Bourré
Encyclopedia
Bourré is a trick-taking
gambling
card game
primarily played in the Acadiana
region of Louisiana
in the United States of America
. And also in the Greek
island of Psara with the name Boureki (Μπουρέκι in Greek). The game's closest relatives are probably Spades and Euchre
; like many regional games, Bourré sports a large number of variant rules for both gameplay and betting considerations.
After every player ante
s, the dealer passes out five cards to each player, one at a time. The dealer flips their own sixth card—the last dealt—and the suit of that card is considered trumps.In Psara
version it calls kozia or atoy. As in Spades, this suit beats all others; a 2 of trumps is "higher" in rank than an Ace of any other suit.
After the deal, each player (starting with the one to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise) states their intent to play. Many variants require an additional ante at this point. Those who are not playing in the hand fold, and those cards are collected by the dealer.
Once every player has stated their intent, the dealer asks those still in the game (in the same order as before) how many new cards they desire. They can take any number from zero to five; their discards go in a separate pile, and the dealer hands them as many new cards as they discarded. If the main stock is depleted before all the players have been serviced, the dealer shuffles the "folded" hands and deals those; if that stock is depleted as well, the discards are shuffled and used.
Once everyone, including the dealer, has either folded or completed their redraw, the trick-taking phase begins. The first player to the dealer's left that is still in the game starts by playing any card from their hand (with few exceptions); rules of play are as follows, and a lower-numbered rule overrides any higher-numbered one.
The winner of a given round, or trick, collects the cards and places them face-up in front of them. They then lead with another card. Play proceeds until all five tricks have been completed.
Deal then passes to the left.
There are complex rules about forced plays; a simple example is when someone has just taken their second trick and holds the Ace of trumps in their hand. Since the Ace of trumps is unbeatable, they must play it as their next card. Similar occurrences are when a player has taken one trick and has both the Ace and King, or (more complex) the Ace, Queen, and Jack. This is sometimes called the "cinch win" rule. If it is a "cinch" that you will win, you must win immediately by laying down the winning cards all at once. While the rules themselves are simple in theory, the details about forced plays can make Bourré challenging for even the skilled player.
The "must play to win" rule can have contentious results if a player is playing "nice", trying to keep others from bourréing. Most games disallow such "nice" plays; players must attempt to bourré as many other players as possible. As Bourré is a game with imperfect information, and gamesmanship should (hopefully) trump rules-lawyering, care should be applied to any analysis of rounds when looking for such "nice" plays.
's suspension. During an overnight flight from Phoenix to Washington, DC on December 19, 2009, Arenas was needling teammate Javaris Crittenton
for losing over $1,000 in a game of Bourré. The two exchanged words, with Arenas joking that he would blow up Crittenton's car, and Crittenton saying he would shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired knee. Two days later Arenas brought four guns to the Washington Wizards' locker room and left them, with a sign saying "Pick One," at Crittenton's locker. The incident, combined with Arenas's trivialization of it in the media, led to his indefinite suspension from the NBA on January 6, 2010. He has since been restored as an active NBA player.
A game of Boo Ray also sparked a feud on the Memphis Grizzlies team plane between NBA teammates OJ Mayo and Tony Allen in January, 2011. "Mayo owed Allen money from a card game, ‘Boo-Ray,' and sources said Mayo became increasingly belligerent and antagonistic toward Allen when asked to settle the debt," Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
Allen walked away from Mayo, the sources told Wojnarowski, only to return later and find Mayo still berating him. Then Mayo "inched close to Allen" and "Allen hit Mayo."
Other players separated the two, according to Wojnarowski's sources, and the pair was called in to talk to coach Lionel Hollins about it.
Mayo missed the following game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, on January 5. The team says it was due to bronchitis, but Wojnarowski's sources say it was "connected to the fight."
Trick-taking game
A trick-taking game is a card game or tile-based game in which play centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called tricks. The object of such games then may be closely tied to the number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games such as Whist, Contract Bridge, Napoleon, Rowboat, and...
gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
card game
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
primarily played in the Acadiana
Acadiana
Acadiana, or The Heart of Acadiana, is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 parishes that make up Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment, make up the intrastate...
region of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. And also in the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
island of Psara with the name Boureki (Μπουρέκι in Greek). The game's closest relatives are probably Spades and Euchre
Euchre
Euchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...
; like many regional games, Bourré sports a large number of variant rules for both gameplay and betting considerations.
Object
The object of Bourré is to take a majority of the tricks in each hand and thereby claim the money in the pot. If a player cannot take a majority of tricks, his/her secondary goal is to keep from bourréing, or taking no tricks at all. A bourré usually comes at a high penalty, such as matching the amount of money in the pot.Rules
The game is played with a standard 52-card deck; aces are high. (2-7 players) When there are 7 players the players may only diss 3 cards (as to not use the dead cards).After every player ante
Ante
Ante refers to:* Ante, a forced bet in the game of poker* Ante , Croatian form of the given name Anthony*The Latin word Ante, meaning "before", which is used in many Latin phrases...
s, the dealer passes out five cards to each player, one at a time. The dealer flips their own sixth card—the last dealt—and the suit of that card is considered trumps.In Psara
Psara
Psara is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Together with the small uninhabited island of Antipsara it forms the municipality of Psara. It is part of the Chios peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The only town of the island and seat of the municipality is also called...
version it calls kozia or atoy. As in Spades, this suit beats all others; a 2 of trumps is "higher" in rank than an Ace of any other suit.
After the deal, each player (starting with the one to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise) states their intent to play. Many variants require an additional ante at this point. Those who are not playing in the hand fold, and those cards are collected by the dealer.
