Learn How to Play Pitch

Who determines trump?

When the game begins the dealer deals six cards to everyone at the table, and then the person to the left of the dealer starts the bidding. He may bid 2, 3, 4, shoot the moon (which we will discuss later), or pass. The bid is based on the number of points that the particular player thinks he will accumulate in a given round. For instance, if you are dealt Ace King of the same suit in a four handed game, you can safely bid two, and more advanced players may bid three. The reasoning behind this is the fact that you are guaranteed the High point with your Ace, and there is a good chance of scooping up a low, jack, or high game points with the King. After someone bids 2, you must bid 3 or higher, or pass.

So for example, if the person to the left of the dealer bids 2, and everyone else passes he takes the bid, and whatever suit he leads out in is now the trump suit. Hence, if he leads with the Ace of hearts, trump is hearts.

The bidding is in many ways similar to what you do when you play poker, so if you are a poker player this should not be a problem.

Shoot the Moon

When a person makes a shoot the moon bid they are saying that they can win every single trick. This means that they must pick up every single pot of cards, and get all four points. The best case scenario when shooting the moon is to have all six cards be trump, and you must have the Jack.

The best possible hand in pitch is A,K,Q,J,10,9 all trump. Because remember if you shoot the moon with A,K,J,10,9,7 you had better hope that the person with the Queen does not have two other trump to off set your ace and king. Because if they do, they will take your Jack and the game will be over.

If you succeed in shooting the moon the game is automatically over, and you have won. However if it is unsuccessful you go negative eight and if you are playing for money, you must pay double.

The Game Play

After the bidding is complete the highest bidder will lead with his trump suit. It is general practice to lead with the highest card in your hand, unless that high card is a Jack at which point you would want to save that card so that the person with either the Q,K, OR A does not take it from you. 

So for example if I win the bid, and I lead with the ace of hearts, the person to my left must now throw a card and if he has a heart in his hand he must throw it. If not he can throw junk as not to give me any points. This continues around the circle.

Whoever throws the highest card in the given hand wins all of the cards in that hand. The game continues that way until all of the player’s cards are gone.

Tallying up the Points

After all of the cards have been thrown everyone tallies up their points. The person with the highest trump gets one point, lowest one point, Jack one point, and most game points gets you a point. If the person who made the original bid got their bid they are safe, and the two points gets written down. However let’s say that someone bids three and only makes two, that person is “set” for three, and goes negative three on the scoreboard.

Most games are played to 11 or 15, and rarely up to 21.

The game sounds confusing at first, but it is really very simple. Once you have the basics down there is a lot to learn about how to bid, how to throw to set someone, and the other variations of pitch such as Jersey and 7 card draw