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Pinochle Basics. Trickster Pinochle is an implementation of single-deck partnership auction pinochle (a game option offers single round bidding). It is a trick taking and melding game where players score points by capturing cards worth points (“counters”) and by forming combinations of cards into meld.
Pinochle is usually a four-player game played in two teams of two players each. However, a two handed variant is also popular, pitting a single opponent against another. In fact, Pinochle was originally a two-player game derived directly from the popular 17th Century French game Bezique.
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How To Effectively Play Single Deck Auction Pinochle

Foreword:

This strategy guide is written for single-deck partnerauction pinochle, where you get to see the cards your partner passes to youbefore choosing which cards to pass back. More specifically, this is writtenfor games played on the Pinochle app by KARMAN games. This app chooses to dropa zero from all point counts. While most pinochle players would consider a runto be worth 150 points, this app has it worth 15 points. Games are played to150 points, with the bid-taker winning the game if both teams end over 150,even if the other team has a higher score. If using this strategy guide forother pinochle games, simply add a zero.

Basic bidding:

If your partner passes, this puts you in the must-bid position. Regardless of how terrible your cards are, do not pass below 33. If your opponent seems to be bidding with spirit, do not pass below 36. If both opponents have bid and your partner has passed, and you do not have a good hand, jump the bid to 38.

If you have four different cards in a suit (not counting anine), you should bid unless your partner has already bid. If you have fourdifferent cards in a suit and three different aces, bidding to 38+ makes sense.If you have a fairly strong hand with four different cards in a suit, theuppers 30s makes sense and sometimes the low 40s.

The only time to pass below 33 is in a last-hand scenario where your opponents have 140+ and you have under 100. It is likely they will be able to meld out without having to bid at all, so passing at 25 is the only chance to set them. In this scenario, the only time you should bid is if you think you have a chance of taking every single trick, or if you have the potential for a “freak” hand where you can earn the 60+ required to catch up and go out, such as three legs of pinochle and a full run or close to a full run, all in your hand.

In general, 90% of first-bidder (bidding before your partner has an opportunity to bid) and over-partner (bidding after your partner has already bid) bids will be for one missing trump. It is usually not a good idea to bid for two in a suit as the odds become strongly against you. Exceptions would be when you have a very strong trump suit (ace, ace, ten, ten) and a fairly strong rest of your hand. In this scenario it may make sense to bid into the mid 30s as you may be able to make the bid with some creative meld and your trick-taking ability even if you do not hit your run or aces.

Bidding against one’spartner:

If your partner bids but you have a strong hand, you shouldbid. If your partner bids but you have a decent hand and are empty or nearlyempty in one suit, you should bid. It is acceptable to bid against one’spartner twice without having a full run in one’s hand. At the third bid againstone’s partner you are effectively signaling that you have a run and a stronghand. It can also make sense to bid three or more times against one’s partnerwhen you are decently strong in one suit and empty or nearly empty in another suit.The suit you are empty in is almost certainly the suit in which your partner isbidding, and if he takes the bid you will almost certainly get set.

Tactical sets:

There are times it makes sense to take the bid with theintention of getting set. This is especially useful early in the game and laterin the game. It is always easier to catch up from a low or negative score thanit is to catch up when your opponents have a high score. Given a choice of youropponents making 40+ and you getting set 40+ early in the game, take gettingset.

If your partner has passed before you have a chance to bidand you have a very weak hand (few or no aces, and empty or mostly empty in asuit), odds are very good that your opponents will make 50+ on the hand. Thinkabout the scores and decide if it makes sense for you to bid 45+ and get set,rather than them taking and making the bid.

If your opponents have leg bid that they have doublepinochle, it almost always makes sense to bid 55+. The only exception is if youare far ahead, such as having 100+ and your opponents have under 50. By bidding55+ you have a slight chance of setting your opponents, and frequently youropponents will be nervous of the high bid and pass. The average hand withdouble pinochle earns 60+, so think about whether it makes sense for you totake the hit or let your opponents have the bid. Regardless, it almost alwaysmakes sense to bid them way up on the off chance that they have terrible cardsother than the double pinochle.

Another time to take a tactical set is when your partner isbidding but you have a very weak hand and are empty or nearly empty in a suit(likely the suit in which your partner is bidding). Since you know that if yourpartner takes the bid the likelihood of getting set is extremely high, youshould bid aggressively against your partner. This suggests to your opponentsthat you have a very strong hand, and they will bid you up, allowing you todrop the bid on them once your partner passes and you have driven up the bidsufficiently high (37+). If the bid gets dropped on you, oh well, you weregoing to get set regardless this hand.

Leg bidding:

Leg bidding is a must. Those who do not leg bid are playingonly 65% of the game and are missing out on a truly interesting strategyaspect. Leg bidding makes the game more interesting, more skilled, and morefun, as well as skewing the odds a bit more in your favor.

Double pinochle is Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, Queenof Spades, Queen of Spades. This is worth 30. Each part of it is considered aleg. Double pinochle is most commonly gotten by leg bidding. If you have two ormore legs of double pinochle, and your partner still has a chance to bid, jumpthe bid by the number of legs you have.

