Oh, Hell - Number of Hands Per Game

Number of Hands Per Game

• In the Oh Hell variation (aka the You Bid variation), the first hand is played with one card dealt to each player. On each succeeding deal one more card is dealt out to each player, until there aren't enough cards for another round. After this, the number of cards per player decreases by one every round. The game is complete when the last round (with one card per player) has been played. For example, a four-player match of Oh Hell consists of twenty-three deals, from hand size 1 up to 12 (forty-eight cards dealt and one turned face up for trump; 13 cards cannot be dealt, as there would be no card remaining to declare trump) and back down to 1. Three-player and double-deck variants go up to a maximum hand size of 15 cards. In one common variant, exactly thirteen hands are played—the final hand, in which each player is dealt 13 cards, is played without a trump suit (or by cutting the deck to determine trump). One variation is to make the maximum number of rounds on the way up no greater than 7, 8, or 9 rounds (thus, even with four players, the players could opt to have the pattern of cards be 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, as playing 12 or 13 rounds up and then down again might be too lengthy for some). A sub-variation for a small number of players (three or four) uses a step in the jump, such as three players opting for the pattern to be 1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-13-11-9-7-5-3-1. Another variation consists of the pattern 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12, though this version takes longer to play: in a 4-player game, starting from "1" deals a total of 144 tricks, while starting from "12" yields 155 tricks. This also assumes using the entire 52-card deck, not an abbreviated game.

• In the Devil's Bridge variation, for the 1-card hand each player holds their own card on their forehead and looks at the other players' cards, rather than their own, to bid.

• In the Get Fred variation, the game starts with a hand size that is the largest possible number of cards (but no greater than 9), reducing down to 1 card. The following hand has one card, then progressively returns to the maximum number of cards (again with a maximum of 9). The pattern for the number of cards in a four player game is 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. In yet another variation, every person must deal a 1 hand, as the dealer has an even higher likelihood of not being able to bid what they like and therefore being off in a 1 hand.

• The Diminishing Bridge variation begins with the maximum hand and counts down, like the latter half of a standard game.