Pinochle & Snacks - Part 4 of 9 - More on Our 2010 Journey

Class four, stupid mistakes but no more snow (for now)

Hey Readers, if you've hung in this far, we thank you for following our 2010 quest to learn something new and fill open time.  Hope your still here, still reading and still enjoying!

So let's go...........................

We began with a review of four-handed bidding and meld. Then breaking into different groups of four, we worked on "signaling" and supporting your partner. Let's start with signaling. Now, unlike what you may have seen in the movies or on "The Three Stooges", signaling is not blinking your eyes in a certain way or tickling your partner's leg with your foot. Nor is it letting your partner know your suits by strength using a sentence like, "I was at the CLUB the other day and it broke my HEART to learn that another member had her DIAMONDS stolen but it turned out okay as her insurance company paid her back in SPADES." It's more like this; your partner opens with a bid of 20, the next person passes and seeing that you have some meld, maybe a pinochle (Jack of diamonds & Queen of spades) and maybe a few aces in your hand, you bid 21 or 22. This let's your partner know that you can support their hand. If you partner passes on the second go around, you could win the bid and most likely the hand. If you partner goes up (increases the bid), even better if your hand is strong. Signaling can also be which card you play during a trick. In some cases, by playing a certain card you can let your partner know what suit your short on (holding the fewest cards of that suit in your hand). But, unless you're planning on someday playing in the Pinochle World Series, keep the signaling simple. There are very elaborate signaling schemes out there that can complicate the game and take the fun away. Besides, if I/we wanted to learn all the signaling combinations, we would have taken Bridge lessons.

So I played with a different group tonight, once again separated from my best friend and I learned something valuable. You have to concentrate! I caught myself daydreaming a couple of times tonight and the results weren't pretty. Kind of like Michael Waltrip at Bristol in 1990. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVlj7F8OJCY The only difference was I didn't have a rescue crew to pull me out (he wasn't hurt). I had to salvage myself from my stupidity and then apologize to my partner for giving point cards (A,K,10) to our opponents when we should have won the trick. Also, losing concentration makes it harder to remember what was played and what is left. I can't be more serious about this, you have to pay attention to what's going on. Save the conversation for the in between times when shuffling is happening, after all, you could cause you and your partner to lose the hand (which I did once) and have your evening turn into something like this.... ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZgVRJ-H8U&feature=related )

Well, four classes down, skills and knowledge improving and the best part, it's still fun!

TIP FOUR: When leading the trick, get all your aces out of the way first, this lessens the chance that someone might trump them later and cost you or you and your partner points. Also try and play out your short suit, so you can use the trump you've save to win points later in the round.

RECIPE FOUR: Preheat oven to 425. Take an average sized Filet Mignon and coat it lightly with olive oil. Roll in finely minced garlic and Herbs Du Provence, place on cookie sheet covered with non stick foil and roast in oven for 15 minutes. While filet is roasting, slice a baguette in 1/4" thick rounds, lay out on another foil covered cookie sheet and coat lightly with olive oil and kosher salt. Remove filet from oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest. Place rounds in oven and toast checking every few minutes (they will burn in a snap). Remove from oven and rub each round lightly with a clove of garlic (the garlic will melt onto the bread) and let cool. Slice filet as thin as possible and mound one slice on each bread round. Top each with one dot of Wasabi paste (you can get this in the speciality section of your grocery). Serve and enjoy!

NEXT WEEK: Class five and a really easy but fun and tasty snack!