belote coinchee in english
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thing to do when learning Contre is at stake is to swallow this order slowly so that
you can digest this little oddness
Here you are, you succeeded in learning the order? Then I've got some news for you: a
good piece of news, and, well, a bad one Let's start with the good one: I'm very
proud of you!!!!! Now, inevitably, the bad one: the order for the trump's colour is
different from the order we've just seen for "normal" colours!!! Wait dont go! It's
different, right, but it's slightly different: nothing changes (order and value) except
for the Jack and the 9: the Jack trump takes the leading of the group and is worth 20
points (which is why it's sometimes called the Twenty), directly followed by the 9
(we're still in the trump's colour, dont forget it!) with 14 points (and this explains
why it's so often called the Fourteen).
I bet you would really appreciate a summary table Alright, here it is:
Order and value of "normal" cardsOrder and value of trumps
Ace 11 points Jack (or Twenty) 20 points
10 10 points 9 (or Fourteen) 14 points
King 4 points Ace 11 pointsQueen 3 points 10 10 points
Jack 2 points King 4 points
9 0 point Queen 3 points
8 0 point 8 0 point
7 0 point 7 0 point
Once you've learned this table, your toughest work as a novice is over!!! Waow, party
tonight! Well, no! Wait a little bit before opening the Champagne, there are still
some notions to learn You can from now on notice that the sum of the values of the
cards is worth 3*30+1*62=152 ; nevertheless, the actual sum is worth 162 for the last
ten.
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How to take a trickIf an order exists, it's simply because during a trick (ie a round, where each player
lays a card on the table in a predetermined order ), the player who takes the
abovementionned trick is the one who lays the strongest card in the colour that hasbeen asked (ie the colour of the first card laid at the beginning of this trick) ; the goal
of a hand is therefore clear: the more tricks, the merrier (at least to make the
maximum of points). The player that has, at a peculiar moment, laid the strongest
card of the trick is called master.
Nevertheless, the trump has its own role: whenever a player doesnt hold any card of
the colour that's currently played, he has (under certain circumstances that will be
given when our friends "the beloters" will have joined us) to lay a trump's card (one
says he is cutting), which makes him master insofar as noone before him cut or laid a
trump stronger than his trump. If he doesnt hold any trump either, he can (and in
practice, he has to) discard himself of a card. The trump's turns take place exactly
the same way (just one difference: one cant cut trump!). A very important rule for
trumps: whenever the case occurs (ie would it be to overcut or to lay a trump in a
trump's turn), one has, if he can, to rise at trump (ie to lay a stronger trump than the
strongest already laid). We'll see in a while with our friends "the beloters" which rule
to follow if one doesnt hold a stronger trump.
The master at the end of the trick takes it and has the deal, ie he's the first one to lay
a card at the following trick.
The last trick is worth 10 points: it's hence very important to take it.
Contre for beloters
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The dealing out Determintation of the trump: the bidding system Extra rules for the unfolding of a trick
Scores
The dealing outThe dealer (the one at the immediate left of the cutter) deals the whole deck of
cards (a short division leads to 8 cards per player) according to 3 variations: 3 cards,
then 2 cards, and eventually 3 cards (the only official dealing out, called the
defensive dealing out) ; slightly different, 3/3/2 ; and last but not least, the offensive
dealing out: 4/4 which entails usually the most interesting games The first player is
the one at the left of the dealer. The cutter changes at each hand of the game (the
ex-dealer becomes the cutter, and so on).
Determination of the trump: the bidding systemThe trump is determined during the bids: each player, in the order of the game,
announces, according to his wishes, a contract on a colour (there are no contract
without no trump or with all colours are trumps), which fits with the minimum
number of points that he thinks he can take with the colour in question as a trump.
As the total number of points is 162, the minimum possible contract is 80. The bids
always rise, and rise strictly (a player who wants to announce something has to
propose a higher contract) by steps of 10. The highest contract at the end of the bids
(which can last for more than just one turn of the table insofar as a player doesnt
speak over himself, ie rises his own contract) determines the trump's colour for the
hand to come.
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Besides the numerical declarations (these are 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, or
160), one can announce a capot (Im afraid I dont know any translation for this
term: to be capot means simply not to take a single trick). A capot is the
maximum declaration and means that the attacker has to take all the tricks of the
hand. The capot is the ultimate goal towards which all the declarations should tend
and is at the ground of all the declaration system. Some people pretend (but theyre
overstating, dont forget where the roots of the game are: in the south of France)
that a capot should occur every two hands!!!
