Pitch
Pitch Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Players and Cards
Partnership Pitch is played by four players, sitting in two fixed partnerships with partners seated across the table from each other. Play proceeds clockwise. The deck is a standard 52-card pack, ranked ace (high) down to two, with no jokers in the basic game.
Deal
The turn to deal rotates clockwise after every hand. The dealer deals six cards to each player, three at a time.
Bidding
There is a single round of bidding, starting with the player to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise. Each player, in turn, either passes or bids higher than the previous bid (if any). The dealer, having the last turn to bid, is the exception: the dealer may "steal the bid" by bidding the same number as the current highest bid rather than having to outbid it.
The legal bids are two, three, four, and smudge (a bid of smudge counts as a bid of five). If the first three players (everyone except the dealer) all pass, the dealer is forced to bid at least the minimum of two; this is called a "force bid."
The player who makes the final, highest bid becomes the pitcher. The pitcher names the trump suit and leads the first card of the hand.
A bid is a claim on how many of the following four points the pitcher's side will win when the hand is played out:
- High — awarded to the side holding the highest trump card that was dealt into play (normally the ace of trumps, if dealt).
- Low — awarded to the side that wins the trick containing the lowest trump card dealt into play (normally the two of trumps; if the two was not dealt, the lowest trump actually in play, such as the three, counts instead).
- Jack — awarded to the side that wins the trick containing the jack of trumps. If the trump jack was not dealt to anyone, this point is not scored by either side.
- Game — awarded to the side whose captured tricks hold the higher total card value. Card values for Game are: ace = 4, king = 3, queen = 2, jack = 1, ten = 10 (all other cards are worth 0). The deck's total Game value is 80 points; whichever side's tricks add up to more of that 80 scores the Game point. A tie means neither side scores it.
Smudge is a bid to win all four of the above points, High, Low, Jack, and Game, and to take every one of the six tricks in the hand. (Winning all six tricks is not, by itself, enough for a smudge — if the jack of trumps was never dealt, for example, the Jack point cannot be won, so a smudge bid automatically fails in that case even if all six tricks are taken.)
Play of the Cards
The pitcher leads any card to the first trick; the suit of this lead card becomes the trump suit for the hand. Every trick after the first is led by whoever won the previous trick, and the leader of a trick may lead any card.
A player who holds a card of the suit led must either follow that suit or play a trump — players are always free to trump a trick even when they are able to follow suit. A player with no card of the suit led may play anything at all, trump or otherwise.
Each trick is won by the highest trump played to it; if no trump was played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit that was led.
Scoring
High, Low, Jack, and Game are each worth one point. If the pitcher's side makes at least as many points as it bid, it scores the number of points it actually won during play — not merely the number bid. For example, a side that bid two but went on to win High, Low, Jack, and Game scores all four points. To score five points under a smudge bid, the side must have actually bid smudge; a side that bid four and then took all four points plus every trick still scores only four.
The opposing side (the side that did not win the auction) always scores whatever points it earns during play, regardless of what was bid. For instance, if the pitcher's side bid two but the opponents capture the two of trumps, the opponents score one point for Low.
If the pitcher's side fails to make at least as many points as it bid, that side is said to be set (or "set back"): it loses points equal to the amount it bid, while the opposing side still scores whatever points it made during play. A side's cumulative score can go negative.
If a side that bid smudge loses even a single trick, its smudge bid has already failed and it will be set back five points no matter what happens afterward — but play continues to the end of the hand regardless, so the other side has the chance to score any points it earns.
Winning the Game
The game is won by the first side to reach a cumulative score of at least 21 points, but a side can only win at the end of a hand in which it made its own bid. A side that reaches 21 or more points while it was the non-bidding side in that hand does not win — nor does a side win a hand in which it bid and failed to make its contract, even if its score is 21 or higher going into that hand.
It is therefore possible to win the game with fewer lifetime points than your opponents. For example, suppose your side has 18 points and the opponents have 24, but the opponents have not yet won because their last four points were scored while defending against your side's successful bids. If your side now bids three and makes it, while the opponents pick up one point defending, your side wins at 21 points even though the opponents still have 25.
Partnership Variations
Draw
After the pitcher declares trump, each player may discard any unwanted cards face down, and the dealer replenishes every hand back up to six cards from the undealt part of the deck. It is illegal to discard a trump card. Players normally discard all of their non-trump cards, hoping to draw into trump replacements; this variation makes it more likely that the ace, two, and jack of trumps all end up in play.
