Oh Hell

OH HELL

Oh Hell is a strange game. Many otherwise good card players don't seem
to do very well at it. It's much more complicated than it looks, kind
of like golf. People don't understand the game and, therefore, try to
change it. There are probably more variations of Oh Hell than any
other game. There's Wizard and Rage.  At least 15 different scoring
methods exist, most of which exhibit the inventor's misunderstanding
of the game.

I've played a lot of Oh Hell over a 40-year period. It's always been
my favorite, probably because I most always win. Unlike Bridge and
Poker, Oh Hell is very intuitive for me. It's MY game. It's always
been puzzling to me why I win so often. My opponents are many times
better card players than I am; yet, they consistently lose. I try less
hard than I do in poker, yet I lose much more often in poker.

Due to my fascination and love for this game, I am attempting an
objective study in order to answer some questions about the best
rules, strategy, and scoring. I want to find out why winners win and
losers lose. I would greatly value your input.

To get started, I read about 500 posts on this board concerning Oh
Hell and associated games. Many people said that Oh Hell was one of
their favorite games. With a few excellent exceptions, most posts
lacked an understanding of the game. Many try to convert Oh Hell to a
type of Bridge.

I next downloaded a couple of free, 4 player, Oh Hell programs.
http://www.geocities.com/thanoscardgames/
http://www.cidenterprises.com/cardmaster/download/cardmaster.zip I had
trouble with the Thanos download, but found an older version,
somewhere.
I then played quite a few games and wrote down each bid, trick taken,
card held by each player, card played, and score. Here are some
preliminary results.

1) The Software – The computer players weren't very good, but the
Cardmaster players were better. The abilities of both seemed similar
to my average "live" opponent over the years. I won all the games and
77% of the hands played. The opponents won 47% of hands played.
Actually, this is good for my purposes. I can now compare a better
player against lesser players, to find out why the better player won.

2) Increasing number of cards dealt vs. winning percentage. The
opponents won 3 times more often in the 1 and 2 card deals than in the
12 and 13 card deals (70% and 24%). I was more consistent, with 87%
and 67%, respectively.

3) Increasing bid amounts vs. winning percentage.
Me  – Zero bids = 86% won, 1 = 74%, 2 = 74%, 3 = 67%, 4 = 100%
Opp - Zero bids = 59% won, 1 = 57%, 2 = 33%, 3 = 18%, 4 = 33%, 5 or 6
= 0%
Here again, the better player is much more consistent.

4) Average bids. Strangely enough, the average bid made was nearly the
same, for both me and the opponents – 1.29 to 1.31. This indicates
that the play of the hand is all-important and that the better player
wins by adapting his play to bidding inaccuracies.

COMMENTS:

1) Strategy. Bidding is flexible. It's common to have a variety of
possible bids in the same hand, e.g. a 6-card deal with clubs as
trumps. You have C = 10, 6, H = K, 5, S = 10, 7. The 3 main trick
takers are the K and the 2 trumps. You might stretch it a bit and call
the 10 S a fourth. You could bid 3 and pray. You could bid 2 and try
to slough the 5 of trumps or the King. You could bid 1 and try to
slough both. A zero bid is possible but out of the question. What do
you bid? Just remember that most scoring systems give far more points
for making the bid exactly than for the amount of the bid. According
to my data, the game winner is the one who make His/Her bid the most
number of times.  Also, it's usually easier to slough a card than to
take a trick with it. The proper bid is the one that is most likely to
be successful, no matter how large or small it is.

In the above hand, I would bid 1, on the 10 of trumps. 

2) Play of the hand. Using the same hand, with a bid of one, I would
hope for a diamond lead, which I would trump with the 10. Then, the 6
of trumps would be led, going with the odds that there are higher
trumps out there. This would leave each of the remaining suits with
important low buffer cards, which allow me to not have to play the
higher cards. If I am first lead, I will lead the 6 of trumps, for the
same reasons. If trumps are led, I'll play the 6. If both my trumps
are taken by 2 big trump leads, I still have the K H and the 10 C. If
the first lead is the A H, I'll play the King. If a lower heart is
first led, I play the 5. Same with the clubs.

A bid of 2 can be made, but it crowds you more. It lowers your options
during the play. What if A, K or K, Q of trumps are first led, e.g.?

A 3 bid is very iffy and a 0 bid is suicide.

3) Scoring – For 2 players, I made up a set of 10 deals, ranging from
1 card to 10 cards. I gave them bids and tricks taken for each deal. I
made it so that 1 player got 10 wins (bid made exactly) and the other
got 5 wins and 5 losses. Then I scored them using various scoring
methods. The old standard of 10+ the bid gave 115 to 58. The Thanos
software was 160 to 0. My method (see below) gave 74 to 41. If you
were down in a game by these scores, which one would you rather see?
Actually, they all mean the same thing but only look different. You
need the same number of wins and the opponent needs just as many
losses. All is done with mirrors. It keeps the lesser players from
giving up hope.

In addition, a good scoring system should give consideration to the
cards dealt and the amounts bid. Not too much, though, as you can see
from the data I collected. Making the bid is primary in Oh Hell and
demands the most points. Those that lose need to have points deducted
based on the amount that they miss the bid. And, it should be simple.

I came up with this: Everybody starts with 0 points for 1, 2, and 3
card deals, 1 point for 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 card deals and 2 points for
9. 10, 11, 12, and 13 card deals. Also, everybody gets 1 point for
each trick bid. You get 5 points for making your bid or lose 1 point
for each over/under trick.

If you bid 3 and make 1 in an 8 card deal, you get 1 for cards dealt,
3 for your bid, and –2 for your under tricks. Score of +2. If you made
the bid, you have 1+3+5=+9. In a 10-card deal, you bid 4 and get 4.
Your score is 2+4+5=+11.

Hope I haven't worn out my welcome. Look forward to hearing from you.

Chris