Play Double Sir Online
In Double Sir a trick does not go to whoever wins it. It goes on a pile in the middle, and the pile only comes across when the same player wins two sirs (tricks) in a row; that player then takes every trick in it for their side. Win one, lose the next, and the pile keeps growing for somebody else.
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A pile, trick by trick
Here is the start of one hand, with you in the South seat and your partner North.
- Trick 1: North wins. The pile holds 1, and North is on the sir, needing the next trick to collect.
- Trick 2: you win. The pile holds 2. Your partner winning first does not help, because it has to be the same player twice. Now you are on the sir.
- Trick 3: East wins. The pile holds 3, and East is on the sir.
- Trick 4: East wins again and takes all four tricks for East and West. Collected tricks: 4 to them, 0 to you. The pile is empty.
- Tricks 5 and 6: you win both, and take two for your side. Collected tricks: 2 to you, 4 to them.
Only collected tricks count toward the seven that win the hand, so a side can look behind while a big pile sits waiting in the middle.
The second-trick rule
One exception catches new players. If the same player wins the first two tricks of the hand, nothing is collected: the pile stays at two and that player stays on the sir. Win the third as well and all three come across. From the third trick on, any two in a row collects. Pagat.com lists this as a Double Sir variant, and it is the one our tables play.
The thirteenth trick
Whoever wins the last trick takes whatever is still in the pile, even without having won the twelfth.
The Ace rule
Double Sir is usually played with an Ace rule layered on top — Trump Ace (the trump Ace is the single highest card) or Any Ace (an Ace beats any card of another suit). You pick it when you set up the table.
How a Double Sir hand ends
As in Classic, the first side to seven collected tricks wins the hand, and a side that reaches seven while the other has collected nothing plays on for the sweep. All thirteen on your own call is a Court, worth 3 match points in our app; all thirteen against the call is the Goon Court, worth 4. An ordinary win is 1 point for the calling side or 3 for the defenders.
House rules you will meet
Some tables refuse a collection on the eleventh and twelfth tricks too, so a late double cannot be cashed in; pagat.com records that variant, and our app does not play it, so two in a row on tricks 11 and 12 collects here. Pagat also describes tables where the caller names a later card, the seventh or the tenth, and that card’s suit becomes trump. Our app always takes the call on the first five cards.
Playing for the pile
A lone trick is worth little unless you can win the next one too, so it often pays to let a single trick go and keep your high cards for the second of two. When an opponent is on the sir, they lead the next trick and that trick decides the whole pile, which makes it worth a trump to break their run. Count the pile before you spend anything: breaking a run on a pile of two is cheap, letting a pile of six go is not.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sir in Double Sir?
A sir is one trick: four cards, one from each player. Double Sir is named after needing two of them in a row, won by the same player, to collect the pile.
Do partners winning in turn collect the pile?
No. If your partner wins the trick after yours, the run starts again with them. The same player has to win two in a row.
Can you collect after the first two tricks?
Not in our app. Winning tricks one and two leaves the pile open; win trick three as well and all three come across.
Also known as Court Piece · Coat Pees · Hukum · حکم · Rung · رنگ · Troeff Call · Trump