Belote Rules: Bidding, Trick Play, Declarations and Scoring

Belote in brief: teams, the 32-card deck and the shape of a hand

Belote is a partnership game for four players, two against two, with partners facing each other across the table. Every hand runs through the same sequence: deal, choose the trump, complete the hands, declare, play eight tricks, count. Nothing is added and nothing is skipped, and that regularity is what makes the game quick to learn and slow to master.

The team that takes the trump is committed. It does not name a number of points; it accepts a target fixed by the rules, and that target is 82 points, a little more than half of the 162 points available in a hand. If the team reaches it, each side records what it collected. If it falls short, it is dedans — inside — and the opponents collect the lot.

The tension of the game comes from that commitment. The bidding side has to convert its cards into points under the eyes of two opponents who know exactly what it promised, and who will spend every trick trying to keep the total one point below the line.

The 32-card deck: two different orders for the same eight cards

Belote is played with 32 cards: the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each of the four suits. The 2s through 6s are set aside. Every card carries a point value, and the whole deck is worth 152 points.

Here is the trap. The order in which the cards beat each other is not the order of their value, and the trump suit adds a ranking of its own on top of that. In trump, the Jack is the highest card and the 9 is second — precisely the two cards that are worth almost nothing in the other suits. In a plain suit the Ace rules and the Jack is next to last, worth 2 points.

So read the table below by column, not by row. The rank column tells you who wins a trick; the points column tells you what that trick will be worth when the hand is finally counted. The trump Jack and the trump 9 are worth 34 points between them, more than a fifth of the deck, while the 8 and the 7 are worth nothing at all — and can still take a trick when they happen to be trumps.

The deal and the first two rounds of bidding

The dealer gives three cards to each player in the first round and two in the second, so everyone begins with five. The next card of the stock is then turned face up, and its suit is the suit on offer.

Bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left and goes clockwise. On your turn you either accept the suit of the turned-up card as trump or you pass. As soon as somebody accepts, that player’s team has won the right to name the trump and the suit is fixed. The turned-up card is not taken at this point: it goes back on top of the stock, which is set aside until the auction is over.

• First round — somebody accepts the turned-up suit. That suit is trump for the hand.
• Second round — all four players passed in the first round. The auction restarts with the player to the dealer’s left, who may now name any of the four suits.
• Nobody bids at all — the hand is abandoned. The cards are gathered and the next dealer deals again.

Coinche: bidding by numbers, doubling and re-doubling

Coinche — also called belote contrée or belote coinchée — replaces the fixed target with a numerical auction. Instead of accepting or passing, you name the number of points your team will take. The bids run 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, in steps of ten. The highest bid becomes the contract, and the team that made it must reach that number.

The doubling is what gives the variant its name. Once the auction has closed, an opponent may coinche the contract; the bidding side may answer with a surcoinche, which redoubles it. If the contract is made, the bidding team scores its points multiplied by the multiplier. If it fails, the opponents score the value of the contract multiplied the same way. A doubled contract that goes down is the most expensive event in the game, which is why most matches are decided in the auction rather than at the card table.

One warning about terminology, because this is a frequent source of confusion. The 82-point threshold and the 80-to-160 ladder are not two versions of the same figure. The 82 is the fixed target of ordinary belote; the ladder is the auction in Coinche, where players are free to promise more or less than 82 and are held to whatever they promised. If you sit down at a table where numbers are being called, you are playing Coinche, and 82 does not appear in the bidding at all.

The draw and the declarations

Once the trump is settled, the rest of the stock is dealt out. Each player receives three more cards and finishes the hand with eight. The last card of the stock — the one that was turned face up at the start — goes to the bidding team.

Before the first trick come the declarations. A declaration is either a run — three, four or five consecutive cards of the same suit — or a set of all four cards of one rank. Runs exist only in the plain suits: in the trump suit no run counts, however neatly the cards appear to line up.

Declarations are compared with each other by value, and only the single highest declaration in the hand is paid. If your opponents hold a five-card run while you hold four Jacks, the runs no longer matter: sets and runs are ranked together, the top one takes its points and everything below it is discarded.

Playing a trick: follow suit, overtake, trump

The player who won the bidding leads the first trick. Each trick holds four cards, one from each player, played clockwise. You cannot pass and you cannot play out of turn, and the obligations below are enforced strictly.

• If you hold a card in the suit that was led, you must play one of them. You choose which.
• If an opponent has already won the trick by trumping it, and you hold a card of the led suit that would beat the highest card of that suit lying in the trick, you must play it. This is the obligation players call monter — going up — and it is the rule beginners forget most often.
• If you have no card of the led suit, you must play a trump if you hold one. And if an opponent has already trumped, your trump must be higher than theirs if you have one that is.
• If you hold neither the led suit nor any trump, you may discard whatever you like.
• A trick containing a trump is won by the highest trump. A trick with no trump in it is won by the highest card of the led suit.
• The winner of a trick leads the next one. A hand contains eight tricks.

Scoring a hand: 152 points, the last trick and the capot

When the eight tricks have been played, each side adds up the point values of the cards it captured and the value of its declarations. Two bonuses go on top: the side that took the last trick receives 10 points, and a side that took all eight tricks has made a capot and receives 90.

The total is then measured against the contract. In ordinary belote the bidding team needs 82 points; in Coinche it needs the number it named. If it succeeds, each side records what it collected and the difference goes on the running score. If it fails, the bidding side is dedans and the opponents take everything, including the bidding side’s declarations. In Coinche the penalty is calculated from the value of the contract and then multiplied by the coinche and surcoinche.