To answer a leg bid, if you have the missing leg or legs,bid one more (not jumping). If you do not have the missing leg or legs, pass.If you do not have the missing leg or legs but want the bid, jump the bid bytwo.

These are the official and understood parameters of leg bidding.However, answering a leg bid honestly when you have the missing leg or legsmakes very little sense as it tells your opponents that you have 30 points inguaranteed meld. If you have the missing leg or legs, it almost always makessense to jump the bid, effectively saying that you do NOT have the missinglegs. This tells your opponents that you want the bid, but do not have thelegs. They will likely bid you up to 42 or 43, but this is of course very easyto make with the guaranteed double pinochle meld, even if you have nothing elsein your hand. The only time that it makes sense to answer a leg bid honestlywhen you have the missing leg or legs (by bidding one more) is if you have aterrible hand. This puts the decision on your partner as to if they have adecent hand at all, or if they also have a terrible hand they will pass andthen it is up to you.

When leg bidding, do not pass legs to your partner if he didnot name spades or diamonds as trump. This would put four losers in his hand.He will pass you the missing legs.

The most common mistake in relation to leg bidding is legbidding two after one’s partner bids one. If your partner has bid one, heobviously does not have the missing two legs, as he would have leg bid to beginwith if he did. This is the dumbest bid possible in the entire game and I seeit all the time. It causes great confusion as you question what your partner isdoing, if he wants the bid, etc. It also causes you to have to jump two inresponse, increasing the bid and showing your opponents that you are seriousabout taking the bid, which means that they will likely bid you up higher.Never leg bid two after your partner has bid one. Just never do it.

It is acceptable to leg bid two when you have two jacks ofdiamonds or two queens of spades. This has the potential to get you in troubleif your partner is missing just a jack of diamonds or queen of spades for arun, and he jumps the bid two on the assumption that you have a jack ofdiamonds and a queen of spades. The odds of this situation happening are fairlylow and the potential benefit of leg bidding for double pinochle outweighs thepossibility of your partner not getting the card he needs for a run.

Truly lying legbidding:

There are occasional times to truly lie in leg bidding. Ifmy partner leg bids three and I have a bad hand (and empty or nearly empty in asuit) and it is a crucial point in the game, such as both teams have 110+points, sometimes I will bid one more, saying that I have the leg. This is arisky proposition with only a 50% chance of working. One of the opponents hasthe missing leg. If the opponent between my partner and me passes, and I liethat I have the missing leg, my opponent will now feel obligated to bid 55+ sothat I don’t go out and win the game. He will know that getting set and livingto play another hand is his only chance. Then I will drop the bid on him at50+, ensuring he gets set. There is a 50% chance this will work but when thehand looks desperate otherwise, it is a tactic that can and has worked for me.

Ace bidding:

Ace bidding is done infrequently, especially at the lower levels. Even at the 90+ rating level it is still fairly rare, although it definitely sees some use. Because it is so infrequently done it has the obvious ability to confuse your partner. However, if you are playing with a partner with whom you have established a rapport, ace bidding can be a very useful tool that helps skew the odds in your favor. If you have all four aces (ten meld and guaranteed trick-takers) but have a fairly poor hand and do not want the bid, jump the bid by four. This signals your partner that you would prefer he takes the bid if he has a somewhat decent hand or is strong in a suit. Obviously only do this when your partner still has a chance to bid.

By saying that you have all four aces, you are letting your partner know very important information. Because you have the four aces, the odds that your partner has many aces are quite low. He may have an otherwise strong hand, but of course without aces it would be weak. You are also telling your partner that you have a guaranteed ten meld and four trick-taking aces.

If your partner bids over you and successfully takes the bid, you are expected to pass cards in his named suit, including the ace. You will likely (almost certainly) have to break up your aces to make this pass. If you have, say, Ace, Queen, and Jack in his named trump suit, you will pass those three plus one additional ace. If your partner ends up having a double ace of trump, he will pass the aces back to you, giving you aces around once again. He will also structure his hand so that he has a loser in each suit, so that you can successfully take a trick with each of your four aces.

If your partner does have a double ace of trump and passes you back aces, he will lead a low trump to your trump ace. You will then be expected to lead each of your aces. If you happen to have a double ace in one of the suits, do not lead that until you have led each other ace. It is likely that your partner will have only one loser in a suit or two, which will be covered by your ace. If you lead a double ace and your partner trumps it, then this relinquishes control and would allow the opponent between you and your partner to use his ace to take a trick, which would then make your ace useless assuming your partner has only one loser in that suit.

Advanced response to ace bidding:

I have been play testing an advanced response to ace bidding and it has proven its worth time and again.

When one’s partner Ace bids, you know they have aces around but don’t really want the bid. Often enough you need the ace for your run. But your partner will pass you trump along with the ace, and you simply pass back the ace for his aces around if you can. There are a few problems with this. Too often you only need the ace, but now you and your partner do not have aces around, just a run. Wouldn’t it be nice to signal that you want all four aces passed, instead of other trump?

