Double Deck Pinochle
Double-Deck Pinochle is a card game for four people. Among common games, it is most similar to Contract Bridge. It is not as complex as Bridge, but requires an hour or two to learn. Many people who learn Pinochle find it to be an exciting life-long hobby.
There are many variations of Pinochle. This file describes Double-Deck Pinochle in one common variation, similar to versions that are widely played in the U.S. Armed Forces and many other places.
These notes are a poor substitute for a human teacher, but they will help you to learn Pinochle, with just a little practice. Once you have learned, teach your friends and family!
The Cards
Double-deck Pinochle uses a deck of 80 cards, made from two Pinochle decks (or four regular decks) by discarding everything except the Aces, Tens, Kings, Queens, and Jacks. There are four of each card. In other words, there are four Aces of Spades, four Aces of Hearts, etc.
Each card has a rank. The highest ranking card is an Ace. The lowest is a Jack. As with some European games, the Ten ranks just below the Ace, and above the King. The rank of cards, then, is: Ace-Ten-King-Queen-Jack. You should sort your cards into this order.
The Players
Double-deck pinochle is played by four people, in two sets of partners. It is customary to name the players North, South, East, and West. North and South are partners, as are East and West. Partners face one another.
A Pinochle hand is one set of 20 cards played by each of the four players. A game consists of several hands, played and scored successively until one team reaches some pre-determined score (common variants are 350, 450, and 500 points required).
Each player is dealt 20 cards at random at the beginning of each hand. The dealer is chosen randomly for the first hand of a game, and then rotates clockwise to the successive player for each additional hand.
Tricks
Pinochle is played in tricks, just like Spades, Hearts, and Bridge. A trick consists of one card from each player, played in a clockwise turn. One player leads by playing first. Then the person to his or her left plays, and so on until all four people have played. The highest card played wins the trick, and its player removes all four cards to be counted later.
Following Suit
The person who leads in each suit determines what card suit the other players must follow. For instance, if the person leads with a Spade, then each player must play a Spade, if possible. If you do not have a Spade, then you must play a Trump (described below) or card from another suit. Finally, you must always play to win the trick, if possible.
Sample Tricks (basic)
First Sample Trick
1. South leads: Ten of Hearts
2. West: Ace of Hearts
3. North: Queen of Hearts
4. East: Jack of Hearts West wins. His Ace beats all, so West leads next.
Second Sample Trick
1. West leads: King of Spades
2. North: Queen of Spades
3. East: Ten of Spades
4. South: King of Spades East wins. 10 outranks a King.
In case of a tie (e.g., two Aces), the first one played is the winner.
Trumps
In each hand, one of the four suits is selected to be the trump suit. The trump suit outranks the other suits. If you play a card from the trump suit, then you will win the trick, unless someone plays a higher ranking card from the trump suit.
Example
Suppose that Hearts are the trump suit. Look at these two tricks:
| First Trick | Second Trick |
| S: 10 Spades | S: 10 Spades |
| W: Ace Spades | W: Ace Spades |
| N: Q Hearts | N: Q Hearts |
| E: Q Spades | E: K Hearts |
| North wins | East wins |
Which suit is trumps? That is determined by the person who wins the bid, a topic that is discussed later.
Rules of Trumping
First Essential Rule of Trumping
The first rule is: You may only trump if you cannot play in the lead suit.
In the examples above, if you have a card from Spades, then you cannot play from the trump suit Hearts. You must always follow the lead suit, if possible.
Second Essential Rule of Trumping
The second rule is: You must trump if you can legally do so.
In other words, if you cannot follow the lead suit, then you must play a trump, if you have any. Even if you know that your trump card will be beaten by a higher trump, you still must play it.
If you cannot follow suit, and you have no trumps, then you may play any card you wish.
To break one of the trumping rules is to renege, in pinochle terminology. This is severely penalized in real games, for example, by automatically going set on one's bid, or by forfeiting an entire game. Computer versions usually simply prohibit one from playing this way.
The winners of a Pinochle game typically are the team who first reach the score of 500 points.
Scoring is composed of two components: Meld and Counters
Meld
Meld refers to points you receive based on the cards you are dealt. It is therefore random. Various combinations of cards have various values.
For example, if you have a King and Queen in the same suit (e.g., King of Spades and Queen of Spades), that is a marriage. It is worth two points.
Some other combinations include:
Run (Flush): Ace-10-King-Queen-Jack of trumps (15 points)
Aces: Ace in all four suits (Spades, Clubs, etc.) (10 points)
Pinochle: Queen of Spades with Jack of Diamonds (4 points)
All possible meld values are summarized in the following Meld Table.
