Pinochle (sometimes Pinocle or Penuchle), is a trick-taking game typically for two, three or four players and played with a 48 card deck. Derived from the card game Bezique, players score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of cards into melds. Each hand is played in three phases: bidding, melds, and tricks.
A Pinochle deck consists of two copies of each of the 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace cards of all four suits. Aces are always considered high. Pinochle follows the standard card ordering with the exception of the 10 being second highest. The complete ordering from highest to lowest is A, 10, K, Q, J, 9.
Variants of Pinochle can be played with three, five, six, eight or more players. These larger variations can combine two Pinochle decks called a "double deck".
In some areas of the United States, such as Oklahoma and Texas, thumb wrestling is often referred to as "pinochle". The two games, however, are not related.
Pinochle derives from the game Bezique,...
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