Additionally, it’s possible that you yourself have aces around as well, and thus you and your partner have double aces and can just about win the game with this one hand if you can put them together. How do you signal that you want to put together double aces? If you pass you risk them passing. And if you take the bid, you will likely get the ace of trump and additional trump, instead of the four aces.

So what I and trusted partners have worked out in play testing is that if you want your partner to pass you all four aces (instead of the ace of trump and other trump) you give your own Ace bid (jump 4 in response to his jump 4) in response to his Ace bid. This says “Pass me all four aces.” If you do not give this response then he will just pass to you as he normally would, not the four aces. In fairly extensive play testing this has been working exceedingly well. It’s resulted in double aces around several times and run + aces around many, many times.

As with all newly developed strategies, use this at your own risk. A random partner will likely not understand your response. But in the pursuit of optimizing the game this represents a new step in the right direction.

Run bidding:

If you are dealt a run, which happens approximately once every 25 hands, you certainly want to take the bid. Usually you do not want to give away the fact that you have a run to your opponents, as they will bid you up significantly. However, there are times you need to communicate to your partner that you have a run.

The most common time to use a run bid is when your partner bids before you have had a chance to bid. Let’s say your partner is second in the bidding order and bids 26. He likely has a fairly good hand, and is perhaps short-suited. You need to convey that you have the run and he should bow out of the bidding. To do this, jump the bid by 5.

Another time to utilize a run bid (jump 5) might be when you are first in the bidding order and are very short-suited. The distribution in this hand is likely skewed and your partner may be short-suited in your suit.

In general do not utilize the run bid every time you are dealt a run. You do not want to give this information to your opponents unless it will likely benefit you more than them. I only very rarely run bid, but it does have its uses.

Passing cards:

When passing cards to your partner, pass trump first, acessecond, then nines or tens depending on a few variables. When choosing whichtrump to pass, only pass a nine of trump if you have no other trump or aces topass. If you have two of a trump, only pass both of that card if you have noother aces to pass. It is preferable to pass a double off-suit ace than adouble of a trump (since this will give your partner a second dominant suit).

When you have to resort to passing cards other than trump oraces, never pass legs of pinochle unless your partner has named Spades orDiamonds as trump. Never pass off-suit queens or kings. If you have passed anoff-suit Ace, it is acceptable to pass the ten in that same suit since yourpartner may well be able to convert this into a winner, or may have the secondace of that suit.

When you have to pass cards that are not trumps or aces,attempt to keep them all in one suit when possible. These should consist ofnines and jacks.

Yes, all four kings (kings around) is eight points in meld.However, for this eight points you will pay dearly. If the person who takes thebid has all four kings, this represents nine points in lost tricks as oneopponent will take the trick with an ace and the other opponent will play apoint card on the trick.

Queens are similar, and represent at least six points in lost trick points. Do not pass off-suit queens or kings to your partner when he has taken the bid.

If your partner has leg bid two and takes the bid and namesSpades or Diamonds as trump, do not pass one leg of double pinochle (unless itis in trump). He will be much better served with aces or other trump.Additionally, if your partner has leg bid two and names Spades or Diamonds as trump,and you have the leg in the trump suit, it is preferable to keep this leg inyour hand and instead pass other trump and aces. If no other trump or aces,passing this leg does make sense. This is slightly risky as he may have leg bidtwo with the two legs not in the trump suit, but the probability of this islow.

Playing a hand youhave taken:

When choosing which cards to pass back to your partner, tryto be strong in trump and then have the majority of your other cards in justone other suit. This secondary suit becomes your method for drawing out trumpthat you could not with the trumps you have. In general, Clubs and Hearts gotogether and Spades and Diamonds go together. This is due to pinochle (jack ofdiamonds, queen of spades).

If you happen to have queens around or kings around in yourhand and intend to meld them rather than pass them back to your partner,consider passing aces to your partner. If you have a double ace, this makes alot of sense. For example, if you have two aces of Diamonds, pass one to yourpartner and then lead your queen or king to this ace. This gives your partnerthe opportunity to take your losing queens or kings, as well as play any otheraces he may have which he was unable to pass to you.

One’s first lead should almost always be the ace of trump, on the chance that one’s opponents have a bare ace of trump (if you do not have both). The only exception is if both opponents have melded a nine of trump, although it usually still makes sense to lead this card.

If you were not able to lead out all trumps to begin with,make certain to lead any bare aces before relinquishing the lead.

Playing a hand yourpartner has taken:

When discarding on your partner’s tricks (tricks he willtake), discard point cards (kings and tens) first. Always discard your tensbefore your kings. If your partner has a loser, such as a jack, and you have aking and a ten, there is a good chance (roughly 50%) that the first opponentwill put a king on it, thus forcing you to put your ten on it, before the otheropponent takes the trick with an ace. If you have previously discarded the ten,and the first opponent puts a king on it, then you can play a non-point card.