Eventually, two other declarations are possible during the bids ; one can double (in
French, the verb is contrer and explains the name of the game) a declaration: one
bets that the last declaration wont be kept (the contract will hence be down) ; no
more declaration can be made as soon as a contract is doubled (the trumps colour is
therefore determined by the declaration that has been doubled): the only reply for
the team that has been doubled is to redouble, which means to bet that the doubled
contract wont be down. In any case, bids are over after a redouble. These two
declarations have of course some drastic fallouts on scores. They have to be made
promptly, which means that any player can double or redouble as soon as the
declaration is made, but that once a declaration is made, there's no doubling the
former one. These declarations can only be made under an essential circumstance:
one has to bang his fist on the table!!!
A very important teamwork lies hidden in the bids: indeed, if ones team mate
declares something, one has of course to take it into consideration before speaking ;
in particular, one has to answer ones team mate making declarations that will help
him understand whether the suggested colour fits or not. Some simple rules to
understand these bids and answers' system will be seen later
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Eventually, the fact to hold the belote (ie to hold in the hand the King and the Queen
of the trump) allows when attacking (and only when attacking) to be given a margin
of 20 points to fulfill the contract (for instance, 60 points are enough with the belote
to an 80-point contract) and is to be declared by saying belote while laying the first
card of the couple, and rebelote when laying the second one.
Let's sum up, bids are over:
if no declaration is made by 3 consecutive players after a declaration of a capot if noone doubles after a double, if noone redoubles after a redouble, in any case!
The bids are, strategically speaking, a major moment in the game ; it's them that
make the Contre more subtle and less grounded on fate than the normal belote.
They are hence not to be neglicted!
Extra rules for the unfolding of a trick
To a great extent, a trick unfolds itself the same way in Contre and in belote. But
one has to note that:
if, in a turn, one's team mate is master, one doesnt need to cut if one doesnt holdthe colour currently played and can discard himself of any card..
a player that cant overcutneednt undercut (lay a weaker trump) but can discardhimself of any card (NB: this rule isnt accepted unanimously, and beloters
particularly are against it ; but my opinion is that it's necessary to assure subtlety,
flexibility and keenness in the game). Dont forget that this rule can only be applied
when someone cuts a colour: if trump is the color currently played, one has to lay a
trump (whatever its value may be) if one holds one!
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ScoresThere are different ways to count points (mainly 3 ways: declared points, made
points, and made points + declared points). I just present the one I use for it seems to
me it's the one that equilibrates the best the game: indeed, when only made pointsare summed, players wont be tempted by the highest contracts ; on the other hand,
declared points prevent from an effective bidding system Using made points +
declared points presents a good alternative: the principle is to add the value of the
contract with the total of points reached during the hand.
Generally speaking, the points of the defense are counted first, then one easily
checks whether the contract of the attack is down or not by a substraction (attack =
162 - defense). If its not down, the defense is being given the total of points reached
during the hand corrected to the nearest ten, and the attack is being given 160 points
- this correction + the value of the contract. If its down, the defense is being given
160 points + the value of the contract as if they were the attackers and had won by a
capot, and nothing is given to the attack. To achieve this system of counting, lets
point out that a capot is worth 250 points (and therefore a capot, no matter if it's
down or not, is worth 410 points), and that the belote, though giving a margin of 20
points to the attack, is never counted in the total of points. Finally, a double doubles
the value of a contract (well very surprising, isnt it?) and a redouble quadruples it.
Eventually, the winner of the game is the first team to reach 2000 points. I just would
like to emphasize the fact that these rules are mine, which means that you could
encounter other players who will use very different ones. Nevertheless, these seem to
me very pleasant to use!
Doms Home (nimbustier.net) Contre in english
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Everything you should know to become areal player of ContreThe most difficult part in learning how to play Contre is of course to assimilate the
rules But, since it's done (isnt it?), you can now learn all that makes Contre
crisper
The vocabular of a player of Contre Some tactical advice Fair play in Contre
The vocabular of a player of ContreSome of the following terms arent restricted to Contre, others are only restricted
to a particular kind of players
the Twenty: the Jack of the trump, master of the game, to which all the other cards
yield
the Fourteen: the damned soul of the Twenty, the 9 of the trump, who keeps playing
some nasty tricks to imprudent players Better hold it!
to hold a nth card: means that one holds n cards in the colour of the
abovementionned card (including it) ; very useful when talking about Aces or master
cards Any player of Contre will advise you to keep an eye on a third Ace, or
worse, on a fourth ten. Just play, you'll quickly understand what I'm trying to explain!
