Rules for Taking Tricks in Pinochle

Now that all the players have picked up the cards that they melded, the declarer leads everybody to the first trick of the hand. Moving to the left, each player will play a card. Once four cards have been played, the highest rank card of trump will win the trick. If there is no trump, the high rank card of suit will come out as the winner. In the event of a tie, the card that was played first will win the trick. Whoever wins the first trick leads the next one and so forth. This is done until a total of 12 tricks are played.

Of course, there are rules that govern taking tricks. Here are three basic rules that you will want to keep in mind during this part of the game.

1. Pay attention to the lead card that is laid down. If you have a card that is the same suit you must lay it down. If available, you must play a card that beats the current trick.
2. If you have a card in trump, and nothing that matches the first suit, you must use it. This is known as trumping the trick.
3. If you cannot follow one of the two rules above, you can play any card. This is known widely as a slough.

In addition to these three rules, there are also some tips that you should keep in mind. They will help you to have more success during the trick taking part of a pinochle hand.

1. If two identical cards are played, the first one laid always wins.
2. You must beat the trick with a higher card if possible; as mentioned above. And this holds true even if the higher card is your partners.

Once a trick is played, the players at the table will be able to tell who won. As a beginner this may be hard for you to do, but over time you will learn to tell the winner just by looking at the cards; it will become more or less second nature.

As you can see, taking tricks, just like laying meld, is where the fun of pinochle really begins.