Playing a hand youropponents have taken:

There are several strategies to earn a few more points onhands your opponents have taken. One important consideration is which trump todiscard, and when. If you are immediately before the opponent who has taken thebid, you have the ability to potentially draw more points. For example, if youhave a ten and a king of trump in your hand but no other trump, discard the tenon the first ace of trump trick. Your ten has no chance of taking a trick(either your opponent has both aces or your partner has the other ace), so noharm is done. However, if you happen to get the lead, perhaps by taking a trickin a different suit, you can now lead the king of trump, forcing your opponentto play his ten of trump, allowing your partner to take three points with hisace of trump instead of just two. This can work in off-suit tricks as well.

When your opponent is running trump out and you have severaltrump, sometimes it makes sense to discard your higher, point-card trump,keeping a lower, no-point trump instead. When it is obvious that your opponenthas the ability to draw out all trump (usually both aces), you should play yourhighest remaining trump when you have only two remaining. If your opponent isnot counting and instead just relying on “waiting until the Ten or the Kingdrops” to “know” that trump are out, this allows you to have a hidden,“unknown” trump and thus trump one of his secondary suit tricks. This worksonly rarely but there is no downside and it does occasionally pay off.

Scuttling meld:

When it is apparent that you will get set, you should scuttle (get rid of) your meld. If you have more than 25 points to go to make the bid, the hand will not be played. This means that your opponents will only get their meld points, no trick points. To scuttle your meld, break up any marriages you have (especially in trump) and try to pass your partner cards that will not result in him getting meld, such as tens and nines.

Last hand bidding:

When both teams have scores in excess of 100, particularlyin excess of 105, the bidding becomes do-or-die. Because the team who takes thebid wins, regardless of who is ahead in points, winning the bid becomesextremely important. If you have 149 and the other team has 112, each team hasthe same chance of winning on this hand. The team that has 149 has a slightlyhigher chance of winning the game as they can afford to be set at 40+ and thenstill take the bid and win on the next hand. As such, they should feelobligated to bid even higher.

You cannot afford to let the other team have a cheap bid, nomatter what. If you have a terrible hand and your partner has passed, you arein the must-bid position and must bid HIGH. It is greatly preferable to takethe bid and get set rather than let the other team take the bid and make it. Gettingset affords you the chance to fight again, rather than simply lose. In thislast-hand scenario, both teams should be bidding for a best-case scenario pass.Bid as if you could choose exactly which two or three cards you would want tohave passed to you. Bids of 45+ are common in this last-hand scenario.

Obvious exceptions are on the rare occasion when you haveevery suit blocked, or when you have only two cards in one suit (making itlikely that it is the opponents’ suit) but they are a double. This last-handscenario is also where creative lying leg bids can come into play.

Advanced passing(when one’s partner takes the bid):

When your partner takes the bid, occasionally there areinstances to break with the norms and get creative. For example, if you andyour partner were both bidding, and odds are good that you both have stronghands, you should consider what to pass carefully. It is generally fairlyunlikely that your partner bids strongly without the ace of trump. As such, ifyou have the ace of trump, two additional trump, and two other aces, considerkeeping the ace of trump and instead passing the other two aces. This willhopefully result in your partner having a run and aces.

If you make this pass and are left with the ace of trump anda nine of trump in your hand, discard your ace of trump on your partner’s ace,rather than your nine. This allows your partner to retain control of the handand keeps him from having to figure out how to draw out the ace of trump fromyour opponents. It also allows your partner to finish running trump out firstthing, rather than resorting to other suits which could potentially get trumped.

When dealt kings around or queens around, you still need to pass the queen or king of trump to your partner (unless you have a double of the queen or king in trump, then you can keep one). It is possible to signal to your partner that you want the king or queen of trump passed back, if they do not need it for their run. To do this, select the queen or king of trump that you want back first, then select an off-suit queen or king and place it next to the desired card in the pass. After this select additional trump or aces. It should be obvious to your partner what you are trying to convey, and they will pass it back to you if possible. This is not likely to be a worthwhile strategy if you have four trump and aces to pass.

Similar to the above, you can signal that you have a double ace when passing. If you have a double ace but have solid cards to pass (aces and trump) such that you do not plan on sending both of the double aces, you can “tell” your partner this. To signal that you have the other ace (in addition to the one you passed), send the ace that you have a double of first, followed by trump, followed by other aces. This lets your partner know that you have the other ace in that suit and as such he can organize his hand so that he keeps a loser in that suit, which will now no longer be a loser. Your partner can also consider this fact when developing a secondary suit in his hand.

Advanced passing(when taking the bid):

When you take the bid and have gotten the cards your partnerhas passed, and things are clearly not going to go well, getting creative withpassing can work miracles. Your partner passed you trumps and aces. Considerpassing the queen king trump marriage back to your partner, to hopefully getthem queens around or kings around. Obviously pass any other queens or kingsyou have to increase this probability. This type of passing has “saved” me incountless hands.

If your partner passed you three trumps and an ace, consider passing aces back to your partner in the hope that he will have aces around. This is especially effective when you and your partner bid against one another, suggesting that you both have strong hands and likely both have several aces.

