There are 52 playing cards, plus two Jokers, minus the 2♥ and 2♣. That leaves 52 cards on the table, 16 of them trump. This is the exact order every JJDD player has memorized cold.
The trump line, top to bottom
1. Big Joker. 2. Little Joker. 3. 2 of Diamonds. 4. 2 of Spades. 5. Ace of Spades. 6. King of Spades. 7. Queen of Spades. 8. Jack of Spades. 9. 10 of Spades. 10. 9 of Spades. 11. 8 of Spades. 12. 7 of Spades. 13. 6 of Spades. 14. 5 of Spades. 15. 4 of Spades. 16. 3 of Spades.
That's your trump line. If nobody follows suit and everybody drops a trump card, the highest one on this list wins the book.
The non-trump suits
Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs follow standard high-card ranking within their suit: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 through 3. (Remember: the 2♦ is trump, not a diamond, and the 2♥ and 2♣ aren't in the deck at all.)
A non-trump suit only wins books against other cards of the same suit. Any spade — even the 3 of Spades — beats the Ace of Hearts.
How to remember it
The pattern is 'Jokers, Deuces, Ace, then normal.' Say it out loud a few times and it sticks. Once the top four are memorized, the rest is just standard spades order.
New players lose books to the top four constantly for the first few sessions. That's normal. Once you see the 2♦ beat an Ace once or twice, you'll never forget where it lives on the hierarchy again.
