Bet you never been told that before! Well neither have I to tell you the truth, but in my quest to fetch some of the more unique card games in existence, I came across this trick-taking, gambling game which goes by the name of Bourré. From what I have read this game is of French origin (based on an even older Spanish game called Burro or Donkey) made popular among the Cajun communities of the southern United States.
Interesting however, according to some newsfeeds, this game has grown to be quite popular in some American home games when people grow a bit bored of playing poker. It’s very straight forward as trick-taking games go and rather fast-paced since you only have 5 tricks per hand and just one draw or pass stage at the very beginning.
Number of players
Picking from various sources, the ideal number of players for this game would be five to seven players. More would make dealing out replacement cards complicated and less would reduce the fun factor of the game.
Ante and dealing
Players agree on an ante to place in a common pot at the start of a hand and then the designated dealer, who can be chosen using any randomisation process, deals out exactly 5 cards face down, to all players. However the last card the dealer deals to himself, he deals face up to determine the trump suit. If that up-card is an Ace then the dealer must always play and cannot pass (fold).
Pass or Draw stage
Once the cards are dealt, then all players are allowed to exchange anything between zero to all cards in hand. In turn they indicate verbally the number of cards they wish to exchange or stand pat.
The Trick-taking stage
The game proceeds to the play phase. The first trick is led by the first active player to the dealer’s left. As with most trick-taking games, this first player holds no obligation to play a trump card but any player thereafter must play a card in the suit of the card led if they can, and only subsequently play a trump card if they can. A player may only play “any card” to a trick (i.e. neither in the suit led nor a trump) if they hold cards in neither the suit led nor trumps.
Winning and pay-offs
The pot is won by the player who normally wins three tricks minimum, but it is possible to win the pot with only two tricks if the other players win one trick or none at all. If a player wins no tricks at all then he has been Bourréd and must pay a penalty to the pot equal to the sum in the pot at the time.
Interestingly if a player is caught reneging, that is that he could have played a card in the suit led by did not, or a card in the trump suit but did not, then that player too will have to pay a penalty equal to the total present in the pot at the time.
There are also some obligations on a player who has what is called a cinch hand, or a sure hand of three tricks he cannot possibly lose. For example let’s say a player has AKQ of trump, it is highly unlikely that he will lose any of these three tricks. In this instance, the player is obliged to play the highest trump first, followed by the second highest etc.
Some other considerations
…and there you have it! Bourré is relatively straight forward as trick-taking games go, but the pot can grow sensibly if hands end repeatedly in draws, or ties and penalties start to pile up (say from Bourréd players). Some prefer to pose a limit to the possible win from a pot, say if an ante is set to $1 and there are 5 players, then the winner can only take up to $5 from that pot for any given hand. The rest remains in the pot. There are various ways in which this can be regulated. What is then left in the pot at the end of a session could then be split up say 50-30-20 among the top three players at a table. Also as with other gambling games, one could resort to playing table-stakes to cap any losses to just what was brought to the table at the start of a session.
In Conclusion
Bourré feels like a simple yet fun gambling game that can promise some interesting hours of gameplay. Some may prefer to include it as part of a Dealer’s choice setup, where it would be blended in with other exotic poker variations like Badugi or Chinese Poker.
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