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Pinochle Basics




Meld Counter




Advanced Double Deck Pinochle Bidding and Gameplay

Fundamentals

The key to sucessful pinochle can be broken down into distinct areas.
Meld bidding and signal bidding as pre-arranged with your partner.
Taking note of what's melded and remembering what has been melded by whom, especially your partner's meld and how they bid.
Keeping track of trump, aces, and cards played in the second suit.
Watching partner's play for leadbacks, or indicators, and supplying your partner with leadback/indicator card plays.
Watching the play of the opponents.


Bid Strategies

The taking of the bid will allow the player to control the hand by letting him or her call a trump suit. The team that effectively communicates will most likely win the majority of time (there is some accounting for luck in pinochle, but overall, the most effective partnerships usually prevail).

The most important idea is to talk over bidding strategy with your partner, agree on a bidding method, and stick to that method once it is agreed upon. Most players will bid a meld bid first to let their partner know what they have, and in the case of a hand where they feel they are strong in enough to take the bid, they will then rebid one over the previous bid to indicate that it's not a "forcing" bid. The following bid meanings are typical, but a partnership may choose to modify any or all of them to try to get an edge over their opponents.

A bid one over the previous bid means that you want the bid, and are looking for your pard to supply a meld bid if possible.
A 50 bid usually means I want the bid, but I'm looking for meld. This bid asks the partner to supply a meld bid if possible. The 50 bid may also be a save bid if the bidder's partner is bidding last.
Bidding 51 usually means aces around if bid first. My personal observation about this bid is that it's more of a single deck pinochle bid (21), where aces around is a more powerful hand (one half of the aces vs. one quarter of the aces). Advanced teams will use the 51 bid as an indicator bid to their partner. It can be a powerful hand indicator, meaning that I definately want the bid. It can define the save bid in a save situation (using 50 or 51 depending on hand strength when partner bids last and 1st player passes). 2 over the previous bid or a 52 first bid means 16-24 meld, typically. On occasion, it can mean 12-14 meld with a strong (multiple aces, multiple suits) hand. 3 over the previous bid or 53 first bid means 26-34 meld, this pattern continues until 59.

Meld bids stop at 59 (with the exception of the jump bid),a bid of 60 or over is an "I want it" bid.

The Lockout Bid

Early in the bidding, if a player is strong enough to take the bid alone, he/she may opt to bid a "lockout bid" of 60 or higher. This method of bidding prevents the opponents from communicating, and it also lets their partner know how much meld they have in case their partner has a strong hand.
A bid of 60 usually means approximately 20 meld or more available to the partner in case of a strong suit in his/her hand.


The Jump Bid

A jump bid is a method of defeating the lockout bid, provided your partner is still in the bidding.
A jump is defined as going 10 or more above the previous bid at bid levels of 60 or more. The amount of the jump is your meld divided by 4, and the minimum meld necessary to do a jump is 30 (you would jump 10 with 30 meld). Going 5 over the previous bid is not a jump bid but a power, or " I want it " bid.
Example:
Your partner opens the bidding at 50, the next player bids 55 in an attempt to lockout. You have 20 meld, so you would bid 57 to let your partner know how much meld you have, and your partner would interpret that by multiplying 10 by 2 to get 20.

Covering partner's meld bid
If possible, you should always try to cover your partner's meld bid. If the player that bids between you and your partner passes, either meld bid back, or go one over if you have a marriage and a decent suit. If your partner can take it, then he/she should bid back.



Playing Strategies

The Meld

Taking note of what is melded is crucial to successful play. The following items should be noted and kept in mind during the play of the hand.

The trump that's been melded and by whom.
Aces that are melded and by whom.
Marriages by the players who wanted to take the bid.

The first two items have obvious reasons, but the third is especially important in trying to "read" the hand and figuring out how to pass the lead to your partner, or even to reserve play in that suit until later in the hand when the trump has been played out .

The Play - General Guidelines

Giving your partner counters (Aces, Tens, Kings) on his/her trick, and giving the opponents non-counters (Queens, Jacks) is a basic tactic that everyone learns when first starting to play. The use of a leadback or indicator play is the next step in communicating better with your partner.

The leadback can take a various number of forms, the most predominent are:

An ace played on partner's ace. This can have two meanings. a) You have the remaining aces in the suit or it's safe to pass to me in this suit. b) You are short in this suit, and don't want the opponents to capture your ace. The second case usually applies in the case of Ace, non-counter or Ace, and 2 non-counters in a suit.
A Jack (preferred) or Queen played on partner's second ace play in a suit. Usually done when the player is only holding 4 cards in the suit (or 5 in the case of A-A-10), and this signals to the partner that the player holds the other two aces. In the event the player has more than 5 cards in the suit, the preferable play is the ace leadback, because the suit will be trumped prior to a 4th " go-round ". This rule of thumb does not apply to the trump suit. 10 of the suit lead. This usually means in off trump suits that this is the last card in this suit that the player has, and that the player will be trumping next time around.
King lead (preferred) or ten when aces around have been melded by the player's partner means that the player has the other 3 aces in the suit (or 2 in the case of aces around by the player to the right of the passer), and this is a safe suit to pass in. A King lead usually designates a safe pass to partner, the meld has to be watched in order to utilize this play effectively. For example: North and East meld aces, and south has 2 aces in a suit. South knows that he/she can pass control to North in that suit, and should do so with a counter (king preferably) so that North can play his/her aces.

