Pinochle Strategy: How Much to Bid, and How to Play
Quick answer
Good pinochle strategy starts with the bid. Count your meld for your best trump suit, add about 20 to 40 for your partner and 100 to 150 for counters, and bid no more than that.
In the play, cash your aces early, feed tens and kings to your partner's winning tricks, and remember there are two of every card.
Your bid is your meld, plus your partner, plus counters
A bid is a promise about your whole team's points. You can see only one part for sure: your own meld. The rest is a sensible guess.
- Your meld: count it for each suit you could name as trump. Use the best one.
- Your partner's meld: unknown, but often about 20 to 40.
- Counters: a good hand with plenty of trump brings in about 100 to 150 of the 250 available.
Example. Your hand melds 320 with hearts as trump. 320 + 20 + 100 = 440. You can bid up to about 440 with confidence. The lowest bid is 250, so this hand should open.
Try it: count the meld for every trump suit
The meld totals below come from the same engine that runs our free game. Switch hands to see how a different trump changes everything.
Try it: how much should you bid?
Pick a hand. For each trump suit you could name, here is your meld. The best suit is the one with the most meld and the most trumps.
| If trump is | Your meld | Trumps held | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hearts | 320 | 6 | Best |
| Spades | 200 | 3 | |
| Diamonds | 180 | 2 | |
| Clubs | 180 | 1 |
Best trump: hearts, with 320 in meld and 6 trumps.
Your meld 320 + partner about 20–40 + counters about 100–150 = 440 to 510.
Bid up to about 440 with confidence. Go toward 510 only if your partner has bid too, which tells you they hold meld.
- Run in hearts: Ace of hearts + Ten of hearts + King of hearts + Queen of hearts + Jack of hearts = 150
- Marriage in spades: King of spades + Queen of spades = 20
- Dix: Nine of hearts = 10
- Aces around: Ace of clubs + Ace of diamonds + Ace of hearts + Ace of spades = 100
- Pinochle: Jack of diamonds + Queen of spades = 40
Bid on trump length, not just meld
- Long trump wins tricks. Five or more cards in your trump suit, with the ace or ten, make the counters much safer.
- A run is the best start. It gives 150 in meld and a strong trump suit at the same time.
- Without a marriage in trump, be careful. You need the king and queen of trump for a royal marriage or a run, and a short trump suit loses tricks.
- Your partner's bid is a message. If your partner has bid, they likely hold meld. You can bid a little higher.
- Don't fight your partner. If your partner already holds the bid and your hand is only average, pass and let them play it.
- The dealer's last chance. If the other three pass, the dealer must take the bid at 250. Weak or not, play it out.
Pass trumps and aces; keep your meld
After trump is named, the bidder's partner passes 4 cards to the bidder, and the bidder passes 4 back.
- Partner to bidder: trumps first, then aces. They win tricks for the bidder. Keep cards that are part of your own meld if you can; your team scores them too.
- Bidder back to partner: keep your meld and your trumps. Pass back cards that are not in any meld, such as stray queens, jacks and nines, or aces in short suits that your partner can use.
In the play, cash aces and feed your partner counters
- Lead aces early. An ace loses only to a trump, so take it before the other side runs out of the suit.
- Pull trump when you are strong in it. Leading trumps makes the other side spend theirs, so your side aces stay safe.
- Smear counters on your partner's tricks. When your partner is sure to win, play a ten or king on it. When the other side is winning, play a queen, jack or nine.
- Count to two. Each card has a twin. Your ten is not the boss of a suit until both aces are gone.
- Don't forget the last trick. It is worth 10 and often decides a close bid. Save a high trump for the end.
On defense: take one counter to save your meld
When the other team has the bid, your job is to stop them reaching it and to score what you can.
- Win at least one counter. Your team keeps its meld only if it takes a counter or the last trick.
- Every 10 counts twice. Each counter you win is one the bidders don't get.
- Lead through the bidder's weak suits so they have to use trumps early.
Practice all of this against the computer in our free pinochle game, which plays to 1500 with these rules, or start at the beginning with how to play pinochle. For the point values, see pinochle scoring.
If you like Pinochle, try
Euchre
2–4 players · 20 min · Learn in a game or two
Partners, trump and the two bowers. Take three tricks of five.
Canasta
2–6 players · 60 min · Learn in a game or two
Meld sevens of a kind with your partner. Red threes are a bonus.
Cribbage
2–4 players · 20 min · Learn in a game or two
Race your pegs to 121. Count fifteens, pairs and runs.
Questions people ask
How do you know how much to bid in pinochle?
Count your meld for your best trump suit. Add about 20 to 40 for your partner's meld and about 100 to 150 for counters. Bid up to the low end of that total with confidence.
What is a good pinochle hand?
A run in a long trump suit, a few aces, and a marriage or two. Five or six trumps plus an ace or two in other suits will usually win you plenty of counters.
Should you lead aces in pinochle?
Usually yes, early in the hand. An ace can only lose to a trump or to the other copy of the same ace played first, so cash it before the other side runs out of the suit.
What should you pass your partner in pinochle?
Trumps and aces. They help the bidder win tricks. Keep your own meld if you can, since your partner gets to count it too.
When should you throw in a pinochle hand?
When your team's meld plus every possible counter still cannot reach the bid, or would need almost all 250. You lose the bid either way, and throwing in saves time.