Pinochle Strategy: Bidding, Passing and Taking Counters

Most partnership Pinochle hands are won or lost before the first card is played: in how high you bid, which suit you choose and which four cards change hands. The play then decides the margins. These tips follow the order of a hand, and they are the same ideas the Hint button and the computer players in our free Pinochle game use.

1. Value Your Hand Before You Bid

A simple way to decide how high you can go:

1. Pick your best trump suit: usually your longest, especially if it holds a run or a royal marriage.
2. Add up your meld with that suit as trump. Don't forget aces around and the pinochle, which count whatever trump is.
3. Add about 5 for your partner's meld. An average hand holds a marriage or two and a pinochle now and then.
4. Add 3 to 6 for the pass if you win the bid: your partner will send trumps and aces. Long trump suits gain the most.
5. Add your share of the counters. There are 25 a hand. A side that names trump with a good suit usually takes 12 to 18.

For example: spades with a run (15) and a dix (1) is 16 meld. Add 5 for your partner and 6 for the pass, and about 15 counters: roughly 42. You could comfortably bid into the high 30s. A hand with only a marriage and no long suit is worth about 25 and should usually pass.

Hint button: during the bidding, Hint does this sum for you: it shows your best trump, your meld and the counters your side should take, and suggests a bid.

2. Bid in Small Steps, Stop at Your Limit

Raising one point at a time keeps the auction cheap. Know your limit before the bidding starts and stick to it. A set costs you the whole bid, so going five points over your value to "win" the auction is rarely worth it.

When your partner holds the bid, think twice before raising them. Take it away only if your hand is clearly stronger, for example a long suit with a run. Otherwise let them have it and save your strength for the pass.

3. Choose Trump for Length, Then Meld

Five or more cards in a suit are worth more than they look. Late in the hand, when everyone else has run out of trump, your small trumps win tricks full of counters. A run is the biggest meld most hands ever see, so a suit with a run is usually trump. If two suits are close, pick the longer one.

4. Passing to the Bidder: Trumps, Then Aces

When your partner wins the bid, your four cards should make their trump suit stronger. Send every trump you can spare, starting with the ace and 10, and fill the rest with aces of other suits. Try not to break up your own meld (a marriage or a pinochle you will lay down), but a trump that completes your partner's run is worth far more than your marriage.

5. Passing Back: Keep Meld and Trumps

As the bidder, give back cards that are in none of your melds and are not trumps. Cards from a short side suit are a good choice: if you empty a suit, you can trump it later. Remember that your partner will meld too, so a king that completes their marriage is a fine gift.

6. Lead Your Aces Early

An ace is the top card in its suit, and even if the other copy is played after it, yours wins because it came first. Lead aces before the other players run out of the suit and start trumping. The bidder with a long trump suit can also lead high trumps to pull out the opponents' trumps, so the side aces are safe later.

7. Feed Counters to Your Partner

This is the habit that separates good partners from great ones. When your partner is sure to win a trick, play your 10s and kings on it. That is called "smearing". Every counter you add is a point for your side. When the other side is winning the trick, do the opposite: play a queen, jack or 9 if the rules allow.

8. Remember: There Are Two of Everything

A 10 isn't a winner while either ace of its suit is still out. Once both aces have been played, the 10 is the top card. Watch for the second copy of each ace, and watch for players who couldn't follow suit. Someone out of a suit will trump it the next time it is led.

Hard computer players in our game remember every card played and every suit a player has shown out of. Practise against them to build the habit.

9. The "Must Play Higher" Rule Works Both Ways

Under the standard rules everyone must beat the winning card if they can. That means you can sometimes force an opponent's ace out: lead a king, and a player holding the ace and nothing lower in the suit must play it. It also means your partner may be forced to overtake your winner. Plan for both.

10. Save Your Meld

If your side has big meld but a weak playing hand, your first job is to take one counter so the meld counts. One trick with a king in it is enough. As defenders, if the bidders need only a few more points, try to stop them taking any counters at all.

Practise With the Hint Button

Before each bid or card, decide what you would do, then press Hint and compare. When a computer player surprises you, tap Why? next to its move. Over a few games you will start to see the same patterns.

New to the game? Start with the full Pinochle rules. For other bidding games, see our Spades strategy guide.