How to Bid in Single Deck Pinochle

Pinochle is a 48-card game involving bids, melds and tricks.

Single deck pinochle is a trick-taking card game involving four players playing in pairs of two. The game involves three stages -- bidding, melds and tricks. In this card game, the ace is the highest ranking card, followed by the ten, king, queen, jack and nine. After cards have been cut and dealt, the bidding phase of the game begins. Bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer and continues to the left.

Things You'll Need

• Pinochle deck of 48 standard playing cards: 2 aces, 2 tens, 2 kings, 2 queens, 2 jacks and 2 nines in each of the four suits

Instructions

1. Predict the amount of points your hand will score in the melding phase.

2. Bid the minimum amount allowed in your game, which is typically between 100 and 250 points, if you are the player to the left of the dealer.

3. Determine if you wish to play a normal bid, which is a number 10 points higher than the last bid, a jump bid, which is a number at least 20 points higher than the last bid, or a pass, which removes you from bidding for the round. Your bidding is based on what you predict your hand would score. For example, if the first bid is 100, a normal bid would be 110, a jump bid would be 120 and a pass would take you out of bidding for the current round. You pass bid if you do not think your hand's points could beat the current bid.

4. Continue bidding based on the points you think you can make during the meld combined with the counters you think you can take during the play of hands until the bidding reaches a point above that level.

5. Declare a trump suit if you are the last remaining bidder. This should be the strongest suit in your hand.

References

• Pagat: Rules of Card Games - Pinochle
• SAC-IRCA: Pinochle Rules