Who’s My Partner?
The Rufsau (called ace) and your secret partner.
In a Sauspiel (the everyday partner game, also called Rufspiel — Herz is trump) you do not play alone — it’s two against two. But your partner isn’t written on their forehead. The called Sau (the ace you named) gives them away. Let’s look at how you can tell whether you are the partner being sought.
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A Rufspiel is a partner game
A Rufspiel (a “Sauspiel”, its colloquial name) is two against two: the declarer, who announced it, and one partner — against the other two. Only the partnership is partly hidden: at the start nobody knows for sure who is on whose side.
Two parties, but not split out in the open — that’s exactly what makes the Sauspiel so exciting. First you have to work out where you yourself belong.
The declarer calls a suit Sau
The declarer calls a Sau — an ace (the Sau is the top card of a suit, worth 11 points). But only a suit Sau: Eichel, Gras or Schellen. Never the Herz-Sau, because Herz is trump. Whoever holds the called Sau is the declarer’s hidden partner.
If he calls, say, “on the Gras-Sau”, then whoever holds the Gras-Sau is with the declarer — no matter who it is.
Hold the Sau, and you’re the partner
Look at your hand: if you hold exactly the called Sau, then you are the declarer’s partner — and none of the others know it yet. From now on you secretly play for his party, even if nobody suspects it.
The Sau gives them away when it’s played
The partnership is revealed the moment the called Sau is played. So: watch who lays the Sau — that’s the partner. Until then it stays a riddle.
That’s exactly what the “Tipp vom Trainer” (the in-game coach tip) tells you too: “Remember who lays the called Sau — that’s the hidden partner.”
The declarer may not hold the Sau himself
For there to be a partner at all, the declarer has to keep to two things:
- He may not himself hold the called Sau.
- He must hold at least one plain card of that suit (a Zehn, König, Neun, Acht or Sieben).
Ober and Unter of that suit do not count — they’re trump, not suit cards. So a Gras-Ober is no “Gras” in the sense of this rule.