to hold a drycard: to hold a "first" card Very annoying to hold a dry Fourteen for
instance
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to finesse : not to play a card you know is master (typically an Ace) to make more
points at the next turn on the colour Hazardous but sometimes very useful
a give-points-operation: to lay a card of high value in a trick where your team mate is
master to save a maximum of points Sometimes necessary, sometimes not
non conventional declaration : typically, the declaration of a player more or less
discreet (usually less) and more or less authorized (usually more!!!) to his team mate
during the bids Warning, most of non conventional declarations are standard (ie
conventional!!!!!!!).
to start in a pair of shorts : to have really overestimated your game!!!
to start in tanga: to have well smoken your game!!!!!!
to start totally naked: to have hallucinated your game!!!!!!!!!
to small-play: to have a little bit underestimated your game ; the main default of
novices!
little-followed of a contract (typically a 80 or a 90 contract): non conventional
declaration very useful to say a little more than what is usually allowed ; helps your
team mate understand that the declaration you've just made doesnt lie on
conventional roots
Moreover, if a player makes at a peculiar moment a strange allusion on mosquitos,
feelings, windows, or chance (note: for non French people that just dont understand
a word in French, these allusions are linked to the names of the colours) you can say
that he's cheating!!! (more exactly, there is a non conventional declaration)
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Some tactical adviceFirstly, here is the most simple and most traditional declarations system:
- 80: the player who makes this declaration holds one of the two master trumps (the
Twenty or the Fourteen), usually followed by something like 2 other trumps or 3
depending whether he holds the Twenty or not. In particular, there's no answering (ie
rising the contract on the same colour) such a declaration if one doesnt hold the
other master trump (the Fourteen or the Twenty) or if one holds it dry
- 90: the player who makes this declaration holds the two master trumps (the Twenty
and the Fourteen), usually a third one, but not a lot of master cards in the othercolours. To answer a 90, one has to hold a few trumps (basically 3) and at least an
Ace.
- 100: the player who makes this declaration is hardened when it comes to trumps (he
holds the first 3 master cards plus one), and is asking for the Aces of his team mate,
who can answer by increasing the contract by 10 per Ace he holds in his hand
Higher declarations can or not have a signification: this is where teamwork starts.
What remains the same is that one increases the contract by 10 per Ace for any
declaration upper 100! Bids are the main part of the game, one has hence to be fine-
tuned with one's team mate on the subject!!! The system described above is anything
but official, so the best piece of advice I could give you is to develop your own system
(with your team mate of course!)
The rules of behaviour during the game are: for the attackers to control the trumps,
ie to have all the trumps of the defense laid on the table as quickly as possible by
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making trumps' turns. The defense as for it must have the attack cut on small tricks,
and must save the maximum of points.
During the unfolding of the game:
- the best would be to count all the cards that have been played, to know exactly
where you stand in each colour Go on Rainman, you can do it!
- it's nevertheless usually sufficient to count the master cards and the trumps
- but it's absolutely NECESSARY to count the trumps if you cant focus on the 4 colours
at a time!!!
You always have to keep in mind that the last trick is worth 10 points, so whatever
may occur, you have to take it! Moreover, before to double someone, dont forget
that the belote is worth 20 points And eventually, during a very tightened contract,
fill free to finesse, which will prove to be very interesting if you're looking for a good
result.
You will be seen as a real player of Contre if you fulfill the two following steps:
you always have within reach a deck of 32 playing cards, and you use that type of
score's sheet
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You'll note the score of your own team in the N column (N stands for "Nous" in French,
ie Us in English) and the score of the other team in the E column (E stands for "Eux",
ie Them). Great, now you've entered the temple of all the players of Contre!!!
Fair play in Contre Unlike many games, fair play in Contre is not a fundamental rule!!! In fact, the
main point is to find a moderate middle between fair play and bad temper Basically,
when you're with friends, to the extent where it's not too apparent, cheating can be
allowed (which explains the importance of non conventional declarations!!!).
Moreover, when the tension is at its paroxysm (at the end of a game, when a hand is
doubled or when a "capot" is engaged), trying to destabilize your opponent (by
throwing him a "you're fat and ugly!" in the face for instance, private joke!!!) isnt to
be excluded Nor can be excluded the possibility to lay your whole hand on the table
saying "Now I'm the master, gimme your cards", very pleasurable
Eventually, keep in mind that Contre is a game that comes from the South: said
differently, laziness is the rule (and I know what I'm talking about, I come from
there!). In particular, a main rule to be applied is that the dealing out is tiring and
you should always try to have an opponent deal for you (by cutting whereas it's not
your turn, for example), all the more so as it gives your team mate the hand
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