EDITOR IN CHIEF ..........PHIL HUNT

EDITOR IN ASST CHIEF..PHIL HUNT

ASST EDITOR IN CHIEF..PHIL HUNT

ART DIRECTOR................PHIL HUNT

PHOTO DIRECTOR..........PHIL HUNT

JANITOR..........................PHIL HUNT

SALES MGR.....(WELL, IM SURE YOU GET THE IDEA)

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(In his most sultry, seductive voice, Im sure)

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TIPS ON PICKING

To begin with, lets cover a few basics, such as position. Its always more important when youre under the gun (left of the dealer) because you get to control the lead. That first lead is much more important than people realize. Leading the lowly seven of diamonds will remove 4 more trump from the game, and if you have 5, that means theres only 5 left on the board to contend with. Look at your hand a little closer when you have the lead.

More important, look at your fail cards; burying 20, 21 or 22 means you only need 39,40 or 41 points to win. If you have bury, you can pick a little lighter. Never hold aces, they rarely walk in five handed.

Lets say you have one queen, two jacks and the ace of diamonds with an ace and 10 of fail. If you have an ace and ten to bury and draw crap in the blind, youll have four fail and a decision to make. Always keep a non-pointer to call as your called ace, because odds are youll lose it to the opposition. Giving away a ten, ace or even king could cost you the game. Bury as much as you can, which leaves you with 4 trump and two fail of two different suites. At this point, you have a decision to make; ie: either lead a small jack in trump to get the power cards out, or lead the off suite in fail. Let us first examine the fail lead.

This gambit is known as the Bob Mack lead (named for a friend of mine who is famous for it). Lets assume you have kept a seven of clubs and an eight of spades. Youve called clubs, so your lead would be the spade.

To begin with, this will only work if the partner is unknown, so pick your spots carefully. Usually, you would want to be under the gun, right, so lets see what happens when you lead the off suite.

If the person to your left is not the partner and does not have the led suite, he can do one of two things. He can cut it or fail off. Lets just say for the time being that he cuts the lead, OK? The person to his left either follows suite or if he has none, overtrumps the first player. The next person could be the partner and over-trump him and the trick is yours. The same holds true for the forth player, you see. So in some cases, your off suite lead can draw some interesting responses from your opponents: The key here is that no one knows who the partner is yet (except the partner himself) so in many cases, they end up fighting for the trick and a bunch of trump may fall, which is what you are hoping for. In any case, the odds on your partner taking the trick are about the same as anyone elses. Remember, the idea is to get as many trump out as possible to make your end game good.

If youre fortunate enough to have your partner take it, trump gets led back to you....with any luck, with you on the end. then you retain control. If not, the winner of the first trick may not have the called suite anyway, which is good. Remember, the idea is to run the guy without the called suite out of trump. Not having the called suite does him no good if he cant cut it when it gets played.

The other option is to lead your smallest jack, which can also produce some interesting results. Remember, the partner is unknown to everyone at this point, so in many cases, power cards will fall to other power cards, with you as the beneficiary.

Remember, Sheepshead was intended as a game of finesse and requires the nerves of a riverboat gambler. Remain calm and try to understand that many of the skills required by a good poker player will come into play in Sheepshead. However, in poker, you dont have the benefit of a blind nor a partner. If there is a better feeling than calling an ace and watching your partner lead out the big kahuna, I dont know what it is. (Oh sure, a good lobster and possibly sex would qualify, but you get my point.)

So always remember.....once youve made that decision to pick, you are able to improve your hand plus you get help from someone else at the table.

So go ahead and pick to your hearts content......remember, its just a game. (Except in Wisconsin, of course, where it is considered a religion.) Hey, your first born is not up for grabs here......there is no stigma attached to picking and getting set. Remember, it is very difficult to win at Yahoo Sheepshead if you never pick, so come on.....jump in.......the waters not that deep. After all, my grandfather always told me "If theres no money involved, pick every hand."

These may seem like small details, but remember, for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; for want of a horse, the knight was lost; for want of the knight........well, you get the idea. So, go ahead.....whatdaya got to lose.

Good luck and may all your blinds be black queens.

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As always, try to remember that provies are really human beings in disguise and will someday be kicking your butts.

Having said that, heres this weeks Provie Tip