Pinochle for Beginners

Sit down at the card table without feeling lost. This friendly guide teaches four-player partnership Pinochle from the first card: the 48-card deck, the unusual ranking, how tricks work, and the full table of meld, from simple marriages to the pinochle and the arounds. You will learn how to value a hand, bid with confidence, pass cards to your partner and score a whole game hand by hand, with worked examples throughout. Strategy chapters cover leading, trumping, saving counters, reading your partner's meld and playing to the score. Later chapters add double-deck, three-handed and two-handed play, house rules, table manners and playing online. Practice hands with answers close each chapter, and a Quick Reference gathers the key tables in one place.

Imad Muratspahic is an independent author of practical how-to guides, technical handbooks, history and fiction. The books aim to be clear, honest and useful from the first page.