Belote

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A belote of clubs.

Belote is the name of a popular 32-card trick-taking game, played in France, the low countries, South-Eastern Europe, Armenia, and elsewhere. In Dutch the game is known as Klaverjassen, in Bulgarian the official name is Bridge-Belote (Бридж-белот), in Cyprus it is called Pilotta (Πιλόττα), in Québec the word was shortened to the fist syllable and spelled bœuf, and in Croatian Bela is used as a synonym. Belote in Armenia, more commonly known as Bazaar Belote, is also a very popular game, and it is played in a slightly different way.

It is also the card game number one in Saudi Arabia

Within the game's terminology, belote is used to designate a pair of a King and a Queen of a trump suit, possibly yielding the game's name itself.

Contents

[edit] Rules

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The game is played differently in different locations, but most versions share a considerable set of common rules.

A typical 32-card deck is used, 4 suits by 8 ranks, or {♠ ♥ ♦ ♣} × {A K Q J 10 9 8 7}, and is shuffled between games. The game is played by four people[1], forming two teams: North-South and East-West, and playing in turn in counter-clockwise direction.

[edit] Dealing

The deck is never shuffled, but rather cut by the player who precedes the dealer, except for the first dealing in a game when the dealer's partner does that. The first dealing in a game is done by the winners from the previous game. At least three cards must be cut.

The cards are dealt counter-clockwise starting from the dealer's successor (to his/her right), each player receives a set of three cards, then another set of two. The rest of the cards remain temporarily face-down.

If a contract is agreed upon, the remaining cards are dealt after the bidding — a group of three for each player.

[edit] Bidding

The possible contracts are (from lowest to highest):

  • Clubs ♣
  • Diamonds ♦
  • Hearts ♥
  • Spades ♠
  • "No trumps"
  • "All trumps"

Every player must either suggest a higher contract, or bid:

  • Pass
  • Double (Coinchée, or Contra), if the current highest contract was not bid by the partner
  • Re-double (Re-contra), if the other team have doubled bidder's or bidder partner's contract.

Usually two levels of doubling are allowed. In some areas of Bulgaria a third level is also used. It is called "чаршаф-контра" (bed sheet-double) or "излез-контра" (go out-double) and the aim is to with the match in a game (26 MP x 8, see section Scoring below).

Two levels of doubling are allowed. The bidding phase is over when one of the following becomes true:

  • Four passes were announced
  • Three passes were announced after a contract was suggested
  • An "all trumps" contract is re-doubled

[edit] Play

The play consists of eight tricks, the first one being started by the dealer's successor. The first player in a round can play any card, but subsequent players must obey the following rules (the first one which applies is binding):

  1. The dominant suit[2] must be followed.
  2. If the dominant suit is a trump suit, a higher-ranking card must be played.
  3. If following is impossible, then a trump must be played. Overtrumping is obligatory, except when the current trick winner is the partner.

The winner of a trick starts the next trick. The last trick is a bit more significant, as its winner is awarded some points.

In Bulgarian bridge-belote the rank of the cards is different for trump and non-trump suits. The order is (from highest to lowest rank):

  • a trump suit: "J 9 A 10 K Q 8 7"
  • a non-trump suit: "A 10 K Q J 9 8 7"

[edit] Declarations

Declarations must be announced during the first trick:

  • A tierce — a sequence of three (sequences are in the "A K Q J 10 9 8 7" order of the same suit) — is worth 20 points
  • A quarte — a sequence of four — is worth 50 points.
  • A quint — a sequence of five (longer sequences are not awarded, a sequence of eight is counted as a quint plus a tierce)
  • A carré of Jacks is worth 200 points.
  • A carré of Nines is worth 150 points.
  • A carré of Aces, Kings, Queens, or Tens is worth 100 points. (Sevens and Eights are not awarded.)

It is sufficient to specify the type of a declaration (one of the above), whereas the exact suit or ranks are not required. A card can participate in at most one declaration.

A belote is a "royal" pair of a King and a Queen of a trump suit. A belote is worth 20 points, and must be declared when the first of them is played (not necessarily during the first round).

In a "no trumps" contract declarations do not apply.

[edit] Scoring

Cards are counted depending on their trump status:

Rank:                       J   9   A  10   K   Q   8   7
=========================================================
Points (trump):            20  14  11  10   4   3   0   0
Points (not a trump):       2   0  11  10   4   3   0   0

The winner of the last trick gets 10 points. Declarations, including belotes, are added to the score.

