How to Participate in a Pinochle Tournament

Because of its team-oriented four-player nature, Pinochle is a card game that lends itself exceptionally well to tournament play. Many competitive Pinochle players enjoy the thrill (and prizes) that come with besting quality opposition at a Pinochle tournament.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Knowledge of Pinochle game play

Play in a Pinochle Tournament

1. Practice, practice, practice. The level of play you will encounter if you participate in a tournament is almost certain to be noticeably higher than the level of competition you experience in casual play.

2. Know your partner. Get to know his tendencies to the best of your ability without stooping to the level of cheating. While developing a reliable system of table-talking is possible, it is considered dishonest. Players caught cheating will be immediately ejected from a Pinochle tournament.

3. Choose a tournament to participate in by checking online sources or your local newspaper or by inquiring at hobby stores that sell Pinochle decks and card-game accessories. Community centers, senior centers and local card leagues are also excellent sources of information on open-invitation Pinochle tournaments in which you can participate.

4. Contact the tournament organizers if you have any questions about entry fees, the tournament format (round robin, single elimination, etc.) and any prizes being offered. Make sure you also inquire about any rules variations that are being used as standard for that particular tournament. There are almost as many Pinochle variants as there are Pinochle players. Be sure you know what to expect come the day of the tournament.

5. Maintain high standards of sportsmanship at all times, even if you become frustrated with a partner's play, face a controversial ruling that went against you or lose in a close game. If you are too vocal in your complaining, the tournament's organizers may not permit you to participate next time.

6. Keep your level of play as high as possible, even when the competition is not challenging. As with any acquired skill, Pinochle is mastered not only through practice but also with dedication. You will notice a direct correlation between your success at a tournament and your commitment to improving as a player.

Tips & Warnings

• Before playing in an online tournament, do your due diligence to make sure the site that is offering it is reputable. Participate in an online Pinochle forum, where you can ask other users if they have any inside information about the site offering the online tournament. Frequently, experienced players can recommend reputable tournament sites.

[BusyGrandmother]

on 1/15/2008 I am organizing a Pinochle Tournament At Sea, a pinochle cruise, and would like to extend and invitation to you and your friends to join us.

Please visit my Pinochle Cruise website for details about the cruise and the tournament.

www.PinochleCruise.com

Thank you and hope to see you there.

Diane George
aka Busy Grandmother

[Okeechobee2004]

on 11/29/2007 Would you consider a pre-arranged fake meld bid, table talk, definitely cheating, a grey area or an acceptable method of numerical bidding.

Meld bidding. A indication to all at the table of the true meld bid strength., Bidding 54 means you have a reasonable chance of ending up with 40 points from both meld and the counters you win.

Pre-arranged Fake Meld Bid. A numerical number to all at the table that you have a lot of meld, but only you and your partner know you have less than 10 meld and 2 aces. Example. Left hand opponent bids 54, indicating to all at the table that he as a true meld strength of 40 meld. This a ruse or fake bid as only his partner knows a meld bid of 40, means less then ten meld and no help

The prearranged fake meld bid is designed to get the opponents to over bid rather then letting the other opponents get the bid and go out.