Pinochle 101 – A Beginners Tutorial on Pinochle Basics

Pinochle is one of the most fun and challenging card games in the world. Much like Poker, it requires skill in estimating probabilities, strong instincts on when to be cautious or when to take risks, and an ability to read your opponents to gauge the strength or weakness of their hands. However, Pinochle requires deeper analysis and more strategy than Poker. Perhaps one could say Pinochle is to Poker as Chess is Checkers. If you enjoy the mechanics of Poker, but think you’re ready to try something more thought-provoking, Pinochle is definitely worth checking out.

There are many different variations of Pinochle and many players have their own unique rules and preferences for how to play. In this introduction, we’ll start with covering the basics and most universal concepts. We’ll describe some of the most common styles of playing and basic strategies. In subsequent articles, we’ll go into more detailed descriptions of specific versions and elaborate of on how to employ effective strategies for each.

Pinochle Decks

Pinochle is played using a specialized deck of 48 cards consisting of Aces, Tens, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Nines. There are two of each card for every suit. Unlike a standard 52-card deck, there are no cards between Two through Eight. When playing with physical cards, one can either purchase a special Pinochle deck or use two standard 52-card decks and remove all of the numbered cards below Nine.

In Pinochle, Aces are the highest card, followed by Tens, then Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Nines.

Some players prefer to play double-deck Pinochle, which means two decks are used instead of one. However, most players will remove Nines when playing double deck, leaving a total of 80 cards.

Number of Players

Most variations of Pinochle require either 3 or 4 players (there are 2 player versions and versions with more than 4 players but these are less common). 3-player or 3-handed Pinochle is often referred to as Cutthroat because it requires each player to play against the other two (i.e. every man or women for themselves). However, in most 4-player variations, partners are chosen and two players form a team to compete against the others.

Dealing

Normally, a random player is selected to be first dealer and then for each subsequent hand the player to the dealer’s left deals the next hand. At the start of each hand, the dealer shuffles the deck and begins dealing all cards face-down, starting with the player to their left, and then around the table clockwise, dealing to themselves last. In single-deck Pinochle, the dealer typically deals 3 cards to each player at a time, whereas in double-deck it’s usually 5 cards at a time. If there are four players, in most variations, cards are dealt evenly to each player until there are no cards left in the deck: 12 cards to each player if single deck or 20 cards to each player if double deck. However, in Cutthroat, often the last set of cards (3 cards in single-deck, or 5 cards in double deck) are placed face-down on the table into the “kitty”, which will be used later in the game.

Bidding

Most variations of Pinochle involve a bidding phase in which players wager on how many points they believe they can earn by the end of the hand. The highest bidder gets honor of choosing the Trump suit, and often gets to either pass cards with their partner or take cards from the kitty to form a better hand. However, if a player over-bids and fails to make their bid amount by the end of the hand, they will be penalized by losing the amount of points wagered and forfeiting any points earned in that hand.

After all cards are dealt, players pick up their hand and must evaluate how many points they think they might earn. There is usually a minimum starting bid and a set bidding increment that all players agree to before the game begins. The player to the left of the dealer is the first to place a bid or may choose to pass. The bidding goes around clockwise, and each player must decide to either raise the bid by the bidding increment or pass. When all but one players pass, the remaining player wins the bidding.

Taking Cards from the “Kitty”

Often in Cutthroat Pinochle, and in some variations of Partner Pinochle, the Kitty is used to give the high bidder an opportunity to strengthen their hand. The high bidder gets to pick up the cards in the kiddy and decide if they want to trade them with cards in their existing hand, discarding the cards they don’t want to use.

Choosing the Trump Suit

The winning bidder gets to decide which of the four suits will be the trump suit during the hand. The trump suit is significant both in calculating meld points and in the trick-taking phase of the game. As described more below, certain melds require cards to be of the trump suit, and others are worth more points when they are in the trump suit. When it comes to trick taking, a card in the trump suit will “trump” all non-trump cards and win the trick, therefore having a lot of trump cards gives the player a significant advantage when competing for trick points.

The high bidder must carefully evaluate their hand and choose the trump that will be most advantageous. Having a lot of cards in one particular suit often would suggest choosing that suit to be trump, but the player must take into account expected meld points, their trick-taking approach and if playing with a partner consider what additional cards might be received after passing.

