Three player Pinochle
This page is mostly based on a contribution from Sion Hanson.
- Introduction
- Cards, Deal, Objective
- Meld
- Bidding
- The Play
- Scoring
- Playing for Money
- Variations
- Tips and Ethics
- Renege
- Money game with each hand paid separately
- Other Pinochle WWW Pages
Introduction
The main game described on this page is a version of three player single deck Auction Pinochle played in Bison, South Dakota. This is a version played for points, up to a target score. All three players can meld and the game features special scores for double melds. Several variations of this game are also described.
Elsewhere on this website there is a separate Auction Pinochle page describing the classic 3-player game for money in which the players settle up after each hand. In that version only the high bidder can meld and the bidder either wins or loses. Versions of Pinochle for other numbers of players are covered on other pages of this web site.
Cards, deal, objective
The game is played with a single 48 card pinochle deck. This can be made, if necessary, from two standard 52 card decks by throwing out all the cards 2-8. For the purposes of trick taking, the cards in each suit rank from high to low:
ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine.
The aces, tens and kings are called counters. Queens, jacks and nines are called losers (though they can occasionally win a trick). Counters are valued at 10 points apiece, while losers are worth nothing. One aim of the game is to win as many counters as possible in your tricks. The last trick is worth an additional 10 points, so the total number of points available to be won in each hand is 250.
The cards are shuffled, cut, and dealt, usually three at a time, but this is not imperative. Each player receives 15 cards and 3 cards are placed in the kitty, or cat, as it is sometimes called. These 3 cards can be placed in the cat at any point during the dealing, with the exception that the last card in the deck can not be put in the cat. If the cards are misdealt in any way, they must be shuffled, cut and dealt again. Any fair means can be used to determine the dealer for the first hand; after that the deal passes to the left after each hand.
There are two ways of scoring points: by melding combinations and by winning scoring cards in tricks. The object of the game is to be the first player to score 1500 points. After the first complete game is finished, the winner is the first dealer of the second game.
Meld
In each hand, one player - the high bidder - will name trumps, take the cards in the cat, and play against the other two, aiming to score at least the number of points mentioned in the bid. The first way of scoring points is the meld, or display of scoring combinations held in the hand. Therefore, after the deal, each player looks at his 15-card hand and assesses what scoring combinations of cards he holds in his hand, and what value of meld he might therefore score if he could choose trumps. The cat cards are at this stage unknown; they might increase a player's meld but this cannot be relied on.
The scoring combinations and their values are listed below. Each combination exists in a single and a double version. A double combination is one that contains two copies of each card - for example a double rope consists of A-A-10-10-K-K-Q-Q-J-J of trumps, and a double pinochle is two spade queens and two diamond jacks. In some cases the double combination is worth exactly as much as two singles; in other cases it is worth more.
| Type | Name | Cards | Single | Double |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type I: Ropes, marriages and deece | A rope | A 10 K Q J of trumps | 150 | 1500 |
| A marriage | K Q of the same (non-trump) suit | 20 | 40 | |
| A marriage in trump | K Q of trumps | 40 | 80 | |
| A deece | the 9 of the trump suit | 10 | 20 | |
| Type II: Pinochles | A pinochle | J of diamonds & Q of spades | 40 | 300 |
| Type III: Arounds | 100 aces | an ace in each of the four suits | 100 | 1000 |
| 80 kings | a king in each of the four suits | 80 | 800 | |
| 60 queens | a queen in each of the four suits | 60 | 600 | |
| 40 jacks | a jack in each of the four suits | 40 | 400 |
These combinations of cards can be intermingled to a certain degree. They are divided into three types, and a single card can be used in simultaneously combinations of different types, but cannot be used in more than one combination of the same type. For example, if a player had 60 queens, and a jack of diamonds, he could score both 60 queens and a pinochle for a total of 100 (using the 
Q in a type II and a type III combination simultaneously). Another example would be to meld a rope and 100 aces: the trump ace from the (type I) rope could be used at the same time as the fourth ace in the (type III) 100 aces to score a total of 250. As far as marriages are concerned, 2 kings and 1 queen of the same suit are not scored as 2 marriages (the queen cannot be used twice in a type I combination) and the same holds true for 2 queens and 1 king. If you score 150 for a rope, you cannot at the same time score 40 for the trump marriage contained in it - to score 190 you would need an additional king and queen of trumps. Tens have no value in the meld portion of the hand, except when making up a rope.
