SK 3 - Hand valuation for the Auction

The value of your hand is the basic auction value of the play mode you wish to use (24 for a Grand game, 12 for a suit game in Clubs, 11 for a suit game in Spades, etc.) multiplied by a value of 2 or more.
The multiplication factor is an accumulation of a number of possible elements :

1. The uninterrupted sequence ("solid sequence") of top cards you either HOLD or LACK from the J♣ downwards. Here follow some examples :

   Trump suit	multiplication factor
   J♣ - A - Q - 9 - 8	= "With 1"
   J♣ - J♥ - A - 10 - Q	= "With 1"
   J♣ - J♠ - 10 - K - 8	= "With 2"
   J♠ - J♦ - A - 10 - Q	= "Without 1"
   J♥ - A - 10 - 9 - 7	= "Without 2"
   J♦ - A - 10 - K - 8	= "Without 3"
   A - 10 - K - Q - 8	= "Without 4"

2. Always add 1 for the game.

3. Add 1 when you play "from the hand" (without looking at or using the two cards in the Skat).

4. Add 1 for the Taylor ("Schneider" = when the opponents capture less that 30, from the total of 120, card points from the play.)

5. Add another 1 for a Whitewash ("Schwarz" = when opponents win not a single trick during play).

6. Add 1 for Taylor Declared when you stipulate beforehand that the opponents will capture less that 30 (from the total of 120) card points from the play.

7. Add 1 for a Whitewash Declared when you stipulate beforehand that the opponents will not make a single trick during the game

8. Add 1 for a Grand-ouvert or Nil-ouvert or Uno-ouvert only (!) when you place all your cards open ("ouvert") on the table before the lead to the first trick.

So with a terrific hand like the one shown below and playing with Spades as trump suit your maximum auction limit could be :
Without 2 - plus Game is 3 - plus Taylor becomes 4 - plus Taylor Declared makes 5   >   5 x 11 = 55

When pressed during the auction you could even go up to 66, by playing "from the hand" deciding not to use the Skat.

With the following hand however your auction value is rather modest :

Playing in Diamonds your maximum bidding limit would be : With 1 - Game 2 x 9 = 18
(18 is the lowest auction bid you can make in Skat.)

Auction values for NIL and UNO