I did not understand this thread when it was first posted. I am now older, wiser and no closer to understanding.
Agreed, Doc. I have carefully read each description of a hand being played and I do not have the freakin’ faintest idea what anyone is talking about.
And I thought my brother’s stories about playing bridge were incomprehensible…
Dennis
You can’t get it out, but if you mix up the blood from all the wounded, the cops can’t figure anything out.
Dennis
Can you explain this in Scrabble? Or maybe blackjack.
And hookers!
In fact, forget the blackjack. And the Scrabble.
Scrabble: You need to play a 2 point word to win. You decide to play a big word, spell it wrong, get challenged, lose 50 points.
Blackjack. You’re sitting on 20, the dealer has a 6 showing and you know the deck has a lot of tens. You take a hit and bust.
Hookers. She tells you she has tertiary syphilis, the clap, AIDS, crabs and is currently ovulating. You decide to not use a condom.
This reminds me of a Simpsons moment. At a group marriage counseling session, Ned Flanders describes their big problem as, “Maude sometimes underlines passages in MY Bible when she can’t find hers.”
Homer mumbles under his breath, “Good thing you don’t keep guns in the house…”
How many times do I have to tell her. When you have a solitary ace (the only card in that suit is the ace) then play it before you lose a trick. OMG every time she does it she loses the ace then acts like it was bad luck that her A got sucked out.
Ouch, two years later and you’re still playing pinochle with her? Can’t you wait until the next generation & teach them how to play?
And here I thought Cricket matches were long…
In May 2016, you can’t blame her for being uncomfortable about a trump winning.
I always though it was good luck to get your A sucked out. 
Are we still talking about cards?
My family used to play pinochle all the time. Alas, we don’t get to much anymore.
But I just wanted to chime in with:
The worms crawl in
The worms crawl out
The worms play pinochle
on your snout
I like singing that to my kids. They have no idea what I’m talking about.
Has the DILIT graduated at this point?
Half of those genes are yours, you know. Unless, if you’re lucky, they’re the postman’s.
I still want to know what is this card passing? I kibitzed and played pinochle for over a decade until I had a GF who taught me bridge. I played 2 handed, 3 handed, 4 handed, double deck, and never passed a card in my life.
But I agree, bidding 31 with only 5 meld is madness. When we played 4 handed, the minimum bid was 20. In three handed with a widow, it was 25.
If you want to see a really nutty card game, google skat.
Not at work I won’t! 
Oh and an update. After playing for 30 years without a double run (including the "I forgot I had a queen of clubs (trump) so here’s a 9 of hearts fuck up I mentioned upthread) I FINALLY made my double run.
Yay me!!!
CONGRATULATIONS.
Did you immediately bid 50, just cause you knew you could?
No but better yet it was the first hand of the game and I could take every trick so I laid down my hand and quoted Hudson from Aliens, “GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!”
Even better than the story about my stepson’s Canasta Dance (but just barely)
Son and DIL partners. Me and Mrs Cad partners. They’re in the 120’s and we’re in the 40’s.
Son is dealt double pinochle. Normally you would take the contract with your 30 point meld in order to control trump to guaranty you take one trick. However son has crap so he questions how many points can he really take? Bidding gets to the high 30’s and he passes thinking he’ll meld his 30, the team will somehow get a trick and win the game. Remember we need over 100 points to break 150.
So I get the contract and call trump. Mrs Cad passes me her only 2 trump, an ace and a loser
TO GIVE ME DOUBLE ACES AROUND BITCHES!!! 100 points!!!
and we take every trick too for 35 more.
Me, the Mrs and Son agree that he really did play it the best way. DIL was so pissed at son she refused to talk to him the rest of the night. OK I guess I didn’t help matters when I slow-rolled the 8th Ace.