Dogs: Keep It Within The Team Or Give It To Opposition?

[--Q--]

The dog goes to opponent on GT.

If I think I have the strong hand, partner gets the dog to support me.
If I think I have the weak hand, I keep dog.

Thats the most common mistake as people overvalue calls and undervalue points.

[Ilpalazo]

People often give dogs away to the opposing team if their hand is going to be K or less during the card exchange…

The risks in doing this:

1) Opponents holding DRPHAAAA in their hands use dogs to score 200, 300, and/or 400 points.

2) One person in the opposing team uses dogs to save their partner who is about to fail on their Tichu call. A Tichu call worth +100/+200 points which would have failed without the assistance of the dogs you gave them, succeeds instead.

3) You (or partner) called tichu (small Tichu or Grand) and your team gets into a position where the one person holding dogs on the opposing team has 14 cards and the other person on the opposing team has only 1 card. If your combinations are weak, the person holding dogs will neutralize it with their cards or just bomb it, then use dogs to let their partner go out first. Whereas, without existence of dogs, the person with 1 card might not have gone out at all.

4) Opposing player with 1 and the dogs you gave plays dog first. This leads to a situation where the other team goes out first before you do because they play combinations that your team can’t beat. Or, the extra lead provided, made it possible for them to leave before your team can.

If you give dogs to your partner, the risks are:

1) They can’t call Tichu when they could have.

2) In certain cases, they can’t score double victory for your team if they have only 1/2 high cards (DR/PH/A) + dogs out of the set which includes DRPHAAAA.

3) They can’t go out in the hand because their hand is also K or less.

4) They can’t go out in the hand because they have to use dogs to give you the lead after they’ve gained the lead.

The objective behind giving dogs to the opposition is to weaken their hand, make them fail a Tichu call, or discourage them from even making a Tichu call, plus reduce the chances of double victory. The other side benefit of giving dogs is you avoid creating a potential bomb. If your hand is very weak (K or less with no bombs), many of these objectives might not work out.

If the opposing team has AAAADRPH they are likely scoring whatever points they want, dog or no dog.