Each player (out of a total of four) receives nine cards. They'll use their best six. Anything not in trump doesn't count (except off jack, and jokers).
Minimum bid is four, but for all practicality, it's five. A four-bid will not make it in any game I play in.
The bidding goes from left of dealer around and back to dealer (and when I'm dealing, I always will get the bid, unless my hand just really bites). You only get to bid once, as in six-point pitch. So go for it.
Once a person gets the bid, he announces what suit is trump. There are sixteen trump cards.
Everyone then drops all but their trump cards and draws till they have six cards, in any particular order. No one can throw away trump. After everyone is given their draw, the high-bidder goes through the cards one at a time till his hand is full of trump, and then turns the remainder over to his partner. No trump can be left in the discard pile, unless the high bidder and his partner are both "full-up" and the other team has less than four trump between them.
Only trump count, and the high-bidder has already announced what trump is, so the first card laid (by the high-bidder) is trump. I think it's illegal to play a joker or the off-jack first.
Everyone must follow suit, since that's the only one that counts. When someone run out of trump, they don't announce it until it gets to their turn and they can't play a trump. Then they just toss in their hand. Anyone can throw any card in their designated turn. Like, if I throw out the four as the first card, and Dan, who is on the other team, throws the jack, then Doug (being my partner, theoretically), could throw the queen just so he could take the lead and throw his king, or Doug could throw something like the six. It isn't necessary to go higher than the previous card, but it's usually wise. In this instance, if Doug let the jack go by, and Kent had the three, he could throw it and Dan's jack would take the trick.
Additional hands are played till one team reaches 52 points. If both teams reach 52 on the same hand, the bidder's team wins.