If the contract was no trumps, the result is multiplied by two. So is done for every double bid.

If a team is committed to a contract and has less points, all points go to the enemy, and the losing team in Bulgarian Belote are said to be "вътре" (inside). In a doubled contract, both teams are considered committed.

The result is divided by ten, rounded, and added up to the global score. The rounding is somewhat complicated as the sum of points is a multiple of ten only for a "No trumps" contract. It is 258 for "All trumps" and 162 for a suit contract. Therefore the rounding limit is 5 in a "No trumps" contract, 4 in an "All trumps", and 6 in a suit contract.

  • a score below the limit is rounded down. Example: 35 points in a suit contract yields 3 match points;
  • a score above the limit is rounded up. Example: 125 points in an "All trumps" contract yields 13 MPs;
  • when both teams have scores at the rounding limit, the lower score is rounded up and the higher score is rounded down. Example: if in an "All trumps" contract with two tierces the declarer have got 154 points and the defenders have got 144 points, both teams will get 15 MPs and it would be a narrow escape.
  • when both teams have equal scores at the end of the round, the points are "hanging". What happens in this case is the following: the commited team doesn't add those points to their score, while the other team do. The remaining poits (those that were not added by the commited team) "hang" over to the next round and they are given to the team that wins.

A special valat (or capot) premium of 9 match points exists for not leaving a single trick for the enemy. Note, that this does not lift off the enemy's points from declaration. Valats are doubled at no trumps.

In some parts of Bulgaria, the rules of the game include a kirtik — a special -10 match points penalty for not winning when committed or for being valat.

Further information: Kirtik

The first team to reach 151 in the global score is the winner, but the game cannot end while a valat takes place.

[edit] Strategy

Being aggressive at suit contracts is justified, as it is likely to get over-bid, and punishments are not expensive. A rarely-used strategy could be to use a simplified equivalent of the Strong two clubs strategy in Contract bridge — clubs means "I have good cards, I don't know what suit to choose"; a reply of diamonds means "I have very weak cards, and I can't decide either".

No trumps is the most dangerous game, and should be suggested with care, as a missing suit may ruin a strong hand. Besides, points are doubled at no trumps, so are the punishments and the last hand's points.

During the play phase, long suits should be drawn first. The lack of a missing strongest card can be overcome by "knocking it out" — playing the suit and sacrificing a round as early as possible. This is possible because of the rule for the higher card. At no trumps, that rule is not in effect, so knocking out equivalent to impasses in Bridge.

In the case when one of the partners holds a strong hand, and the other one is drawing a long suit, the first one can indicate his situation by throwing out a top card (the strongest present in a suit — usually a Jack in "all trumps" or an Ace in "no trumps"). That almost certainly means that that suit must be the next dominant one.

[edit] Cheating

Provable cheating is punished with 25 points in the global score. The techniques described here have been observed in friendly "neighbour" games, and are considered innocent fun, if revealed at the end of the game. Nevertheless, the 25-point rule applies when someone is caught redhanded in the act of cheating.

Could mean: J♠ J♦
Enlarge
Could mean: J♠ J♦

[edit] Suit signs

They could be gestures or words, agreed upon beforehand, which notify the partner for the presence of a strong suit. A typical scheme is to scratch your lip for spades, nose for hearts, chin for diamonds, and eyes for clubs. The number of fingers used for the scratch may indicate the number of trump cards.

[edit] Dominant suit continuation

It is important for the first player in a trick to decide whether to repeat (continue) the dominant suit from the previous trick. Usually, the cards won by his team are collected by his partner, so that he can have a free hand to quickly start the next trick. The partner may use that to indicate a desire for "continuing", e.g. by placing the collected cards along the line connecting the team — meaning "continue", as opposed to putting them perpendicularly.

[edit] Dealer's trick

Exposing cards to the partner is very convenient to do as a dealer. Slightly tilting the deck while dealing is likely to go unnoticed by the opponents. Aligning the deck together may expose the last card to the partner, or even to the dealer himself.

Hiding cards in sleeves or socks is justified doing before it is one's turn to deal. Noticing that the partner has hidden a card, and dealing him one less, is more difficult to accomplish.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Versions exist for three and two players, including a non-trivial two-player "open cards" version, but four is considered to be the standard.
  2. ^ A dominant suit is the suit of the first card in a trick.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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