How to Play Pinochle

What you need

• Four players. Partners sit across from each other, never side by side.
• One 48-card pinochle deck: two of each 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace in every suit. Not a standard 52.
• Paper with two running totals. Game is 1000.

Sit, pick a dealer, agree on the house

Partners sit across and play as a team. Cut for the first deal, or point at someone. After each hand, the deal moves clockwise.

Say these out loud before the first card:

1. 48-card pinochle deck. Two copies of 9 through ace. If you brought one 52, strip the 2s through 8s from two packs and shuffle what is left. This is not Five Hundred and not a regular 52-card deal.
2. Auction starts at 250. Bid in tens. Some tables start at 300. If that is your house, say so.
3. Meld, then tricks. Name trump, lay meld, pick the cards back up, then play 12 tricks.
4. Make the bid or go minus. Meld plus counters have to reach the number you named. Game is 1000.

Deal 12

Shuffle the 48-card pack. Deal clockwise until the pack is gone. Each player has 12. There is no kitty and no leftover. If someone has 11, you misdealt. Throw it in and deal again.

Bid, then name trump

Starting left of the dealer, each player may bid or pass. A bid is a number — 250, 260, 270 — not a suit yet. Each bid must beat the last. Pass and you are out of this auction. There is no nil and no widow.

The last player still in names trump. That is the contract. Your side now has to take meld plus play counters that add up to at least that number.

Bid a number you can see. A pinochle in hand is 40. A marriage is 20, 40 if it is trump. Aces around is 100. Then add a few tricks you can actually take. Do not bid a wish.

Lay meld

After trump is named, everyone lays the combinations they hold. Meld comes from your own 12 cards, not from pooling with partner. Partner's ace does not finish your arounds. Write each side's meld on the pad, then pick the cards back up. Those cards still play in the tricks.

A card may count in more than one meld. The queen of spades can be the pinochle queen and a marriage in the same hand.

Play 12 tricks

Left of the dealer leads the first card. If your table lets the bidder lead, say so before you deal. After that, the winner of a trick leads the next. You play until the hands are empty.

1. You must follow suit if you have a card of the suit that was led.
2. If you cannot follow, you may play any card, including trump.
3. The highest trump in the trick wins. If nobody played trump, the highest card of the led suit wins.

Rank in every suit, high to low: ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9. The ten sits under the ace, not after the 9. Two of each rank: the second ace of a suit is still an ace. No bowers.

If you named trump, pull trump when you want your side aces to cash. Do not lead trump just to see it go.

Scoring, in the amount you need tonight

After the tricks, count counters for each partnership. Add last trick. Add that to meld. Compare the makers' total to the bid.

Counters in the pack plus last trick add to 250. Example: you bid 300. Your side melds 140 and takes 120 in play. That is 260 — set, minus 300. If you had taken 160 in play, 140 + 160 = 300, and you write 300 (or the full 300 you actually made, if your house writes the real total). Agree before you deal whether a made bid scores the actual total or just the bid. Tonight's default: write what you made.

Double-deck 80-card, auction with a kitty, and three-hand are real games. They are not tonight. If someone wants a different pack, stop and pick a different page. This one is 48 cards, 12 each, four people, 1000.

Walk through one first-night hand

You are South. Partner sits North. East dealt. You speak first.

Your twelve cards:

• Ace, 10, and king of spades
• Queen of spades
• Ace, king, and queen of hearts
• Jack of diamonds
• Ace of clubs
• 10 and 9 of diamonds
• Jack of clubs

Pinochle (J♦ + Q♠) is 40. Heart marriage is 20. Three aces. If you name spades, the king and queen of spades become a royal marriage (40) and the pinochle still counts. That is 80 you can see before a single trick, plus aces that should take. You bid 300. West passes, partner passes, East passes. You name spades.

Lay the pinochle and the royal marriage. Partner may have arounds or a dix. Then pick up and play. Pull trump when you want the aces to cash. Get to 300 in meld plus counters and you score. Miss it and you are minus 300.

Night-one habits

• Count aces. There are eight. After two tricks, pause and say how many are out.
• The ten ranks just under the ace. Treat it like a high card, not a pip.
• Bid meld you can see plus a few tricks you can take. Do not bid a wish.
• If you named trump, pull trump when your side aces need to cash.
• There are two of every card. The second ace of a suit is still an ace.

You know enough to deal. Keep this page beside the pad. Four people is a tonight pick. There is no Pinochle trainer on CardPractice — this how-to is the product.