Nap Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Nap, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Count the tricks in five cards

Lesson 1

In Nap you bid how many of the five tricks you can take. Make it and every other player pays you; fall short and you pay each of them the same. Extra tricks score nothing, so bid what you can surely make.

A rough count: in the suit you want as trumps, the ace and king are nearly a trick each, and a third card of that suit often wins too. A side ace is about one more. Trumps are set by the suit of the bidder's first card, so count as if your strongest suit will be trumps.

Here you hold the ♠A, ♠K and ♠7 with the ♥A and ♦3. With spades as trumps, the ♠A and ♠K make two and the ♥A a third. Leave the ♠7 and ♦3 out. Try bidding three.

As bidder, draw trumps first

Lesson 2

The bidder's worst fear is leading a side ace and seeing an opponent who has none of that suit trump it. With only five tricks, one trumped ace can sink the whole bid.

So lead your strong trumps while you have them, forcing the others to play theirs. This is called drawing trumps. Once the opponents are out of trumps, your side aces are safe. You can count the trumps still out from the cards already played.

Here spades are trumps and you won the first trick with the ♠A. You hold the ♠K, ♠J, ♥A and ♦3. Lead the ♥A now and it might be trumped, so lead the ♠K — now the highest trump — to draw the others' spades.

Turn a weak hand into misère

Lesson 3

Misère is a bid to take no tricks at all. It ranks between three and four. Make it and each other player pays you 3; take even one trick and you pay each of them 3. There are no trumps in misère.

Misère suits a hand with no aces or picture cards and only low cards in every suit. You can duck under whatever the others lead. A single high card is dangerous: when its suit is led, it may win.

Here the player on your right has bid three. Your highest card is the ♣6, and the rest are twos, threes and fours. To overcall with a number you would need four, which you cannot make. Bid misère, which outranks three.

Go Nap with a run of trumps

Lesson 4

Nap is the bid to take all five tricks, and it gives the game its name. By default on this site, making Nap wins 5 from each other player and failing costs you 5 each. It scores more than a bid of four and outranks every number bid, so a strong hand can go for the big score.

Nap suits a hand holding the ace, king and queen of one suit, plus either more cards of that suit or a side ace. Lead your top trumps first and nobody can fight back with a trump.

Here you hold the ♠A, ♠K, ♠Q and ♠J with the ♥A. Make spades trumps, lead them from the top and the others run out of spades, so your ♥A cannot be trumped at the end. Bid Nap.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Last updated 2026-09-26 · Run by Qdan, Inc.