Queens And Jacks

Holding your trump can prove to be a great pinochle strategy or a losing one.  While playing pinochle you must be able to count on your partner, figure out where the cards are, and develop a strategy to take as many tricks as possible, especially the last one which is worth two extra points.


If your pinochle partner has taken the bid, it is your duty to help him discover where the power trump are. I will always play my aces of trump right away if my pinochle partner has taken the bid. This lets my pinochle partner know where at least some of the power is, runs the opponents out of trump and makes them more likely to play their power trump for fear of losing it. It also lets the whole table know who holds what, which is a great advantage if you want to control the play. The bid winner obviously wants control of the pinochle table.

If my opponents take the bid, I like to hold my power trump if I have a strong hand and try to draw out the bid winner’s high trump. This is most likely to be effective if the bid winner is to my left where I can play a 10 of trump and draw his ace right away.

Holding your trump / power cards is a technique that requires good pinochle judgement. If you try to hold your power when you are playing back up to your partner, that is like backing him up in a street fight and not throwing your punches untl after your partner has had much difficulty gaining control, if any at all in the pinochle battle at hand.