A combination consisting of a king and a queen of each suit is sometimes known as a roundhouse. Its total value is 240 points consisting of 80 for kings around, 60 for queens around, 40 for the trump marriage and 20 each for the other three marriages. Note that the total value of a roundhouse and a rope is only 350 points if they share the same king and queen of trumps - not 390 as the trump marriage cannot be counted in addition to the rope.
Bidding
By calculating his potential meld, each player determines whether or not there is enough score in his hand to justify bidding. A bid is a promise to score at least a certain number of points in exchange for two privileges: the bidder gets the cards from the kitty and chooses the trump suit.
The player to the left of the dealer begins the bidding process, by passing or making a bid of at least 250. The turn to bid passes clockwise around the table. All bids must be multiples of 10 (250, 260, 270, 280 etc.) At your turn you can either pass or bid higher than the previous bid if any. A player who has once passed cannot bid again in the auction. If all three players pass, the cards are thrown in and the next player in turn deals. If more than one player bids in the first round, the auction continues for as many rounds as necessary until two players have passed. The third player, who is the highest bidder, has won the bidding. At this point, the score keeper should make a note of the amount of the final bid - this has saved many arguments.
Note that although it is legal to begin the auction with a bid of more than 250, or to "jump the bid", increasing it by more than the minimum 10 above the previous bid, it is normal and prudent to start at 250 and increase the bid by just 10 at a time.
The player who won the bid exposes the 3 cat cards for all to see and then places them in his hand. He then discards any 3 of his 18 cards face down into what will become his trick pile. The other players are not entitled to see the discards until after the play. Note that cards that are discarded cannot be used as part of your meld; nevertheless it is sometimes to the bidders advantage to discard meld to improve the playing strength of his hand.
The Play
After discarding, the bidder announces the trump suit and claims his meld, laying out his meld combinations on the table for all to see. Only the cards that form part of his meld are exposed; the rest of his hand remains concealed from the other players. The other two players in turn then expose their meld in the same way.
At this point the bidder has to decide whether it is possible to "make the bid". To make, the total of the declarer's meld points and the cards he takes in tricks must be at least as much as the bid. If the bidder decides that he cannot score enough points to make his bid, he announces that he is giving up. In this case the amount of the bid is subtracted from the bidder's score, and the other two players score for their meld. The hand is then "thrown in", and the deal passes to the next dealer.
If the bidder decides that the bid can be made, and so elects to play on, the scores for the three players' melds are noted, and the players return all their cards to their hands, with the exception of the 3 discard cards in the bidder's trick pile. The play of the hand then begins.
The person with the bid begins by "leading" any one card from his hand. The other two players in turn each play a card, and who ever plays the highest ranking card of the suit that was led wins that trick, unless it was trumped. Cards of the trump suit which was chosen by the bidder beat all cards of any other suit. If any trumps were played to the trick, whoever played the highest-ranking trump card wins the trick. In all suits, the rank of the cards from high to low is A, 10, K, Q, J, 9. Whoever wins the trick collects the three cards, stores them face down, and leads any card to the next trick.
- When playing to a trick, you have to follow suit. This means that whichever suit is led, the other players also have to play that suit whenever it is possible to do so.
- You also have to kill. This means that if you can, you must play a higher-ranking card on the trick than any of the other 1 or 2 previously played cards. If you cannot kill, you still have to follow suit.
- If you cannot follow suit you are required to play trump, even if your trump cards are all of a lesser rank than trump cards already played on the trick.
- If you have no cards of the suit that was led, and you have no trump in your hand, you are allowed to slough any card of your choosing, but slough cards have no power when it comes to taking tricks. A trick can only be won by a card of the suit led or a trump.