Pitching (in place of a bid)
Instead of bidding, a player may simply lead ("pitch") a card. This is treated as equivalent to a bid of four, with the suit of the led card as trump. Once a player pitches, no other player may bid — except the dealer, who may still take the bid over by pitching a card of a new suit or by announcing a smudge. If the dealer takes the bid this way, the original pitcher takes back the card that was led. In some circles, if the dealer does this and is then set, the dealer's loss is doubled.
Six players
With six players (three partnerships of two, seated alternately around the table), each player is dealt eight cards instead of six. There is no draw phase; instead, after trump is named, every player simply discards down to six cards.
No trump on the first trick
Some tables allow the pitcher to lead a non-trump card to the first trick. When this happens, no player may play a trump card on that first trick. Pitchers who use this option typically lead the ace of a side suit so their partner can drop the ten of that suit under it for Game points.
Cutthroat Pitch
Pitch can also be played by two or more players, each playing individually rather than in partnerships. The rules for bidding and for play of the cards are identical to the partnership game, with each player scoring and being set back individually. With more than two players, the non-bidding players will often cooperate informally to try to prevent the pitcher from making the bid.
Ten-Point Pitch (Oklahoma variant)
This popular ten-point expansion adds extra scoring trumps and is played by four or six players in partnerships, using a standard 52-card deck plus two distinguishable jokers (a High Joker and a Low Joker).
Off-Jack. The jack of the suit that is the same color as the trump suit (for example, if clubs are trump, the jack of spades) is called the Off-Jack and is treated as part of the trump suit.
Rank of trumps, high to low: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Off-Jack, High Joker, Low Joker, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two.
Deal. Four players are each dealt nine cards; six players are each dealt eight cards. Any undealt cards form a face-down "widow."
Points (up to ten).
- High — held by the side with the highest trump in play.
- Low — held by the side that holds (not necessarily wins) the lowest trump in play.
- Jack — won by the side that takes the trick containing the trump jack.
- Off-Jack — won by the side that takes the trick containing the Off-Jack.
- High Joker — won by the side that takes the trick containing the High Joker, if it is in play.
- Low Joker — won by the side that takes the trick containing the Low Joker, if it is in play.
- Trey of Trumps — worth three points (rather than one), won by the side that takes the trick containing the three of trumps. This point is optional; when it is left out, only seven points are available for bidding.
- Game — as in the basic game, or, in some circles, awarded instead to the side that wins the trick containing the ten of trumps.
Bidding. There is one round of bidding. The minimum bid is two; the maximum is the total number of points in play (ten, or seven if the trey of trumps is not used). Unlike basic Pitch, the dealer may not steal the bid.
The discard. In the six-player game, the bid winner takes the widow, declares trump, and then every player discards down to six cards before play begins. In the four-player game, after declaring trump the bidder may discard from zero to three cards and draw an equal number of replacements from the remaining deck (bringing the hand back to nine cards); all players then discard down to six cards. Some tables skip the draw and simply have each player discard three cards outright.
Play. House rules vary on following suit: some require following suit or trumping when able; others require strictly following suit when able, with anything playable only when a player has neither; and others allow free play only once a player can do neither. Whichever rule is used, the highest trump played wins the trick; lacking any trump, the highest card of the suit led wins.
Scoring and winning follow the same rules as basic Pitch (a successful side scores what it wins, an unsuccessful side is set back the amount of its bid), except that there is no smudge bid in this variant.
A common further variant of Ten-Point Pitch drops the Off-Jack and the trey bonus, leaving six points to bid for. Another well-known version deals nine cards to each of four players, sets the minimum bid at four (forcing the dealer to take a bid of four if all others pass), and after trump is named has every player discard all non-trump cards and refill to six cards from the stock; any cards left over go to the bidder, who may look at them or hand them unseen to a partner. A player left with more than six trumps must discard the excess out of the game entirely. In this version only trump cards may be legally played; a player with no trumps left drops out of the hand's play, and the game is won by the first side to reach 52 points. This version also allows a bid to "shoot the moon" — a bid to take all ten points — which, if successful, jumps the bidding side's score to 52 (an outright win) if their score was zero or higher, or up to zero if it was negative; if it fails, the bidding side loses the entire game.
Component Notes
- Standard deck: 52 playing cards, ace high through two low in four suits, used for basic Partnership and Cutthroat Pitch.
- Ten-Point Pitch deck: the standard 52 cards plus two distinguishable jokers (High Joker and Low Joker).
- Off-Jack: not a separate physical card — it is whichever jack shares the trump suit's color, reassigned to trump for the hand.
- Score pad or score cards: used to track each side's cumulative score, which can go negative when a side is set back.