(tag removed) merge|bouré}}
- For the town in France, see Bourré, Loir-et-Cher, for the dance and its music see Bourrée.
Bourré is a trick-taking card game with several variations. This game is played by the Cajun people of South Louisiana. The play is similar to Bridge or Spades.
The object of Bourré is to take as many tricks as possible, and in doing so, win the money in the pot. Players who fail to take any tricks have Bourreéd and they are penalized by having to put up the amount of money that was in the pot.
A playing card deck of 52 cards is used. Play begins with the ante. Usually the dealer antes for all players, but in some variations, each player antes in the same fashion as Poker. Five cards are dealt to each player. The last card dealt, which is the final card dealt to the dealer, is dealt face up and its suit is declared trump.
In the case of a low case card being turned up by the Dealer, he may state Lo-No. In Lo-No, low cards are boss and no trumps exist, you must follow suit, and the first card turned up by the dealer must be the first card played. The dealer must play.
Each player in turn, starting with the player to the left of the dealer, is allowed to look at their hand before declaring whether they will play this hand. They do not at this time indicate how many cards they will draw, they merely indicate whether they will play in this hand. After all players have declared in turn, the first player then draws, by discarding poor cards from his hand and being dealt new cards to replace the discarded ones. Each player in this hand then draws in turn.
Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer (unless no-low has been declared, then the dealer leads with the first card that was turned up). Unless he has an obvious winning hand he may lead with any card. There are four basic rules that govern trick play, (1) players must follow suit, (2) players who cannot follow suit must trump, (3) the card played must be played to win the trick, and (4) players must attempt to bourré as many other players as possible.
Rule (4) also applies in the form of special rule that covers the player who is dealt an obvious winning hand. If a player is dealt a hand which will obviously win the pot, he must play that hand as aggressively as possible in order to bourré as many other players as possible. Such a hand usually consists of the Ace, King and Queen of trumps, or the Ace, King, Jack and Ten of trumps, or some other combination of trump cards that will produce at least three tricks. Such a hand must lead with the highest trump card, and each following trick must be led with the highest remaining trump card.
As tricks are won they are collected and stored face up near the person who won them. The person winning the most tricks wins the pot. If there is a tie for the number of tricks, then the money stays in the pot and all persons may play for it in the succeeding hand. Any player who fails to take a trick is bourreed, and must forfeit an amount equal to the pot.
The deal then moves to the left, and each player deals in turn.
A player capable of following suit who fails to follow suit has reneged. A player holding a trump card who does not trump when he cannot follow suit has reneged. A player capable of beating the highest card played who plays a losing card instead has reneged. A player who fails to play in such a way as to bourré as many players as possible has reneged. In all cases, the penalty for reneging is to forfeit an amount equal to the pot.