Very advanced passing (when taking the bid)

Another scenario that is rare but does happen is when you have taken the bid and have a tremendous number of losers, but still have the ability to run out all trump. In this instance, if you set your partner up with a strong secondary suit (such as perhaps the one in which they were bidding), you can run out all the trump, including your own, and then get the lead to them so that they can take all the remaining tricks. If you can be fairly certain that your partner will have both aces in this secondary suit, such as perhaps through your pass, then keep just one of this suit in your hand. It is very important that you have no trump remaining in your hand when you transfer the lead. With this strategy you must have a savvy partner who will not discard the point-cards in this suit on your trump tricks. Your partner must be able to intuitively understand what you are attempting to do.

There are significant advantages to this strategy. If you have melded queens around or kings around or numerous off-suit marriages, your opponents will be keyed in to hold aces in these non-trump suits as they feel that they will be guaranteed to take your losers. As such, they will discard tens or other higher cards in the secondary suit since they won’t have aces in that suit.

This strategy is the least utilized strategy in pinochle. In all the time I’ve been playing online, I have seen one other person successfully execute this strategy. It absolutely has the ability to win hands and contribute to winning games. When done correctly you will feel like a hero. Because this strategy is so difficult and so far away from what you are used to doing, it should be worked on only after you have mastered the rest of your game. It’s fair to say this is the most advanced part of this pinochle strategy guide. I strongly recommend using single player games (against the bots) to fine-tune this strategy before attempting to use it in a multiplayer game.

Probabilities:

If you are missing one card to have a run, the odds of your partner having that card are around 56%. This number is very difficult or impossible to pinpoint based on the many possible factors at play. For example, if you are missing the ace and your opponents are bidding fairly well, they likely have good hands. This means they likely have a lot of aces, thus reducing the chance that your partner will have the ace you need. But, all things equal, the odds of your partner having your card are around 56%. Because a full run is only dealt approximately 1 in 25 hands, we are almost always bidding for a card.

Probabilities can be further refined through advancedbidding practices. For example, when I play with a really solid partner, I knowthat he will work to dissuade me from taking the bid when he is empty ornearly-empty in a suit.

When I bid with a decent hand and then my partner outbidsme, I will likely pass if I have a hand with fairly even distribution, thusincreasing the chance that I will have the card my partner needs. I know thathe most likely outbid me either because he has a very strong hand, or becausehe is short-suited in one suit (presumably mine) but has a chance in adifferent suit. If I am short-suited in a suit, I will continue to bid if Ireally like my hand.

There is approximately a 36% chance of being dealt a hand with only one card missing for a run in a suit. Thus, if you do not have this, odds are with you that your partner does.

The math behind probabilities:

With statistics, the odds of two events both occurring is calculated by multiplying together the individual odds of the two events. Let’s say that you have four cards in a suit, missing the queen. Since there are two of that missing queen in the deck, we will call them Q1 and Q2. The odds of my partner having been dealt Q1 are 1 out of 3, or 1/3. This means that there is a 2/3 odds that the opponents have that card. Similarly there is a 2/3 chance that the opponents have Q2. By multiplying these odds together we arrive at a 55.6% chance that my partner has the queen I need (rounded up to 56% throughout this guide).

If you need two cards for your run, say the queen and the jack for instance, the odds of your partner having these two cards is 30.9%. This means you will hit this probability roughly one out of three times you bid for it, which of course makes bidding for two cards a bad idea.

Exceptions:

There are exceptions to every single “rule” written here.For example, the absolute hardline rule of never passing off-suit kings can bebroken when specific conditions align. The most likely case for this would be aleg bid. If your partner is taking a bid where you know (or strongly suspect itbased on a lying leg bid) that your team has double pinochle, and you have nothinggood to pass, passing kings can make sense.

Another scenario where passing kings may possibly make senseis if your partner got stuck with the bid at 25 in a last-hand scenario (whereyour team has 140+ and your opponents have under 100), and making 25 is amust-do, then passing kings may potentially make sense if you have little ornothing else to offer. It is still unlikely that passing kings in this scenariomakes sense, but it is possible.

The worst thing youcan do:

Bid your hand. This is singularly the worst strategy inpinochle. Sure, you won’t ever get set, but you will almost never win. You areeffectively waiting for the perfect storm of unlikely probabilities to cometogether. You have a partner for a reason. Use him. The game does not revolvearound only what you and your partner have. You have to play defense (biddingup your opponents and occasionally taking tactical sets), not just offense.

Choosing one’spartners (and opponents):

The KARMAN Games app operates around the idea of randomlypairing players, both partners and opponents. It gives one the option to“blacklist” other players, which means you will not play with these players inthe future as either partners or opponents. It is truly staggering how manyplayers seem to play on the KARMAN Games app with seemingly very, very littleknowledge of the game. Getting stuck with one of these players as a partner isan exercise in frustration. As such, most higher-rated players have blacklistsconsisting of several hundred players.

As you are playing and working your way through therankings, blacklist anyone who plays poorly, either as your opponent or as yourpartner. In countless instances I have blacklisted all three players at atable, even when my partner and I win.

When in the “lobby” waiting for a game, you can removeplayers from the blacklist to enter into a game with them. I will usuallyremove players from my blacklist when I see that they will be my opponents, andthen immediately add them back to my blacklist once the game begins.

