Fans of pinochle must sacrifice two standard decks of playing cards just to make one complete pinochle deck. You must also remove the two through eight cards, which are not used in this trick-taking card game. If you play other card games with your decks, then this system quickly gets confusing and leads to time-consuming sorting. Save yourself time and hassle by investing in a special pinochle deck instead.

A standard pinochle deck has 48 cards and requires two four-suit sets of the following cards: nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace. To create a pinochle deck from two standard decks, you must remove all the two through eight cards. This small hassle becomes a major annoyance if you use the same decks for other card games. The removed cards are easy to misplace, leaving you empty-handed the next time that you want to play poker instead of pinochle. If you play pinochle often, shop for a special pinochle deck instead. This 48-card deck is ready for your next game with all the required cards for pinochle. Players with arthritis or slow hands often appreciate having a dedicated deck that saves them from sorting. The deck is also great for fans of double-deck pinochle. This variation combines two pinochle decks but removes the nine cards, creating an 80-card deck. Double-deck players often appreciate the convenience of buying two pinochle decks and sorting out the nine cards rather than removing the two through nine cards from a whopping four standard decks.

A special pinochle deck lets you skip the sorting so that you are ready to play pinochle at any time. When shopping for your pinochle deck, look for plastic cards, which tend to last longer than paper ones. To protect your deck, look for brands that come in a lidded case, which makes cards easier to put away.