If you Kings Around or Queens Around, you’ll want to hold on to those. If you have Queen of Spades and Jack of Diamonds, you’ll want to keep them for the 4 pinochle points.

If you have a King and Queen of the same suit, you’ll want to try to hold on to them for the 2 marriage points. Obviously, you don’t want to discard cards that are needed to form your melds. Otherwise, you probably want to choose the suit in which you have the most cards, and also consider how many Aces or Tens you have in the suit to keep control of the tricks. If you don’t have a run but you do have 2 marriages in the same suit, you might consider making that suit trump to get the double marriage points for trump marriages. If you have a run, you’ll have to make the suit of those cards trump to get the 15 meld points. The first thing you need to decide is what trump you’re going to choose. In either case, you’ll need to decide whether or not to keep the cards and which 3 cards to discard. On the other hand, sometimes you’re not so lucky and the cards don’t help you one way or another. Choosing Cards from the “Kitty”Īssuming you win the bidding then you get to pick up the “kitty” and hopefully get the card you needed to complete your melds. However, if you don’t have a lot of trump cards or Aces, you may end up with 15 or less. If you have six or more cards of the same suit and at least 3 or more Aces, you might be able to get between 20-25 trick points if you play well. On the other hand, if you have a comfortable lead it’s probably not worth the risk to lose your hard-earned points by bidding foolishly.Īsk yourself, what if I don’t get the card I need? Do you have enough Aces or trump cards to make up for it in tricks? There are a total of 25 trick points to be had. If you’re behind your opponents or if the game is almost over, you should definitely take some risk here, otherwise your opponents will leave you in the dust. Are you willing to take a chance? Often this depends on how the game is going and where you stand. The next thing to consider is whether or not you’re close to getting a meld, and think about how likely it is you’ll get the card you need from the “kitty”. However, if you don’t have any of these things, or just a single marriage or pinochle, you might not want to bid much higher than 20, and it may be best to pass and wait for a better hand to come along. If you have Kings around or Queens around, maybe 20-25. If you have Aces around, you should be bidding between 25-30. If you have a double pinochle, go as high 40-45. If you have any incidental marriages or a pinochle, it’s safe to increase your maximum bid to 35-40. There’s a good chance you’ll improve your hand slightly when you pick up the kiddy too. You know that you’ll be guaranteed to get at least 15 meld points and if you play well you should be able to collect at least another 15 points from tricks. If you’re lucky enough to get a run in your initial hand you can probably safely bet up to 30, and might consider going as high as 32.

The first thing to look for when estimating your hand’s worth is how many melds you already have starting out with. Striking the right balance between playing conservatively and playing aggressively takes practice. Conversely, if you never bid you’ll never win, and there are times when taking risk will pay off. It takes discipline to stop yourself from overbidding and patience to sit back and wait for the right hand to come along.

It is critical to evaluate your hand before bidding and determine your maximum bid based on how many points you estimate your hand will yield. However, players must exercise restraint and avoid the temptation to bid higher than the expected points they might achieve from melds and tricks. The high bidder or last player who doesn’t pass wins the bid.Įvery players wants to win the bid so they can choose the trump suit, and have the possibility of improving their hand by picking up the 3 cards in the “kitty” and exchanging them for cards in their hand. Bidding StrategiesĪfter all cards are dealt, players examine their cards and proceed to start the bidding, each player either increasing the bid or passing, until all but the last player passes. Usually the last 3 cards left get placed face down into the “kitty” in the center of the tables. To begin, the dealer shuffles the deck and deals out the entire deck to each player, 3 cards at a time if single deck or 5 cards at a time if double deck.

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