Once every player has stated their intent, the dealer asks those still in the game (in the same order as before) how many new cards they desire. They can take any number from zero to five; their discards go in a separate pile, and the dealer hands them as many new cards as they discarded. If the main stock is depleted before all the players have been serviced, the dealer shuffles the "folded" hands and deals those; if that stock is depleted as well, the discards are shuffled and used.
Once everyone, including the dealer, has either folded or completed their redraw, the trick-taking phase begins. The first player to the dealer's left that is still in the game starts by playing any card from their hand (with few exceptions); rules of play are as follows, and a lower-numbered rule overrides any higher-numbered one.
- You must play to win. This goes beyond simply "playing a higher card"; if you know that no one else has any trumps, and it is your turn to lead, you must play trumps if you have them.
- You must play on-suit if possible, even if your highest on-suit card will not beat the highest card in play. Even if a trump has been played on a non-trump lead, if you have a card of the suit led, you must play on that suit.
- You must play a trump if you have no on-suit cards. You still must play to win; if the only trump played is a 3, you hold the 2 and the Ace of trumps but no cards of the lead suit, you must play the Ace of trumps.
- If you have neither any cards of the lead suit nor any trumps, you may play any card. This is an off card, and is effectively lower than the 2 of the lead suit.
The winner of a given round, or trick, collects the cards and places them face-up in front of them. They then lead with another card. Play proceeds until all five tricks have been completed.
- If a single player has taken more tricks than any other player, they have won the hand and take all of the winnings in the pot.
- If more than one person ties for the most tricks, this is a split pot. With five tricks, the only possible splits are 2-2-1 and 1-1-1-1-1. On a split pot, no one takes the winnings; they stay on the table.
- If anyone did not take any tricks, or renegedRevokeTo annul by withdrawing.In trick-taking card games, a revoke is a violation of important rules regarding the play of tricks serious enough to render the round invalid...
during play—that is, did not follow the rules properly—they have bourréd and must match the pot for the next round instead of their usual ante. For example, if there are five red chips in the pot at the end of a hand and someone has bourréd, they must put five red chips (or their equivalent) in the pot for the next round.
Deal then passes to the left.
There are complex rules about forced plays; a simple example is when someone has just taken their second trick and holds the Ace of trumps in their hand. Since the Ace of trumps is unbeatable, they must play it as their next card. Similar occurrences are when a player has taken one trick and has both the Ace and King, or (more complex) the Ace, Queen, and Jack. This is sometimes called the "cinch win" rule. If it is a "cinch" that you will win, you must win immediately by laying down the winning cards all at once. While the rules themselves are simple in theory, the details about forced plays can make Bourré challenging for even the skilled player.
The "must play to win" rule can have contentious results if a player is playing "nice", trying to keep others from bourréing. Most games disallow such "nice" plays; players must attempt to bourré as many other players as possible. As Bourré is a game with imperfect information, and gamesmanship should (hopefully) trump rules-lawyering, care should be applied to any analysis of rounds when looking for such "nice" plays.
Variations
Variations in the rules of Bourré abound, possibly due to its nature as a regional game. Perhaps the most common is the introduction of a pot limit, which caps the total amount a single bourré or renege can cost a given player. In some games, it is common for the dealer to ante for all of the players; this simplifies trying to determine whether individuals have anteed. In a sense, the dealer is paying for his face up trump. In this variation, for a five person, one dollar ante game, the dealer of each hand would ante five dollars. A common point of dissent is whether a player who holds trumps but not the lead suit should be forced to play a trump if they cannot beat a higher trump already on the table; while the consensus seems to be that they must, groups of players are known to not follow that particular detail. Punishments for misplay range from simple retraction (good for new players), retraction-and-renege, or just a renege, which can lead to the misplaying individual attempting to bourré one or more other players. The default ante amount is understandably variable, and the second ante is fairly common.In the news
A game of Bourré apparently sparked the dispute which led to NBA star Gilbert ArenasGilbert Arenas
Gilbert Jay Arenas, Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association . He plays as a point guard and shooting guard....
's suspension. During an overnight flight from Phoenix to Washington, DC on December 19, 2009, Arenas was needling teammate Javaris Crittenton
Javaris Crittenton
Javaris Cortez Crittenton is an American professional basketball player who has most recently played for the Dakota Wizards of the NBA D-League. He was previously the starting point guard for the Georgia Tech men's basketball team....
for losing over $1,000 in a game of Bourré. The two exchanged words, with Arenas joking that he would blow up Crittenton's car, and Crittenton saying he would shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired knee. Two days later Arenas brought four guns to the Washington Wizards' locker room and left them, with a sign saying "Pick One," at Crittenton's locker. The incident, combined with Arenas's trivialization of it in the media, led to his indefinite suspension from the NBA on January 6, 2010. He has since been restored as an active NBA player.
A game of Boo Ray also sparked a feud on the Memphis Grizzlies team plane between NBA teammates OJ Mayo and Tony Allen in January, 2011. "Mayo owed Allen money from a card game, ‘Boo-Ray,' and sources said Mayo became increasingly belligerent and antagonistic toward Allen when asked to settle the debt," Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
Allen walked away from Mayo, the sources told Wojnarowski, only to return later and find Mayo still berating him. Then Mayo "inched close to Allen" and "Allen hit Mayo."
Other players separated the two, according to Wojnarowski's sources, and the pair was called in to talk to coach Lionel Hollins about it.
Mayo missed the following game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, on January 5. The team says it was due to bronchitis, but Wojnarowski's sources say it was "connected to the fight."