The widow consists of all the cards left over after the deal. They go to the player who won the bid. This player has the option of keeping the widow, passing it to his partner, or keeping some of the cards and passing the rest. If he wants to keep some and pass some, he must draw the cards one at a time to ensure that cheating does not happen. The Bid Starting with the dealer s left, the players bid on how many points they think they can take.
Players can pass if they think their hands suck.
Dealer bids last, and if all the players pass, the dealer MUST bid the minimum bid of 5, no matter how bad his hand may suck. Whichever player wins the bid picks the trump suit. For the remainder of the hand, only cards of the suit that the high bidder picks will be active in game play. Talking across the table occurs when partners compare their hands and favored suits before the bid. In the event that a player has more than 6 trump cards in his hand, he must burn one card in the first trick.