Null and Grand in Skat: rules, values and when to declare them

Suit games are everyday life at the Skat table. The two other game types turn the logic around: in a Null the declarer must not take a single trick, in a Grand only the four jacks are trumps. Both have their own rules for card order, game value and announcement under the International Skat Order. This page sums them up, with the bid values you need to keep in mind while bidding, and with rules of thumb for when the declaration pays off. In Grand Skat you can practise both against bots; lesson 6 of the free tutorial plays a short demonstration hand of each.

Null

Goal and card order

The declarer wins by taking no trick. Card points do not matter, there are no trumps, and the jacks are ordinary cards of their suit. In return the ranking inside every suit changes:

7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace (lowest to highest).

So the ten sits between the nine and the jack, not above the king as usual. Players who forget this in a Null think their ten is safe and win the trick with it.

Following suit is compulsory as always. As soon as the declarer takes a trick the game ends immediately and is lost; the remaining cards are not played out.

The four values

Null games have fixed values: no matadors, no Schneider, no Schwarz. For the bidding that means: whoever has bid up to 23 can play Null; whoever held at 24 or higher needs at least Null Hand (35). There is no Null game between 23 and 35. That is why the bid values 23, 35, 46 and 59 sit between the suit and Grand values in the bidding table.

• Hand: the skat stays on the table, the declarer plays the ten cards as dealt.
• Ouvert: the declarer lays the cards face up on the table before the first card is led (in a normal Null Ouvert after discarding). The opponents see everything and can lead the suit in which the declarer is high.

A lost Null counts double, like every lost game. A lost Null Ouvert Hand is 118 points against you, more than a won Grand with four.

When to declare Null

Count gaps, not card points. A suit is safe when you can stay underneath in every round:

• The seven alone is safe. Seven and eight are safe. Seven, eight, nine are safe.
• A suit without the seven is dangerous even with the eight and nine: when the seven is led you must follow and you win the trick.
• A void suit is no problem: you throw away a high card of another suit.
• Long suits with gaps (say 7, 9, queen, king) hold as long as the opponents still have the missing cards; at some point you are left with the king alone.

In a Null with the skat you discard the two most dangerous cards, for example a lone queen and a ten without the seven. Null Hand only when all four suits are safe before you see the skat. Null Ouvert only when you have no gap that leads to a trick once the cards are open: with open cards the opponents find every weakness.

Grand

Trumps and ranking

In a Grand only the four jacks are trumps, in the order clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds. All other cards are plain suits in the usual order: ace, ten, king, queen, nine, eight, seven. As in a suit game the declarer needs 61 of 120 card points (ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2).

Because there are only four trumps, a Grand is decided in the plain suits: whoever draws the opponents' jacks and then runs aces, tens and long suits wins.

Game value

The base value of a Grand is 24. Matadors count only through the jacks (with or without one to four), and the game levels are the same as in a suit game:

Calculation: 24 × (matadors + 1 for the game + 1 per further level). Grand Ouvert is always a hand game with open cards and counts as Schneider and Schwarz announced; with four jacks that gives 24 × 11 = 264, the highest game value in Skat. Schneider and Schwarz are also credited without announcement when the opponents stay below 31 points or take no trick at all.

While bidding the usual rule applies: the skat counts towards the matadors. Whoever bids "without two" and finds the jack of clubs in the skat suddenly plays "with one" and has a lower game value; that is the classic road to overbidding.

When to declare Grand

Rules of thumb that hold up at the table:

• Two top jacks plus two aces (or ace and ten of the same suit) are the lower limit. With the jacks of clubs and spades you draw both opposing jacks in two rounds.
• Aces without the ten are sure tricks, tens without the ace are not: the ten falls as soon as the opponents hold the ace and lead the suit.
• Long suits win the Grand. Four cards of one suit with ace and ten usually bring three tricks once the jacks are drawn.
• Forehand is worth gold: you lead first and draw the jacks before the opponents get their tens to safety.
• Grand Hand only when the ten cards are enough without the skat; the extra level is worth less than two bad cards you could not discard.

A Grand with one jack and many card points in hand is the most common mistake: the opponents trump your tens with their jacks, and 61 points get tight.

Practise both

In Grand Skat the voice-over announces Null and Grand as at the table, the medium bot level punishes open gaps, and the coach in the full version shows after the hand whether a Null was holdable with that hand at all. Lesson 6 of the free tutorial walks through a short hand of each. All bid values are in the bidding table. Play now on grandskat.com, free in the browser. Legal notice in the Impressum.