Meld Table
| | 1 Set | 2 Sets | 3 Sets | 4 Sets | Note |
| A-A-A-A | 10 | 100 | 200 | 400 | A in all 4 suits |
| K-K-K-K | 8 | 80 | 160 | 320 | K in all 4 suits |
| Q-Q-Q-Q | 6 | 60 | 120 | 240 | Q in all 4 suits |
| J-J-J-J | 4 | 40 | 80 | 160 | J in all 4 suits |
| | | | | | |
| Pinochle | 4 | 30 | 90 | 270 | Q Spade + J Diamond |
| | | | | | |
| Marriages | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | K + Q in same suit |
| " " of trumps | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | K + Q of trumps |
| | | | | | |
| Runs | 15 | 150 | 300 | 600 | A-10-K-Q-J of Trumps |
More Concepts -- Showing Meld
After the bid is over, each player must show the cards that comprise the meld that his or her team is claiming. In other words, if you want to claim the points from your meld, then you have to show those cards to the other players.
To do this, lay all of your meld cards on the table. Do not show your other cards.
Note that you do not have to show your meld cards if your team has less that 20 total meld. That is because you cannot claim them anyway. However, there is one exception: you must show Aces Around if you have them, even if you have less than 20 total meld.
Summary: Show your meld cards if you have 20 or more for your team
Show Aces Around if you have them, regardless of total meld points
More Concepts -- Counters
Counters are the following cards: Ace 10 King
At the end of each hand, the two teams look through the tricks that they
have collected (won), and count 1 point for each Ace, 10, and King that
they took.
Minimum amounts of Meld and Counters
In order to score either Meld or Counters, you must get at least 20 points of that category of scoring (i.e., 20 Meld or 20 Counters).
Also, in order to score your Meld, you must get at least 20 counters by the end of the hand.
Examples:
| 25 Meld | 25 Meld | 18 Meld | 18 Meld |
| 18 Counters | 20 Counters | 18 Counters | 25 Counters |
| ----------------- | ----------------- | ----------------- | ----------------- |
| No Score | 45 Scored | No Score | 25 Scored |
Remember that two components are necessary to score: Meld and Counters. Whether you have much meld is determined by chance. Therefore, the point of playing tricks is to try to win as many counters as possible -- so that you may either save your meld by winning 20 counters, or prevent your opponents from saving by denying them the 20 they need.
There are a total of 48 counters in the deck, plus 2 for winning the last trick of each hand.
In order to try to maximize the number of counters you win, you should do the following, whenever possible:
1. Whenever it appears that your team will win the trick, play a counter (A-10-K).
2. Whenever you will not win the trick, play a non-counter (Q-J).
For example, if your partner leads with an Ace, then you should play a King or a 10, since an Ace is likely to win. If the opponents lead with an Ace, then you should play a Jack or Queen if possible.
Bidding makes Pinochle different from many other card games (and makes it similar to Bridge).
The main goal of bidding is:
If you have substantial meld, you wish to win the bid and choose a trump suit that will allow you to save that meld.
For instance, if you have a hand that contains, say 11 Spades cards, then you would likely find it easy to win 20 counters if you bid and chose Spades as the trump suit.
What is a Bid?
The bid is a promise to score a certain number of points in the hand, both from Meld and from the Counters you win.
Bidding starts at 50. This means that if you bid, then your Meld and your Counters (including those of your partner, North) must have at least 50 points combined by the end of the hand. Of course, you must have at least 20 points minimum of each, as described above.
Structure of the Bid
After the cards are dealt, the person to the left of the dealer begins bidding. For example, if West deals, the North will bid first. That person may either bid 50 or higher, or may Pass. Once a person has passed, he or she may not bid again.
The bid progresses clockwise around the table. As long as people bid, it keeps going around, skipping those who have passed. When three people have passed, the remaining person is said to have won the bid, and he or she picks the Trump suit.
After the bidding is over, each team declares its Meld by showing those cards to the others. If a team combines for 20 or more Meld, that is noted to be scored later (if they also take 20 or more Counters).
Rules for Bidding
There are three principal rules that apply to bidding:
1. Your team must combine for at least 20 meld, if you win the bid. If you do not have 20 meld, you lose the number of points that you bid. (Losing after winning the bid is called going set.)
2. You must have a marriage in your trump suit, if you win the bid. You cannot pick a trump suit unless it has both a King and Queen. If you win the bid and have no marriages, you are automatically set.
3. Bidding goes from 50 to 60 by 1s. Above 60, it goes by 5s. Therefore: you can bid 50, 51 ...59, 60, 65, 70, etc. You cannot bid 61, 62, etc.