Partner Card Passing

Often in Partners Pinochle, after the high bidder chooses the trump suit, they have an opportunity to improve their hand by exchanging cards with their partner. Partners are not allowed to show their cards to each other or tell their partners directly what cards they’re holding, but in some styles of play partners communicate with their bids, for example a player who makes an opening bid of 25 may be signaling they have Aces Around, or an opening bid of 30 may signal they have a run, or an opening bid of 35 may signal they have double pinochle. Typically the partner of the high bidder passes first, passing 4 cards to the high bidder. Next the high bidder evaluates their cards and chooses 4 card to pass back.

Pinochle Melds

Most variations of Pinochle include a melding phase, in which players earn points by completing special sets of cards known as melds. Each type of meld is worth a set number of points as shown below, and players receive the total points for all of the melds in their hand. When playing with a partner, each player forms their own melds based on the cards in their own hand, and then the point totals from each are added together. For example, if Player A has a run worth 15 points, and a marriage worth 2 points, their total melds is worth 17 points. If their partner, Player B has a Pinochle worth 4 points and a trump 9 worth 1 point, Player B’s meld total would be 5 points. Player A and Player B’s meld point totals are then added together for a combined meld score of 22 points.

Pinochle Trick Taking

The final phase of the Pinochle hand is the trick-taking phase. The high bidder goes first by throwing down any one of their cards face up in the center of the table, and then each of the others must throw a card after that in a clockwise rotation. Each subsequent player following the trick starter must throw down a card of the same suit as the first card thrown if they have one. If they don’t have any cards in that suit, they must throw a trump card, unless they don’t have a trump card either, and only then they can throw any card they want.

The highest card matching the suit of the first card thrown wins, unless someone throws a trump card in which case the highest trump card wins. If there’s a tie, meaning two players both throw the same highest card, then the player who threw the high card first wins the tie. The player who wins the trick takes the trick cards and gets 1 point for every Ace, Ten or King. These three cards are called pointers because they’re each worth one point. Queens, Jacks, and Nine’s have no trick value.

The winner of the trick then becomes the trick starter of the next trick, and the trick taking continues until all cards are played. At the end of the trick taking phase each player tallies their pointer cards and their trick points are then combined with their meld points. If the high bidder meets or exceeds their bid they get to keep all meld and trick points earned in the hand. In Partner Pinochle, the high bidder and their partner combine these points to reach their goal. However, if the high bidder comes up short they will not keep any of the points earned in the hand and instead must subtract the amount they bid from their score. The opponents of the high bidder get to keep their points regardless.

Ending the Game

Most variations of Pinochle end when a certain predetermined score is reached such as 150 points. The first player or pair of partners who earn this score wins. In the meantime, the players continue to deal hands and repeat the process described above, earning (or losing) points in each hand and adding them to their final score until winning threshold is reached.

At a high level, this is how Pinochle works. There are many nuances and strategies that expert players develop over time, some of which will be discussed in future articles on this site, but we hope this primer will give you the basics you’ll need to get started. These rules may seem a bit complicated at first but the easiest way to master them is to just start playing. We recommend trying a few games with our AI Pinochle to get a feel for how the game works and then once you feel confident try playing online with real players. We rank players on this site based on their experience so you’ll be paired with other players at the same level as you.

We hope this tutorial was helpful and look forward to seeing you at our tables soon.

