Stonebridge residents find
pinochle is all aces
'Feel good' card game touted as healthy addiction
BY MARY ANNE ROSS
Correspondent
Steve Birnbaum is
hooked, and he's trying to turn on as many people as he can to his
passion, the game of pinochle.
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PHOTOS
BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above: Bob Gordon (l-r), Tony Maida,
Marty Tobias and Steve Birnbaum play partnership pinochle on a
recent Monday evening at Monroe's Stonebridge adult community.
Below: Richard Quinto looks over his cards.
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The
card game, he said, requires strategy, skill and a bit of a thick skin.
And the more that people play, the better they get, and the more
challenging and exciting the game becomes, according to Birnbaum.
"This is 'feel good' activity," said Birnbaum, who introduced the game
last year to other residents in Monroe's newest adult community,
Stonebridge, off Applegarth Road. "The residents' eagerness to learn and
play the game is a tribute to how good this game is."
There are several variations of the game — cutthroat and auction
pinochle, for example, but Birnbaum prefers partnership pinochle.
"Because it is a partner's game. The complexity of the game is far more
than any single player card game, except maybe bridge. In a way it's a
detective game in that you are looking for clues to what is in your
partner's hand," he said.
A
pinochle deck looks different from an ordinary set of cards. It includes
only high cards starting at nine and going up to aces. There are two
copies of each suit, for a total of 48 cards.
Birnbaum learned the game in his youth, when his uncle lost one of the
players in his foursome. His brother was already playing, so they
recruited Steve.
"My poor brother," he said with a laugh. "He put up with all my
mistakes."
That experience was the beginning of a lifelong passion for the game.
As an electrical foreman, he converted a group of lunchtime poker
players into pinochle fanatics.
"We started with a small group and it just expanded,"
he said. Pretty soon, they were playing at each other's homes on the
weekends.
The same thing has now happened at Stonebridge.
"We started out with a handful of guys and it's just grown," he said.
Currently there are about 15 players who meet regularly on Monday
evenings and on Fridays, when they play all day.
"The
thing about pinochle is that once you learn it, you really love it. You
hate to miss a game and you always like to talk about it afterward,"
Birnbaum said.
In partner pinochle, players bid on their hands and then use tricks and
melds to give hints to their partners as to the cards they are holding.
The terms may be a bit intimidating to a novice, but many of the most
enthusiastic players at Stonebridge had never played the game before.
"Steve's a great teacher," said Don Babish, a resident of Stonebridge
and a regular player who learned from Birnbaum.
One of the secrets to Birnbaum's success is that everyone he teaches
plays the same way. That way if they have to switch partners, they can.
"You have to be able to communicate with your partner," he said.
Birnbaum has created a comprehensive and user-friendly website for
pinochle players. It contains the rules of the game, tips and advice.
There are hand evaluations to help new players, and memorable games,
scores, statistics and a flow chart. The game schedule at Stonebridge is
also listed.
Birnbaum's website is listed on the Wikipedia page for pinochle under
Comprehensive Pinochle Documentation.
Birnbaum said players from other adult communities in the area are
welcome to join the group.
"We are a really friendly group and we are happy to teach new players.
They could come here or we could go to other clubhouses," he said.
Pinochle, Birnbaum said, is a lot of fun, but it is also great exercise
for the brain.
Those interested can visit his website,
http://sbirnbaum.hnccorp.com/pinochle/ or contact him on email at
sbjunk19@comcast.net or by phone at 609-235-9481.