Dropping the Bid
If no one bids, then the bid is dropped on the person who is dealing. This person must then make an automatic bid of 50. If he or she cannot bid in accordance with the requirements above, then his or her team is set, just as if a true bid had been made.
For this reason, if your partner is dealing and you have at least one marriage, it is customary for you to bid, so that you can save your partner from having the bid dropped on him or her.
An Example Bid
Suppose you have the following hand:
Spade: Ace Ace Ace King Queen
Hearts: Ace Queen Queen Jack Jack
Clubs: Ace Ten King Queen Jack Jack Jack
Diamonds: Ace Ten Jack
It is your turn to bid first.
Notice that you have the following meld:
Aces Around (Ace Spades+Ace Hearts+Ace Clubs+Ace Diamonds = 10 meld)
Two marriages (King+Queen in Spades and Clubs = 4 meld)
One Pinochle (Queen Spades+Jack Diamonds = 4 meld)
Also, you have a Run in Clubs, if you win the bid.
Since you bid first, you should bid: 51 to tell your partner of your Aces.
West passes after you bid.
Then your partner North bids: 53. This tells you that North has 20 Meld or more.
East passes.
You should then bid 54. This tells your partner that you want to choose trumps (because you bid again).
Finally, North passes.
You are asked to choose trumps. You pick Clubs, in order to score your Run.
More Rules -- Passing
It is quite all right to Pass when you are asked to bid. However, once you have passed, you cannot bid again later (except to continue passing). There are many good reasons to pass:
If you do not have much meld (less than 10 or so)
You do not have any marriages (and thus could not pick trumps)
Your hand is weak (not many high-ranking cards)
The bid is too high for you
Your partner seems to want the bid
... etc.
Playing the Hand
After someone has won the bid, you will play out the hand, as follows:
1. The person who won the bid will lead with the first card. Everyone else must follow with the same suit, if possible.
2. Whoever wins each trick will lead for the next trick
3. If you are void in the suit that is led, you must trump, if you can.
4. Remember, you must always play to beat the cards shown, if you can.
End of Game -- Scoring
You begin scoring after all cards have been played (after the 20th Trick). The rules for scoring are as follows:
1. Whoever wins the last trick (20th) gets 2 extra points for counters.
2. If the bidders do not get at least 20 counters, they are set. The final bid amount is deducted from their score.
3. If the bidders are set, their opponents still get their meld and counters as usual.
Basic Bidding Conventions
If you have Aces Around (an Ace in every suit), it is customary for you to bid 51 instead of 50, if you make the first bid. This lets your partner know that you have several Aces.
If you have 20 meld or more, then you should increase the bid by a factor of 1/10 of your meld. For example, if you bid first, and you have a total of 30 meld, then you should bid 53. If someone has already bid 54, for example, then you should bid 57. You only do this the very first time you bid. If you later bid higher, you should bid up by only 1 point. More bidding conventions are described below.
Tips on Playing a Hand
Once you have mastered the basics, here are some techniques that you may find useful.
Examine the Meld of all players when it is shown. This may give you clues about how many Aces, Trumps, etc., that they have.
If you win the bid, play your Aces first. Play out all of your aces (except in Trumps) as soon as you can. Your partner will put counters on them, and they are unlikely to be trumped early in the hand. An optional strategy could also be not to play all of your Aces, but to hold some in reserve for later use, if you believe they might win later.
Once you have played your Aces, lead with the Queen of Trumps. The idea here is that you probably have more trumps than your opponents (otherwise you would not have picked that suit). If you can fish out one or more of the high trumps, then you will be ahead later in the hand. This is not an absolute rule, but it often works.
Other Scoring Rules
If the bidder is set before the hand is started (e.g., has no marriage, or has less than 20 meld), then the hand is not played. Instead, the bidding team loses the amount of the bid, and the opponents get their meld amount (if it is more than 20).
If you pull all 50 counters (generally speaking, if you win all 20 tricks), then you will score 500 points and win the game.
Advanced Bidding Conventions
In addition to the meld bids already described, many players use "jump bids" and various "strength bids". These work as follows.
A "jump bid" is used to force your partner to bid back after the first round of bidding. For example, suppose that you signalled Aces by opening at 51 in the first round of bidding, but you also have 30 meld and little strength. During the second round of bidding, you may wish to increase the bid by +2 or +3 to signal this to your partner, who should then bid back if possible.
A "strength bid" signals a very strong suit and the desire to take the bid. This is shown in "weak" form simply by increasing the bid by +1. However, one may also jump the bid by a large amount in order to demonstrate the same thing. Jumping several points to a bid of "60" is considered to be a very strong "strength bid." One's partner should pass after a very strong bid. (Thus, you should never jump to 60 to show meld; jump to 59 instead.)