Pinochle winning bid. Four-handed pinochle, or "partnership pinochle" is played with two teams of two players each. Partners are seated opposite from each other. Each player is dealt 12 cards. The opening bid is typically 150, but can be a higher agreed on value. All four players may bid. Both the bidder and his partner have their score count towards making the contract. High bidder names trump. There typically is no kitty. With a kitty, the four cards are distributed, one to each player, by the bid winner. Each hand must meld separately. As in the three-handed version, the first player
German Skat Association the club is the German Skat Court ("Deutsches Skatgericht"), which rules on disputes in tournament games. In addition, it organises open tournaments and the German Skat Championships. The German Skat Association has almost 26,000 members, organised into 13 state associations and 1,666 clubs. The DSkV organises German championships for individuals, teams and pairs. There are also open tournaments in which any interested Skat player may take part - without having to prove membership of a club (German Ladies Cup, German Mixed Championship, Germany Cup and the biennial International DSkV Skat Cup). As well as these tournaments there is a league