How to play Pinochle

The game of Pinochle requires a set of cards labeled "Pinochle".  Unlike a standard deck of playing cards, there are two of every card 9 through Ace in each of the four suits (Hearts, Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds). A Pinochle deck does not contain the cards 2-8 and it is never played using jokers. A Pinochle deck will have 12 cards in each suit for a total of 48 cards. After shuffling thoroughly, the dealer will distribute the cards three at a time to four players in four rounds. The dealer should begin by handing three cards to the player to his left and then continue this step to the remaining players and himself in a clock-wise manner until all cards are distributed.

After the hand has been dealt, pick up and sort the cards into their correct suits (hearts, spades, clubs, diamonds)..Arrange the cards in the order or place value left to right in the hand. Left side of each suit should begin with the highest card and the right side of the suit should be the lowest card. The place value order in Pinochle is Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, Nine.  Please note: A ten has greater value  than a King. Do not place it next to the nine.

Scores in Pinochle are based on two areas: meld and card play. Before bidding, assess the hand for meld.  Meld is the combination of points that are earned in a hand that matches the scoring criteria. Trump is determined by the player who takes the bid. All other players must abide by the winning bidder's choice of trump. Trump is a single suit that is designated to have additional point values and power.

This is a basic scoring guide for Meld

Four Aces (one of each suit)= 100 points

Four Kings (one of each suit) = 80 points

Four Queens (one of each suit) = 60 points

Four Jacks (one of each suit) = 40 points

Pinochle (Queen of Spades and Jack of Diamonds) = 40 points

Double Pinochle ( 2 Queens of Spades and 2 Jacks of Diamonds) = 300 points

Non- Trump Marriage (King and Queen in the same suit) = 40 points

Trump Marriage (King and Queen in the suit designated by the winning bidder) = 80 points

Full in Trump (Ace, Ten King, Queen, Jack) = 150 points

Dix (pronounced Deese--Nine in Trump) = 10 points

Round Robin (King and Queen in all four suits ) 240 points

Evaluate the hand for meld and playing.  Based on what the player projects he will be able to score if he names the trump suit, both in meld and in playing, a player will bid on the hand. The bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer. The dealer is always the last to deal. Opening bid in the basic four handed game is usually set at 150. If the player does not feel he can make at least 150 points in meld and playing, the player may say "pass". That means that player will not win the bid. This can also be done if a player can not make a bid over another player. For example Player 1 may bid 250, if Player 2 can only bid 150, Player 2 must "fold" the hand and say pass, thus sacrificing the bid to the previous player.The player with the highest bid wins the bid and then designates trump. Trump is the suit that the winning bidder feels will most benefit them in points and/or playing. Usually this is determined by the meld and/or the suit that has the most cards.

After the meld has been laid down so everyone can see, the cards are picked up and card play begins.  A traditional method of points for card play is that the Ace, ten, and king in all suits each receive one point. The queen, jack and nine are sluff cards. The idea is for you and your partner to bring home as many aces, tens and kings as possible while sluffing as many non-counting cards(queens, jacks, and nines) to the opponent. The partners who take the last trick are given 1 point for a total of 25 points per hand in card play. Try to keep track of the cards that are played as it affects the card chosen to play.

For taking tricks card rank applies (Ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine). The card suit named trump has power over all other cards. 

The winning bidder begins card play. Often this card is a high trump card or an Ace, Each player following from the left lays a card.  Players must follow suit unless there are none of that suit in the hand.  Then the player may: add a small sluff card if the opposing team is leading the trick or a counting card if a parter is leading the trick (this is called smearing). Another option is to lay a trump card which will then take rank over suit play. Remember this is when you want to get counting cards "home" in the winning tricks.

After the card play for a hand is finished, each team counts up the number of aces, tens and kings in the tricks that they took in.  The team that takes the last trick gets 1 point.  This is added to the score sheet to the meld totals.  Usually the game continues until a team earns 1500 points or 10 times the opening bid. If a team does not meet their bid, they go set and they lose all of the points of their meld, card play and the bidding amount.

How to Play Pinochle