Because the deck contains two identical copies of each card, it can happen that two identical cards are played on the same trick. In this case the first of these cards played ranks higher then the second. The player of the first identical card therefore wins the trick if that card is the highest ranking card in the trick.
Scoring
After all 15 tricks are played out, each player counts the number of counters (aces, tens and kings) that they have managed to accumulate in their trick pile. These counters are valued at 10 points each, and the winner of the last trick can count an additional 10 points for that. If the three cards discarded by the bidder before play include any counters, the values of these are included in the bidder's total. There is a total of 250 points to be won in the play.
It is now determined whether or not the bidder has made his bid. If the total of his meld and the points he won in play adds up to at least the amount of his bid, he has successfully made his bid. In this case the bidder scores all the points he won in melds and play. Each of the other two players also score for their meld and whatever they won in the play, provided that they won at least one counter. Any player that fails to capture a counter in the play of the hand scores nothing for any meld they may have had on the hand (this is called "losing your meld").
If the total of the bidder's meld and points won in play adds up to less than the bid, the bidder goes set. He does not score anything for his meld nor for points won in play; instead the amount that was bid is subtracted from his score. The two opposing players still add their meld and whatever they won in play to their total score.
The first player to reach a score of 1500 or more points wins the game. In the event that more than one person reaches the 1500 point mark during the same hand, the person with the bid (assuming he is one of those to score over 1500) is declared the winner ("the bidder goes out"). If two players score over 1500 points and neither of these players has the bid, the one with the higher score wins the game. In the unusual event that the two players without the bid should have a tie score over 1500, another hand is played to decide the winner.
Playing for money
When playing for money, a stake is agreed for the game and for the set - for example $2 a game and $2 a set, or 50 cents a game and 25 cents a set. A set occurs when the bidder loses. If the hand is thrown in without play it is a single set, but if the bidder chooses to play out the hand and then loses it counts as a double set. The final winner of the game wins the game stake from each opponent, and in addition each opponent has to pay the winner a set stake for each time they were set (two set stakes for a double set).
Another way to achieve the same result is to use a pot. At the start of the game, each player puts a game stake into the pot. Every time you are set you must add a set stake to the pot - or two set stakes for a double set. The eventual winner takes the whole pot.
It is important to get the balance of the game and set stakes right. The purpose of the set stake is to discourage frivolous sacrifice bids. However if the set stake is too high in relation to the game stake, players will only bid on a certainty, making the game a little dull. Sacrifice bidding to prevent another player from going out is a very much accepted and oft-used tactic and may have a variety of results. For example:
- A player may sometimes gets good enough cards in the cat to convert a sacrifice bid into a winning bid.
- Sometimes, a player will make a sacrifice bid and the leader will "meld out" anyway.
- Sometimes a player who is on the verge of going out will bid 250 in the hope of coercing another player to bid against him to try to drive the bid up and and set the leader. But then the leader will pass the bid and set the opposing player. We call this trick "dropping the bid on him".
- A player may have a good hand dealt to him, and the person that is near to going out will try to "drop the bid on him", thinking the bidder will go set, but the bidder ends up winning the game.
Variations
Bidding
The minimum bid allowed has gradually increased over time. Books from the beginning of the 20th century do not specify any minimum. Some people still play with a minimum of 100 or 200. On the other hand, more recently some people have begun to play with a minimum bid of 300 rather than 250.
Some players require player to the left of the dealer always to begin with the minimum bid. Others require the dealer to make the minimum bid if the first two players pass.
Throwing in the Hand
Some play that if you have five nines in your hand and you have no meld (except perhaps deeces), the hand is thrown in ('bunched') and redealt.
These requirements vary from place to place. Some require six nines without meld or seven nines irrespective of meld for a throw-in. Some require five nines and no aces, or six nines with at most one ace.
Some allow any hand to be thrown in if all three players agree, though such an agreement is rare.
Some, on the other hand, require every deal to be played.
Melds
There are also a few variations in the values of the various melds, though the values given above are fairly standard.
