Playing Aces in Pinochle

Video Transcript

"Normally you would be willing to say that an ace is only good for one trick and that doesn't hold so and it doesn't hold so in the other card games and it doesn't always hold so in Pinochle. If you are the declarer you have a little bit more of an advantage because you will be able to control the trump suit and usually the ace of trumps is the winner but not always particularly if the trump suit has been weakened. There are some people who just seem to be ace grabbers. I do not always support the ace grabbing theory, however, if the other partner aces can be very vital between the communications of the two hands but one of the really shameful things is when you lose an ace. Let's look at this particular hand. You are a defender now and let's just say that hearts are the trump suit, okay? Well hearts are not something to write home about. You've got this wonderful spade suit and somehow they have shut you out of the auction and that's the way it goes. The question is when do you take aces and when do you not? If you are the defender and the declarer has named hearts as the trump suit, if those two aces or spaces are not taken right now you just might as well run away because you have got an eight card spade suit and if the opposition grabs two aces then are just about gone so if you happen to be fortunate enough to be on lead immediately take these two. Your partner will give you two counters. That's four points to the good. You are just not going to allow the aces by the opponents to weaken the spade suit to the point where these aces are compromised."