The app attempts to pair players of even ability levelsbased on ratings. The four players who enter into a game together will consistof partner pairings of the highest and lowest ratings as partners, and then thetwo middle-ratings players as partners. Keep this in mind when attempting to“choose” your partners and opponents.

One also has the ability to creatively partner with anotherplayer through strategic blacklisting and dropping. If your preferred partneris at the 50 rating level and you are at the 80 rating level, blacklist yourpreferred partner until there are two players at the 60 level. Your preferredpartner can private message you when these two players have dropped to the 50level, and then you drop to the 50 level as well, blacklisting everyone else atthe 80, 70, and 60 levels and removing your preferred partner from yourblacklist.

By blacklisting your preferred partner while waiting, thisensures that you will not play as opponents. If you are both are the same orsimilar rating levels, this can be important while waiting for two players tofit in between the two of your ratings.

Other:

Even effectively utilizing all of these strategies,partnered with a great partner against average opponents, there is only a 65%or so chance of winning. Pinochle is a game of very small margins and skewingthem in any way helps increase the probability of winning. Fight hard to put theodds slightly more in your favor.

There are times to get reckless. When the cards are very much against you and you have failed to sync up with your partner on your bids, and your team is hugely far behind (-110 to 80+), then get creative. Massive comebacks are possible. Start bidding based on perfect-pass scenarios. Think about if your partner passed you three or four specific cards, such as two trump that you need AND the ace you need. Go for it when there is nothing left to lose.

Update

Confirmation Bidding:

Warning: The below is not a generally-accepted or widely-known bidding strategy. Do not blindly utilize Confirmation Bidding without first knowing that your partner will understand it.

Your partner is first in the bidding order and he bids. Silently you’re thinking “Yes, yes! Bid! Bid!” because you have an excellent supporting hand. Or perhaps you are empty in a suit and have no aces and know for a certainty that your partner will get set if he takes the bid. You’re thinking “Oh no, here we go. Getting set for sure.” What if there was a legitimate way to “tell” your partner that you want him to take the bid, or, conversely, that he should be warned that he should expect only weak support in the pass? Welcome to Confirmation Bidding.

As we know, a leg bid of two after one’s partner bids one isthe dumbest bid in the game and should never be done. If one’s partner had theother two legs, he would have leg bid to begin with. Leg bidding two afterone’s partner bids one just confuses one’s partner, doesn’t let one’s partnerknow if you want the bid or not, and just generally messes up the bidding. Itshould never be done and whenever someone does this in a game with me, eitheras my partner or opponent, I blacklist them immediately.

This effectively leaves a jump bid of two after one’spartner bids one open to be utilized for something else, something worthwhile.Enter the Confirmation Bid. Afterone’s partner bids one, if you have a strong passing hand, such as not shortsuited, maybe a few aces to pass, then jump the bid by two. This is tellingyour partner that you want him to take the bid and will likely be able tosupport him. If you have a weak passing hand, and your partner should notexpect much help from you, simply pass. With a partner who understands the ConfirmationBid, this should trigger a warning. With this information the initial biddingpartner can decide whether to take the bid into the 40s if he knows he canexpect good support, or if not, then he should likely pass before going toohigh.

The downside to the Confirmation Bid is that it jumps thebid and makes you seem like you want the bid even more. As such, the opponentsare likely to bid you up even higher. Conversely, this is also another way inwhich the Confirmation Bid is genius. It gets the opponents bidding higher, incase you do decide to drop it on them. If your partner jumps the bid by two,suggesting a strong passing hand, then it is likely that you will block aces.As such, if you drop the bid on the opponents at 40+, they will likely get setas it is extremely unlikely that they will have a strong hand between them.Theoretically there’s no downside to the Confirmation Bid, but of course thingsare never this black and white.

If your partner bids one after you bid, this means that hewants the bid. The Confirmation Bid removes the idea of having to bid one afterone’s partner bids to keep him from bidding too high because you have a poorpassing hand. As such, the Confirmation Bid effectively allows you tocommunicate to your partner after he bids if you want the bid, if you want himto take the bid, or if you do not want him to take the bid. Obviously thistheoretical Confirmation Bid should only be used with a partner with whom youhave a rapport, and with whom you have agreed to utilize the Confirmation Bid.

The different bids tobe made after one’s partner bids one:

Bid 1: You wantthe bid.

Pass: You do nothave a strong passing hand. Likely short suited. Suggests that your partner maywant to bail out of the bidding fairly early.

Jump 2: You wantyour partner to take the bid.

Jump 3: You havethree legs of double pinochle.

Jump 4: You haveaces around but do not want the bid (this becomes less useful if utilizingConfirmation Bidding, as simply jumping the bid by 2 tells your partner thatyou want him to take the bid).

Jump 5: You havea run in your hand and want the bid (very rarely done, especially if utilizingConfirmation Bidding and a bid of 1 will tell your partner that you want thebid).