Some play with no special score for some or all of the double melds, so that for example a double rope may be worth only 300. On the other hand some add special scores for double marriages. Gilbert Ohlson reports that in St Joseph Missouri a double marriage in trumps scores 240; if it is combined with rope (sequence) the total score is 390.
Some treat a 'Roundhouse', which consists of a King and Queen in each suit, as a meld in its own right scoring 240. This 240 replaces the separate scores for the Kings around, Queens around and marriages contained within it, which scored separately would produce the same total. Difficulties arise when a player has a Roundhouse along with an overlapping meld such as a Rope or Double Queens around. Some score 390 for Roundhouse plus Rope, but others argue that this effectively counts the Royal Marriage twice and the total should be only 350. If you treat a Roundhouse as a meld, these details should be agreed before the game.
Rules of Play
The newer rule of play, given in almost all card game books since 1945, is that a player is only obliged to beat the highest card so far played to a trick is a trump was led. Players are, however, still obliged to trump if they have no card of the suit led. So if a non-trump is led, players may follow suit with a lower card, and if the second player trumps and the third player also lacks that suit, the third player is free to play a higher or lower trump than the second player. However, many groups continue to follow the older rule that you must always head the trick when possible, as given in the play section on this page.
Scoring and Winning the Game
Other targets scores are of course possible, for example 1000 or 2500, leading to a shorter or longer game.
Some play that if any player's negative score goes beyond some agreed value, for example -1000, while at least one player has a positive score, the game ends and the player with the most positive points is the winner. If all players are negative, play continues until someone has a positive score. This discourages a player who is losing badly from bidding recklessly in a vain attempt to catch up.
Some play a fixed number of deals, rather than to a target score.
Some divide all the scores by 10, so that counters and the last trick are worth 1 point, a rope scores 15, and so on. In this case a target score of 1500 to win the game would become 150.
Tips and ethics
A game game can last from 5 minutes to 2 hours or more, but the average game lasts from 45 minutes to an hour. The game can be won with one hand, but an average game requires 10-12 hands, depending on the number of sets.
- It is to the bidder's advantage to discard counters into his trick pile prior to the hand being played out.
- It is advantageous for the 2 non-bidders to "smear" to each other. This means that they should try to give each other counters in their tricks in an attempt to set the bidder.
- Being the dealer allows a person to be the last bidder. This is sometimes to the dealer's benefit.
- Having the ability to determine how the trump is "played out" in a hand can make the difference between making a bid and going set.
- "Talking across the table" is forbidden. This means that you cannot tell any of the players in the game which cards they should play.
- Remembering which cards your opponents expose during the meld portion of the game is essential to being a successful player. Also memorizing which cards have been played out and which cards remain in their hands during the play portion of the game is important.
- Like all card games, gloating is frowned upon.
- Any cards accidentally exposed during the dealing process are grounds for a misdeal. Any inaccuracies during the deal will void the hand and cause a misdeal.
- "A card laid is a card played". In the play portion of the game, once a card leaves a persons hand and is played on the table, it cannot be picked up and placed back in the hand. Sometimes this is cause for a renege. This rule applies no matter how long the card lays on the table. If either of the other players can describe the card in question it is considered a "played" card.
Renege
Any time a player accidentally misplays during the play portion of the hand, it is called a renege. There are various forms of misplay:
- playing out of suit
- sloughing on a trick when you hold trump in your hand
- playing out of turn
- failure to discard 3 cards prior to the play portion of the hand - this constitutes a renege if bidder has led to the first trick
- purposely exposing any portion of your hand to another player (during the play portion of the game for all players and also during the meld portion of the hand for non-bidders with the exception of meld cards)
- failure to kill
- any other action that disrupts the harmony of the game.
These are all grounds for a renege.
If the bidder reneges, he automatically takes a double set and the amount of his bid is subtracted from his score. The 2-opposing players get to count their meld points and the remainder of the hand is thrown in.
If either of the 2 non-bidders accidentally misplay, the bidder automatically makes his bid. The bidder gets to score the amount of his bid and his meld, the player that misplayed loses all meld and takes a single set, and the third player scores only his meld.
Other Pinochle WWW pages
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