Ace, 10, king, queen…wait a minute

Pinochle Club stacks deck for annual tournament

SUN CITY – Imagine this scenario: you’re a bridge, canasta, triple play, or cribbage player, and you’re kibitzing at another game. You see someone lead a 10, someone else plays a nine, then down comes a king, and then a queen shows. You’re surprised when the player who led the 10 takes the trick. You inquire why, and a player tells you that the ranking of cards in this game is ace-10-king-queen-jack.

He may smile and say, “there’s no special reason we do it that way, it’s just something that makes us unique.”
Then you note that two aces of the same suit come down on the same trick. Then you also note that there are no cards below nines. There are weird scoring combinations, too.

Relax, you’re watching pinochle, a game that loves all kinds of melding, high scores, lots of high-ranking cards, and lots of socializing and teamwork. More than 150 Sun Citians are members of the Pinochle Club, formed in February, 2000 by the late Barb and Ed Serafin, according to Dan Bressler, current club president.

“There were barely 25 players then, but the club has grown rapidly and steadily, since pinochle is one of the most popular card games played in the nation,” he said.

There also are many pinochle sessions in the community’s neighborhoods, and many pinochle nights among friends and neighbors.

The game, and the club, reach their high water marks of the year in Sun City next Sunday, Nov. 3, in the charter group’s annual fall tournament. The double-elimination event is open to all residents and offers an array of cash prizes: $100 for the first place team, $50 for second, and $30 each for high round and high average score. As a bonus, a single-elimination consolation tournament is offered for all teams that are eliminated after three rounds. First place there is $40. There is an $8 entry fee per player. Play begins at noon in Fountain View Center in Prairie Lodge.

Bob Begora is a pinochle enthusiast who serves as director of club tournaments like this one.

“We usually have a full afternoon of play, and sometimes it takes us six hours to determine a winner,” Begora said. “Last year, three teams finished all of the planned rounds with no losses, and you’re not eliminated until you’ve had a loss. We had to play three extra rounds to determine a winning team, and it got really exciting.”

The club also runs a “dumb luck lotto,” which consists of a drawing for players who got middle-of-the-pack scores the previous week with no chance to get a very high or low score for a prize.

“If the number drawn matches a middling score from the previous week, that team gets $2 in the dumb-luck lotto,” Begora said. “Players love it. If the drawing doesn’t match any score, we roll it over to the next week, when it gets to $4. One time, the lotto got up to $16. It all adds to the fun.”

“We run two sessions on Monday mornings and afternoons, plus our tournaments,” Bressler said. “We started these special events in 2011, and they are a great way of adding new members.”

Pinochle, like most card games, originated in Europe and was especially popular in Germany, where it was called “binochle.” It actually derives from the French game “bezique.” German immigrants brought the game to America, starting in the 19th century. In the U.S., it was mispronounced and misspelled “pinochle.” Folks today probably say it was “Americanized.”

Games related to pinochle are sixty-six, marjapussi, skat, and belote.

The game is played most commonly (including in Sun City) in a four-handed format, with two-person teams competing against each other. There are many variations in scoring and method of play, including two-handed, three-handed, and five-handed or more games. Each hand is played in three phases: bidding, melding, and trick-taking. A pinochle deck consists of two copies of each of the 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace in all four suits, for a total of 48 cards. The game is normally played with the 10 ranking second to the ace. It can be played with standard ranking (ace-king, etc.) with a simple change in scoring.

Pinochle Tournament
Registration for the Nov. 3 tournament is open through Oct. 31. For more information contact Begora at 847-515-3287, or Bressler at 847-669-7373. The tournament is open to all residents.

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