The capot deserves a mention because it changes the arithmetic of a hand. Ninety bonus points can turn a lost deal into a won one, and a bidding side that can see a capot coming will often push its auction higher than the raw point count of its cards would suggest.

Winning the match, and the house rules to settle first

A match is played to a target agreed in advance, most often 500 or 1000 points. The running score carries over from hand to hand, the deal passes to the left after every hand, and a hand in which nobody bids is thrown in and dealt again.

Beyond that, belote is a game of local agreements, and two of them are worth settling before the first deal. The first is which game you are playing: classic belote, where the bidding team must reach the fixed target of 82, or Coinche, where the target is whatever number was called and may be doubled or redoubled on top. The second is how long the match runs, 500 or 1000. House practice varies from region to region, so agree the details before the cards come out rather than after a disputed hand.

How to play

1. Sit four players in two partnerships, partners facing each other, and use a 32-card deck: the 7 up to the Ace in each of the four suits.
2. The dealer gives three cards to each player and then two more, so everyone starts with five. Turn the next card of the stock face up: its suit is the suit on offer.
3. Bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left. Accept the suit on offer as trump, or pass. If all four pass, run a second round in which any suit may be named; if everyone passes again, abandon the hand and deal again.
4. Once the trump is settled, deal three more cards to each player. The card that was turned up at the start comes back as the last card of the stock and goes to the bidding team.
5. Declare your runs and four-of-a-kinds and compare them: only the highest declaration in the hand scores. The King and Queen of trump, announced as they are played, are worth 20 as belote–rebelote.
6. The bidding side leads the first trick. Follow suit if you can, overtake with a higher card of the led suit if the trick has been trumped and you hold one, and trump when you cannot follow suit.
7. Play out eight tricks. The highest trump wins a trick that contains a trump; otherwise the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick.
8. Count the card points and the declarations, add 10 for the last trick and 90 for a capot, and check the total against the contract: 82 in the classic game, or the number that was called in Coinche. Play to 500 or 1000.

Strategy

• Price the trump Jack and the trump 9 before you look at anything else. They are worth 34 points between them, more than a fifth of the whole deck, and they are also the two highest cards in the game while the trump lasts. A hand without them is weaker than its number of trumps suggests.
• Count points, not tricks. A holding of eight low trumps can sweep trick after trick and still contribute almost nothing to the score, while a modest hand with the trump Jack, the trump 9 and a couple of 10s will out-score it comfortably.
• Use the obligation to overtake as a weapon. When you trump a trick that the opponents must follow, you force them to spend their highest card of that suit if they hold one, which strips the suit of the very cards that would have won it back later.
• Protect your 10s and Aces. The 10 is worth 10 points in every suit and the Ace 11, so between them they carry most of the value outside the trump suit. Never throw one at a trick that is already lost unless you are certain the discard buys you something better.
• In Coinche, bid what the hand can deliver rather than what it looks like. The ladder punishes optimism twice over: an inflated contract that fails hands the opponents the contract value, and if they have coinched it, that value is multiplied.
• Watch the declarations before the first card is played. Knowing that a five-card run is sitting across the table changes which suits you are willing to open, and knowing that you hold the only four-of-a-kind in the hand tells you exactly how many points you need from tricks alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many points does the bidding team need in belote?

Eighty-two. A hand holds 162 points in total — 152 printed on the cards plus 10 for the last trick — so 82 is a little more than half. If the team that took the trump finishes below that figure it is dedans, and the opponents take everything instead. In Coinche the target is not 82 but whatever number the team bid.

What is the ranking of cards in belote?

It depends on the trump suit. In trump the order is Jack, 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, 7 — the Jack and the 9 are the two strongest cards. In the other three suits the order is Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7. Note that this ranking is not the same as the point values: the trump Jack is worth 20 points, the trump 9 is worth 14, and the 8 and the 7 are worth nothing at all.

What does coinche mean in belote?

Coinche is both a variant and an action within it. The variant, also called belote contrée or belote coinchée, replaces the fixed 82-point target with an auction running from 80 to 160 in steps of ten. To coinche is to double an opponent’s contract once the auction has closed; the bidding side may answer with a surcoinche, which redoubles it.

How do declarations work in belote?

A declaration is a run of three, four or five consecutive cards in one plain suit, or all four cards of one rank. Runs count only outside the trump suit. All the declarations in the hand are compared by value and only the highest one is paid: four Jacks are worth 200, four 9s 150, a five-card run and four Aces, 10s, Kings or Queens 100 each, a four-card run 50, and a three-card run 20.

What is belote–rebelote worth?

Twenty points. If you hold both the King and the Queen of trump, you announce belote when you play the first of the two and rebelote when you play the second, and the pair is worth 20 points to your side. Unlike runs and four-of-a-kinds, belote–rebelote does not compete with other declarations; it is simply yours, as long as you remember to announce it.

Do you have to follow suit in belote?

Yes, and the obligation goes further than in many trick-taking games. If you hold a card of the suit that was led you must play one of them. If the trick has already been trumped by an opponent and you hold a card of the led suit that would beat the highest card of that suit in the trick, you must play that higher card. With no card of the led suit, you must play a trump if you have one.

What happens if the bidding team fails to make its contract?

The bidding side is dedans — inside — and is not paid at all. In classic belote the opponents take everything the hand produced, including the bidding side’s declarations. In Coinche the penalty is worked out from the value of the contract, and if the contract was coinched or surcoinched, that value is doubled or quadrupled before it is credited to the opponents.

What is a capot in belote?

A capot is a hand in which one side wins all eight tricks. It is worth 90 bonus points on top of the cards that were captured, which is often enough to swing a hand that looked lost. A capot is also the reason a bidding side will sometimes push its auction beyond the face value of its cards.

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