Team play is extremely important, whether you are trying to stop your opponents from saving, or whether your team is trying to save. The more effective partnerships play as a team, and read each other's plays to capture the maximum number of tricks.
Counting trump and aces played will result in better play regardless of who calls trump. Remembering the counters played in trump helps even more.

The Play - Bid Winner
The bid winner has the advantage of calling the trump suit. Most of the time it will be the player's longest suit. The bid winner also has the advantage of playing first.
The play of all short suit aces should be done first to prevent the other team from capturing an ace. The play of other aces, may or may not be in the best interest of the team, depending on the situation. If the player does not have a lot of power in trump, then it may be best to play the off suit aces first, hoping for a leadback from his/her partner, or the capturing of the other teams counters. If the player has a strong suit plus trump, then it would be best to preserve the other suits aces to try and set up that suit to become a second suit.
If a suit is known to be safe to pass to get to partner, then a pass should be attempted then to partner so he/she can play their aces.
Getting trump out of the opponents hands is always a good idea if you have length in trump. Saving the bid is about control of the hand. Getting the trump out also ensures that the high cards that you have left at the end of the hand will not be trumped, and that the opponents do not have a chance to make their lower trump cards good. This strategy is also good for eliminating the cross-trump situation.

The Second Suit

Length in a second suit besides trump will allow the bid winner to have a second power suit once the trump is run out. It behooves the player to count the cards played in this suit, as well as trump if this situation develops.

The Cross Trump

When both players meld length in trump, then the play that helps the team the most is that both players will try to get out of their short suits, and try to develop a cross-trump situation. This allows the team to maintain control of the hand, and make the majority of their trump good. One item that needs to be kept in mind. If the ace of trump is in jeopardy of being taken, it's best to play it to save it.

Passing the lead

Sucessful passing of the lead to your partner depends on your ability to "read" the hand, plus remembering what has been melded.
If your partner was bidding to take the bid also, then their meld should be watched for marriages. By deduction, you should be able to figure out what your partner's strong suit is, and try to pass in that suit. If this method is used though, you do not want to play any of your aces in this suit unless there is a chance of losing an ace (3 cards or less in the suit).
If the player to your left melds aces around, and your trump is of medium power (7 to 8 cards), it's usually best to pass with the queen of trump to get the opponents ace out, plus his/her other aces. General rule of thumb is when in doubt, try passing in trump.


The Play - Bid Winner's Partner

The main job of the bid winner's partner is to help the bid winner make the bid. When the lead comes to the bid winner's partner, that person should play any aces of trump, and try to help his/her partner drive out the trump and make partner's second suit good.

Holding onto non-trump aces is not usually beneficial to the team, unless you have the lead late in the hand and your aces might be trumped by the opponents. The best strategy in this case is to try and force the trump out of the opponent's hands. Another case where you may want to hold onto your aces instead of playing them is in the case where partner really needs your help to make the bid.

An example would be in the case of your partner trumping a suit, you should retain your power cards in a suit so your partner can get the lead back to you, and then you can play the suit that's being trumped.

Stopping the Bid Winners.

Trying to set the bid requires strong teamwork usually. Maintaining control of the hand between your partner and yourself is the key to success.

If your partner is seated in the 4th seat it is extremely important to pass the lead to him/her as soon as possible, even if this means holding back your aces. This strategy also allows you to intercept a pass attempt from the bid declarer to his/her partner. As always, your short suit aces should be played before you pass the lead.

If you know that you and you partner have all the aces in a suit, you should pass to your partner with a counter in that suit. When the partner has run out his/her power cards, then they can pass back to you in that suit.

Trump should be held for as long as possible, unless a cross-trump situation develops, then it is best to exploit the cross-trump for as long as possible. Leading trump should not be discouraged, however, depending on the situation. Many times, it's the only way to get the lead to your partner, or if you know the player to your left has an ace of trump, it may be best to force the ace out by playing a ten in the hopes of making your partner's high trump cards "boss". Determining when trump should be played improves as you play more, and your ability to read the hand improves.

. Conclusions Teamwork is the key to success in Double Deck Pinochle.

The more you play with one partner and learn their bidding and playing style, the better the team will be. Discussion of how each player is expected to react or bid in different situations will make the partnership stronger, and much better. Passing the lead to your partner is extremely important, and the better players will be able to pass more often by deducing where their partner is strong by looking at the meld, the aces played, and their hand. For instance, if you have no aces in a suit of 4-6 card length, most likely the player to your left will hold an ace in that suit. If the opponents have both played their aces, then you know that you can pass to partner in any suit you don't have power in. Care has to be taken though, as you do not want your partner's aces to be trumped if you can avoid it. Meld bidding to your partner is extremely important, even if you want to take the bid. Meld bidding should always be done first, and the event of aces around, the total meld should be bid, not just a 51 off the bat. It's the team's total meld that determines how high the team can bid.