How to Play Bourre’

OBJECT OF THE GAME: The obect is to avoid booraying by taking at least one trick and to win by taking the most tricks.

DEALING: Choose a dealer. Thereafter, the dealpasses to the left. The person to the dealer's right has the option to cut the deck. Beginning to his left, the dealer deals five cards to each player face down, dealing his last card face up. This announces the trump suit.

DISCARDING TO DRAW: Based on the trumps in hand, player now has the option to play or pass. With the decision to play, the player may or may not choose to discard. If the player chooses to discard, he may discard up to four cards and draw from the deck in the attempt to better his hand.

PLAY BEGINS: At this time, player to dealer's left leads with any card of his choice. Each player there-after must follow suit, if possible, with a higher card. If unable to follow suit, the player must play a trump. If a trump has been played, he must try to play a higher trump. If the player cannot follow suit or trump, he must then play any other card of his choice, thus revealing to others that he has no trumps and has no cards of the suit played. The trick is won by the player with the highest card of the suit led, or the highest trump. This player leads the next play. A cinch consists of the Ace, King, and Queen of the suit announced as trump. Anyone leading play holding a cinch must play his hand in that order. The cinch guarantees the player a win for that hand.

WINNING: The winner is declared as the player holding the most tricks at the end of the hand. Any player failing to take a trick or playing a misplay (playing out of turn, failing to follow suit with a suit card in hand) is said to bourre’
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THE DECK: The deck consists of 52 cards with the Ace as highest, followed by King, Queen, Jack, etc. for each suit. GAME OPTION: In Louisiana the game is played with an ante. The ante is agreed upon among the players. The ante is placed in the center of the table and this area is called the pot. The player or players who bourre’ must contribute an amount greater than the ante or equal to the pot to the next ante. The winner of the hand wins the pot.

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