If you bid every trick in the hand and take them all, you score bid × 100: nine on nine is 900. A missed bid, whether you took too many or too few, earns only 10 points per trick taken: bid two, take three, and you get 30. A successful pass (bid nothing, take nothing) is worth 50. The key lesson: an extra trick is as much of a mistake as a missing one, and once your bid is made your goal becomes avoiding tricks. The advice below is based on the rules Joker is played by on tamashebi.cc.
Bidding by hand size
In the small hands of one to three cards, almost everything is decided by trumps and the joker. In a one-card hand, the ace of trumps is beaten only by a joker played to take the trick (mojokvra). Even the joker is not completely safe: the deck has two jokers, and if someone after you plays the second one to take, they win the trick, because on this site, of two jokers played to take, the later one keeps the trick. So "one" with a joker is a strong bid, but stronger still when you play last. In a nine-card hand the whole deck is dealt (36 cards to four players), so every card you do not hold is with one of the other three. Counting pays off most here, and mistakes cost the most. In hands of four to eight cards, count your tricks roughly like this:
- A joker: almost one trick; the only risk is the second joker.
- The ace of trumps: one trick; only a joker played to take beats it.
- The king of trumps, when you hold more trumps: often one.
- An ace of another suit: better than half a trick. Led early it often wins; late, someone may be out of that suit and cut it with a trump.
- A king or queen of another suit: a hope, not a guarantee. A low card in a long trump suit, on the other hand, often takes the last tricks, once the others have run out of trumps.
Read the table: shetenva and tsaglejva
The four bids never add up to the number of tricks: the last bidder is forbidden the one number that would make the total exactly equal. So every hand is one of two kinds, and the interface even labels it: shetenva (an under-bid hand) when the total bid is less than the tricks, and tsaglejva (an over-bid hand) when it is more. Think about the last bidder's position too. Say that in a nine-card hand the bids are 3, 2 and 3, a total of 8. The last bidder may not say 1, because 8 + 1 = 9. If their cards look like exactly one trick, they will have to choose between zero and two. On the bidding keypad the forbidden number is crossed out, so you cannot press it by accident.
- In an under-bid hand, the spare tricks have to end up with somebody. If you have made your bid, get rid of your high cards early, before they force you to take someone else's trick.
- In an over-bid hand there are not enough tricks to go round, and someone will fall short. If your bid is not made yet, use your reliable cards early.
- The bigger the gap, the fiercer the fight. A gap of one means a single mistake by a single player changes everything.
Choosing trumps in a nine-card hand
- Trumps are chosen by the player to the dealer's left, after seeing only the first three cards: one of the four suits, or bezi (no trumps). The other six cards are still unknown, so the choice is about probabilities.
- If two of the three are the same suit and one of them is an ace or king, for example A♦ Q♦ 7♣, diamonds is the natural choice.
- Three high cards in different suits, such as A♠ A♥ K♣, are worth considering bezi for: with no trumps nobody can cut your ace, and only a joker beats it.
- A joker among the three does not change the choice, but it lets you bid boldly: it works with any trump suit.
- Trumps are the same for everyone. If you have almost nothing, a suit in which you hold a few cards is still better than one you do not hold at all.
When to take, when to duck, and how to count
- Bid made: play a card lower than the one currently winning the trick, and when you are out of the suit and not obliged to trump, throw away the high card that could later bring you an unwanted trick.
- Bid not made yet: lead your aces early, before the others run out of their suits.
- When you play fourth to a trick you know exactly what you have to beat, so it is the cheapest moment to take a trick or avoid one.
- Following suit is compulsory: if you have the suit, you must play it; if you do not but have a trump, you must play a trump. A short suit that runs out early creates a chance to cut, and an obligation to.
- Spades and clubs have eight cards each (7 to ace), because the black sixes are replaced by the jokers; hearts and diamonds have nine each. Count trumps and jokers: until both jokers have appeared, none of your cards is completely safe.
- If you missed something, the "last trick" view is always available: all four cards, the order they were played in, and the joker call.
The joker: mojokvra, gataneba and leading with it
The joker is always a legal play: holding the led suit or a trump never restricts it. When you play the joker to someone else's lead, there are two buttons. Mojokvra takes the trick and beats every ordinary card, trumps included. Gataneba gives the trick away: it is the universal escape once your bid is made. When you lead the joker, you first name a suit, then choose between maghali ("high") and tsaighos ("let it take"). With maghali, every player who holds that suit must play their highest card in it, which is how you draw out someone else's ace or king. A player without the named suit must play a trump if they have one, and here any trump will do. With tsaighos you hand the trick to someone else: players with the suit may play any card of it, and if nobody follows suit, nobody trumps and no joker played to take appears, the trick still stays with you.
- Maghali in the trump suit takes the others' highest trumps from them: useful when someone's ace threatens your king or queen.
- Save the joker for the end if the second joker has not shown up yet: a joker played to take is beaten by one played later to take.
- Once both jokers are out, the ace of trumps is the strongest card there is.
- If your bid is made and you still hold the joker, gataneba lets you shed it in any trick, and it never obliges you to follow suit.
Avoiding khishti and playing for premia
Khishti is the penalty for bidding one or more and taking none. Its value is chosen when the table is created: 200, 500, or "special", which is 100 per card in the hand, so −100 in a one-card hand and −900 in a nine-card hand. Khishti costs far more than an ordinary miss: bid two and take three and you still keep 30 points; bid one and take none and you are in the minus. Premia (the bonus) is worked out at the end of each pulka (one of the four sections of the match): a player who made every hand of the pulka exactly gets the score of their best hand added once more. By default a successful pass also counts as a made hand. When someone earns premia and moshla is switched on at the table, the players who did not play the pulka exactly have the score of their best hand struck off.
- If you have bid one and have no reliable card, take the first real chance you get: one trick always saves you from khishti.
- The joker is the best insurance against khishti: played to take, it wins almost every time, whichever trick you put it in.
- The first and third pulkas have eight hands, the second and fourth four nine-card hands each. While premia is still possible, do not take unnecessary risks: an exact 0 or 1 is often better than a bold 3.
- Premia doubles your best hand, so one big hand made exactly in a pulka is very valuable.
- Watch the other players' score sheet too: if an opponent is close to premia, breaking their bid also protects you from moshla.
- Hearts are trumps and I hold the joker, A♥, K♠ and 7♣. How many should I bid?
- Two is sensible. The joker and the ace of trumps are two near-certain tricks, K♠ is possible and 7♣ is not. Use the ace early and keep the joker for the end. Once you have your two, do not lead clubs yourself, and drop the king into a trick that already holds the ace of spades or a trump.
- What is the most common beginner mistake?
- Taking extra tricks. Two bid and made exactly is 150 points; bid two and take three and it is only 30.
- Does the joker always win the trick?
- Played to take (mojokvra), almost always, and it beats trumps too. The only thing that beats it is the second joker played to take after it.
- Which is better, bezi or a trump suit?
- Bezi is good when your high cards are spread over different suits: with no trumps nobody can cut your ace. A suit is better when you hold its ace or king plus a few more cards of it.
- Does a pass count towards premia?
- By default, yes: zero bid and zero taken is a made hand worth 50 points. If you take a trick after passing, the hand is missed and that pulka's premia is lost.
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The games on Tamashebi.cc are played in a Georgian-language interface. They are free and use a virtual coin, never real money.