If you bid one and your partner jumps two (and you’reutilizing Confirmation Bidding), do not pass and stick him with the bid. Theappropriate response is to jump the bid two again, as simply bidding one mightmake your opponents think you have double pinochle between you and they willbid you up quite high.

Confirmation Bidding does not work if your partner leg bids to begin with. At that point it’s just normal bidding from that point onward for the hand. Confirmation Bidding also of course does not work if your partner passes before you’ve had a chance to bid, putting you in the must-bid position. As such, Confirmation Bidding stands a chance to work in approximately 20-30% of hands. By adding in the advantages of Confirmation Bidding for 20-30% of hands, this helps skew games fairly significantly more in your favor. Give it a shot!

Confirmation Bidding Update:

I have been utilizing confirmation bidding significantly over the past several months. It has led to a very noticeable improvement in my win/lose ratio. The benefits, from what I have gathered in my fairly extensive testing, are significant. If you have mastered pinochle strategy, work at making confirmation bidding part of your game. I think you will be pleasantly surprised just how much it helps.

Is Jump BiddingCheating?

All too frequently folks say that leg bidding and acebidding are forms of cheating. They say that it’s the same as telling one’scards to one’s partner. This is of course false. Jump bidding is a strategytool available equally to all players. It makes the game more interesting, moreinvolved, and takes away a small amount of luck. The common refute to jumpbidding being cheating is that it is as much cheating as bluffing in poker ischeating.

Confirmation Bidding, if it catches on, will no doubt bring this debate up again. And once again, it is a bidding strategy available to all, and openly published online. Those who call jump bidding cheating are those who wish to simply play a game consisting largely of luck. Pinochle is so alluring and addicting due to the unknown, and being able to influence, even slightly, this unknown. Those who view jump bidding as cheating may as well switch to a game that requires no more involvement than simply playing the cards one is dealt. This guide in its entirety is written with the goal of empowering more players with all the available strategies, so that the overall quality of gameplay improves. High-level, high-quality games are significantly more fun for everyone.

I’ve experimented with Confirmation Bidding with favorable results. It absolutely helps skew the odds a bit more in my favor. If you try it out and it works for you, or doesn’t work for you, I’d welcome the feedback. Simply leave a comment with your feedback.

Update 2

Additional BiddingRationale:

To help decide when to bid and how much, it is beneficial tothink beyond your hand and delve into odds and probabilities. What follows area few tips.

1: When your partner leg bids either two or three, and you have three different diamonds or three different spades (not counting nines of course), and are missing the leg and one other card, you should consider bidding because it is as if you have four different spades or diamonds in your hand. Effectively you are only bidding for one additional spade or diamond, and your odds of receiving that card, as discussed previously, are approximately 56%. There is a slight element of danger here, with the possibility that a leg bid of two may be two queens of spades or two jacks of diamonds. The probability of this is fairly low. It’s always tempting to pass if you have only a so-so hand after your partner leg bids, because you are now off the hook for being in the must-bid position, and you can hope he has a good hand. Regardless, if I have even a decent hand and the above scenario (three different diamonds or spades) applies, I will jump the bid by two and enter into the bidding mix.

2: This pertains specifically to defensive bidding. If opp 1 bids (not in the must-bid position) and your partner passes and his partner passes, you are in the must-bid position. Because opp 1 bid unforced (not in the must-bid position), he wants the bid. This means he almost certainly is only bidding for one card, or he possibly has a run in his hand. The odds of him getting the run are 56%. If the opps have a score in excess of 110, this means he will very likely go out if he takes the bid and hits his run. Because he is either bidding for one card or has a run in his hand, this puts you in extreme danger. You either have to take the bid yourself or be very certain that he has a solid chance of getting set.

In this situation, I would rather bid high and be looking for two cards than let him take the bid below 40. Yes, the odds of me getting the two cards I need are very low. However, the odds that he makes enough to go out are very high. When you combine the 56% chance of him getting the card he needs with the chance that he was dealt a run, and also add into the mix that it is possible to make 40+ off aces alone, and then the possibility that he has double pinochle, there gets to be around an 80% chance of him making the 40+ he needs to go out. I’d much rather take the long odds that I get the two cards I need than the very solid odds that he gets (or has) what he needs to go out.

Additional variables come into play regarding your hand. Ifyou are short-suited in a suit and only have two cards in it, but they are boththe same (queens for instance) it is a fairly safe bet that this is his suitand he will not hit his run. Perhaps you have aces blocked, as well as doublepinochle blocked. Assess your hand, be armed with the information that yourpartner passed and so likely has a weak hand, and make a decision. In almostall cases that pertain to the above scenario, I’ll bid high looking for 2cards. Yes, it is a long shot, but it’s better than the very real chance thatthe opp will go out if he takes the bid.

You can apply the same thinking to allowing an opp to takethe bid at an earlier point in the game. It’s not as forced when the opps donot have such a high score, as there is time to come back. The other time I amlikely to apply this very defensive bidding mindset is the first hand, asstarting out being set is not bad at all – there is a lot of time to come back.