Online Now

  • Iccubus

    Rating 500
  • Player

    Rating 532
  • boomer

    Rating 1171
  • sheldon

    Rating 981
  • broke

    Rating 925
  • larry

    Rating 384
  • eunice

    Rating 1492
  • buzz

    Rating 1350
  • dawn

    Rating 1711
  • Eddie

    Rating 1244
  • morty

    Rating 1411
  • Robert

    Rating 793
  • Cary

    Rating 1413
  • marino

    Rating 1547
  • manny

    Rating 1792
  • Vivien

    Rating 1271
  • GRC

    Rating 1395
  • Stan

    Rating 919
  • Vinnie

    Rating 1838
  • robin

    Rating 1707
  • simone

    Rating 1173
  • felix

    Rating 1566
  • Cassandra

    Rating 608
  • Flinkstrum

    Rating 866
  • Hollywood

    Rating 2407
  • Player

    Rating 324
  • Bolger

    Rating 4451
  • Virginia

    Rating 1894
  • Barbie

    Rating 1926
  • Karen

    Rating 2073
  • melody

    Rating 2348
  • Steven

    Rating 1288
  • Daenerys

    Rating 1941
  • Kevin

    Rating 129
  • Rihel

    Rating 1169
  • rip

    Rating 1287
  • Jim

    Rating 1887
  • RB

    Rating 1581
  • Reyes

    Rating 1521
  • jackie

    Rating 1378
  • Tamero

    Rating 1109
  • kismet

    Rating 1478
  • craig

    Rating 2005
  • ozone

    Rating 1729
  • laurence

    Rating 1152
  • rebecca

    Rating 2077
  • Mono

    Rating 1731
  • DrDeath

    Rating 1795
  • Sir

    Rating 1838
  • Theresa

    Rating 221
  • worm

    Rating 1989
  • Buckeye

    Rating 2344
  • Laslo

    Rating 1472
  • starkey

    Rating 1823
  • Shad

    Rating 374
  • Pj

    Rating 1214
  • Owen

    Rating 1322
  • Codo

    Rating 1684
  • more

    Rating 1182
  • Joe

    Rating 9994
  • Gabbie

    Rating 981
  • lyonel

    Rating 1101
  • Cindy

    Rating 1614
  • KristenG

    Rating 1871
  • Deniz

    Rating 1918
  • martin

    Rating 1276
  • dwinkler

    Rating 1372
  • Anwar

    Rating 1064
  • Justine

    Rating 97
  • Sam

    Rating 866
  • Jarme

    Rating 3406
  • BeerNGuns

    Rating 1203
  • Djs

    Rating 6663
  • trolly

    Rating 1309
  • tamara

    Rating 1597
  • sergei

    Rating 1278
  • Trenton

    Rating 1646
  • Babak

    Rating 1386
  • Frank

    Rating 1436
  • snake

    Rating 1928
  • Antonina

    Rating 1673
  • emme

    Rating 1083
  • Sheely

    Rating 1414
  • deb

    Rating 1809
  • Diego

    Rating 1545
  • Suss

    Rating 1305
  • smores

    Rating 1355
  • Durham

    Rating 2004
  • marley420

    Rating 1324
  • Tho

    Rating 967
  • Plnochkler

    Rating 994
  • pete

    Rating 1304
  • StillTraveler

    Rating 1912
  • Decibel

    Rating 1465
  • Leahanne

    Rating 1376
  • lynn

    Rating 1490
  • ramsey

    Rating 1465
  • cal

    Rating 2095
  • megha

    Rating 1289
  • Trent

    Rating 1429
  • tractor

    Rating 1331
  • traunch

    Rating 1253
  • MTG

    Rating 2015
  • Jay

    Rating 1778
  • Dan

    Rating 1294
  • Hasan

    Rating 1157
  • JodyBro

    Rating 1628
  • BigE

    Rating 2267
  • Connor

    Rating 1382
  • cliff

    Rating 743
  • Jeanne

    Rating 4679
  • Beth

    Rating 1676
  • John

    Rating 2240

Today's Best Hand

Sonny

Double Deck Cutthroat
King of HeartsKing of HeartsQueen of HeartsQueen of HeartsKing of ClubsQueen of ClubsAce of DiamondsAce of DiamondsAce of SpadesAce of SpadesAce of HeartsAce of HeartsAce of ClubsAce of ClubsQueen of DiamondsQueen of SpadesTen of DiamondsTen of DiamondsKing of DiamondsKing of DiamondsQueen of DiamondsJack of DiamondsJack of DiamondsJack of DiamondsQueen of Spades
  • Ernie

    Rating 29135
  • John

    Rating 10436
  • Joe

    Rating 9994
  • Player

    Rating 9398
  • Brady

    Rating 9005
  • Dave T

    Rating 8812
  • Mark

    Rating 7897
  • Otto

    Rating 7696
  • Djs

    Rating 6663
  • Dakota

    Rating 6631