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PINOCHLE STRATEGY

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Basics		Bidding		Tactics		Glossary

	around a set of four aces, kings, queens, or jacks of all different suits bid call by a player naming a number of points the partnership must try to score (in melds and in cards taken in tricks) cash to take a winner common marriage a king and queen of the same nontrump suit crawl to play a higher-ranking card in the suit led, or in trump  Back to Top deal to distribute the cards to the players; or the set of all four hands that have been dealt dealer the player who deals the cards defenders the side that did not make the final bid discard a card played in a suit other than the suit led, and other than a trump distribution the way the cards in a player's hand are divided into suits; also, the way in which a particular suit is divided among the four players' hands  Back to Top double deck pinochle the form of pinochle played at Yahoo!, with four identical cards of the A, K, Q, J, and 10 of each suit. double meld two instances of the same single meld in the same hand doubleton an original holding of exactly two cards in a suit draw trumps to remove trumps from the opponents' hands by leading them; a standard tactic for a declarer force in defending a hand, to play winners in a side suit that the declarer must ruff in order to gain the lead; the purpose of forcing plays is to weaken declarer's trump holding game a point total of 500 or more  Back to Top hand the 20 cards dealt to a player; or the entire deal (all four hands collectively, as in "a hand of pinochle") head (a trick) to play a higher-ranking card in the suit led, or in trump lead the card played to start a trick, or the obligation to play the first card of a trick; a player "has the lead" or is "on lead" when he or she has won the previous trick marriage a king and queen of the same suit; see common marriage and royal marriage meld a combination of cards having a value in scoring; specifically, marriages, runs, pinochles, and arounds opening lead the lead to the first trick, made by the player to declarer's left before the dummy is exposed  Back to Top partners two players who sit across from one another and act as a team against the other two players pass the alternative to making a bid; an auction ends after three players pass consecutively pinochle a meld consisting of the queen of spades and jack of diamonds point a unit of scoring quadruple meld four instances of the same single meld in the same hand  Back to Top rank a card's name an hierarchy (ace, ten, king, queen, or jack), as distinguished from its suit revoke a failure to follow suit when able, which is subject to penalties but cannot happen at Yahoo! roundhouse a marriage in every suit, earning a bonus in some variations of the game royal marriage a king and queen of the trump suit ruff to play a trump when another suit has been led run a meld of A-10-K-Q-J of trumps  Back to Top set to defeat a contract side suit a suit other than trump single deck pinochle a version of pinochle that uses a deck consisting of two copies each of the A-10-K-Q-J-10-9 of each suit single meld a meld of all different cards singleton an original holding of exactly one card in a suit smear to deliberately play a scoring card (ace, ten, or king) on a trick that partner is expected to win  Back to Top suit one of the four kinds of cards in a deck, denoted by symbols and known as spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs, as distinguished from its rank suit trick the set of four cards played in a round, won by the highest trump or, if no trumps are played, by the highest card of the suit led trick triple meld three instances of the same single meld in the same hand trump the highest ranking suit, named in the contract; during the play of the hand, any trump, regardless of rank, will beat any nontrump card winner a card that will take a trick  Back to Top