Another factor that comes into play, although not in a 110+ opp score scenario, is what meld you have in your hand. If I have kings around, or other meld that totals a reasonable amount, the idea of the opponents making 40 and me making 20 or so may be preferable to the prospect of getting set. If I have little or no meld, getting set “hurts” me less and I will be more free in my bidding.

Update 3

The Off-Suit Queen/King Pass Strategy:

Passing an off suit king or queen – the absolute worst thing you can do as the passing partner, correct? Conventional wisdom is yes, this is the worst possible thing you can do. If you are out of trump and aces to pass, you pass tens to go along with aces you have passed, or you pass off-suit nines or jacks. Passing an off-suit queen is a minimum of two lost trick points. Passing an off suit king is usually three lost trick points. It also potentially puts off-suit marriages in the bidding partner’s hand instead of the passing partner’s hand, which is of course not ideal. Just NEVER make this pass. Unless…

Unless this could result in significant additional meld for YOU (not your partner). In extremely rare cases, it can. If your partner takes the bid and you have few or none of his suit but you have several aces, the odds are good that he will be attempting to make his bid on aces around. If you have three kings, none of them being trump, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to signal your partner that you would like him to pass you the king of trump to complete your kings around? With the off-suit queen/king pass you can.

The way the off-suit queen/king pass works is to put an off-suit queen or king as the last card in your passing order. This signals your partner to pass back this queen or king, as well as the queen or king of trump if possible.

I’ve been playtesting this strategy quite a lot with the partners I trust, and with whom I have discussed the strategy ahead of time so that they are on the lookout for it. In a recent game we were behind. The scores were something like 110 to 144. Both teams aggressively bid. My partner took the bid in Spades, after leg bidding two to begin with. The only spade I had was the Nine. I did have a Jack of Diamonds. I also had aces of Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds.

I had a hunch that his leg big of two might be two Queens of Spades. I had Queens of Diamonds, Hearts, and Clubs. Most people would pass the three Aces and the Jack of Diamonds (which puts a loser in my partner’s hand, plus he already leg bid two so he may have one to begin with) or the Nine of Spades. I decided to pass the three Aces and the Queen of Hearts. My partner keyed in on this, and did indeed have two Queens of Spades. He passed me back my Queen of Hearts along with a Queen of Spades. This gave me Queens around, Pinochle, and a few marriages. He was able to make his bid of 43 on Aces around and no run, and we were able to go out and win as the bidding team. Had we not done this we would not have gotten the 40 points needed to go out, would have been set, and the other team would have melded out and won. The ten additional points gleaned by utilizing an off-suit queen pass made the difference.

In my playtesting of this strategy I’ve found that the stars align to utilize it only once in a great while. Through utilizing proper bid strategy and Confirmation Bidding, as well as factoring in the long odds required for a passing hand to be perfectly aligned to allow successful implementation of this strategy, it is far from an every game occurrence. I haven’t been playtesting it long enough to get a really solid idea of its rate of use, but I’d estimate (pure estimation) that it is only useful once in every 40 or 50 games. Still, there is no doubt that it is a useful strategy and has the ability to win games.

Be very careful in your utilization of this strategy. This is the first time it has been publicly discussed and it is very unlikely your partner will understand an off-suit king/queen pass. If this strategy catches on it will add one more level of complexity and skill to the game which is of course a positive. It makes the entire gameplay process more engaging and thought-provoking. If you are playing a high-rated game and check with your partner ahead of time if he understands the off-suit queen/king pass, great. If there are several players you end up routinely partnering and have established a rapport, discuss this strategy with them and agree to possibly implement it in future games.

As the off-suit queen/king pass strategy is new, I’d appreciate feedback and thoughts pertaining to it, as well as any gameplay results you may have. The Contact button on the left will work to send me a message, to which I can reply. Happy playing!

Update 4

1: I added the section below Ace Bidding titled Advanced response to ace bidding. Scroll up and familiarize yourself with it – this strategy has proven very effective.

2: Another strategy I have been developing with trusted partners is a pass that shows you are keeping an ace after passing other trump and aces. If you have a double of an ace obviously you utilize the Double Ace Pass but if you have a single ace in a suit plus enough other trump and aces to pass, how can you signal this to your partner? If you can signal it, it would allow one’s partner to perhaps pass you back aces for aces around, or to keep a loser in a suit he suspects you have your ace in.

The method my trusted partners and I have been play testing is to pass the trump in an odd order. For example, if Spades are named trump and you have Ten Queen Jack of Spades and aces of Diamonds and Clubs, you could pass the Spades in the order of Jack, Ten, Queen, and then the ace of Clubs (keeping the Diamond ace would make sense so that it could perhaps cover a jack of diamonds if your partner has pinochle).

So far, after fairly extensive play testing, this strategy has proven effective. It remains to be seen if it is useful often enough to be worthwhile but testing so far has been positive.

3: Trusted partners and I have been working on a few other strategies, all in the pursuit of optimizing the game as much as is possible. If you are interested in helping play test strategies, or would be willing to provide feedback, please use the Contact form and send me a message. I of course always welcome any ideas others may have. You can also send me a message on the Pinochle app when you see me. My username is Pinochler.

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