A bura hand is the rare moment when a hand is decided without any counting: everything you hold is a trump, you lead it all at once and you win. Its relative is the maliutka (moliutka in Georgian, from the Russian for "little one"): a full hand of one suit, but not the trump suit. Both look simple, yet their exact rules are often mixed up. Below are the rules bura on tamashebi.cc uses, and a note on what some home tables do differently.
Bura is live on tamashebi.cc: open /bura and play three-card, five-card or five-card bura in pairs, against live opponents or against bots for practice.
What a bura is: nothing but trumps
A bura is a full hand made only of trumps: three trumps in three-card bura, five in five-card. If it is your lead and you play all three (or all five) together, the hand is yours at once: nothing can beat it, no points are counted, and you do not need to say "var". The won hand scores the current stake: if davi was accepted, 2 points.
- Only a full hand counts. At the end of a hand, when the stock is gone and you are left holding two trumps, that is not a bura.
- It can only be played on your own lead. Played in answer to someone else's lead, it is just a strong beat.
- It must be led as a whole. Leading two of your three trumps is an ordinary lead.
- A bura can turn up at any point in the hand: in the first deal or after refilling from the stock.
An example. Three-card bura, diamonds are trump. You win the first trick, draw the king of diamonds from the stock, and now hold the ace, queen and king of diamonds. It is your lead, so you play all three together and the hand is yours, even if your opponent had already collected 25 points.
What a maliutka is
A maliutka is a full hand of one suit that is not trump: hearts are trump, say, and you hold the ace, ten and jack of clubs. Unlike a bura, under the site's rules a maliutka does not win the hand by itself. Its strength lies elsewhere: you lead three (or five) cards of one suit together and your opponent must beat each of them with a card of his own. That takes higher cards of the same suit or three trumps. Often he has neither, and then he has to give you the same number of cards.
Some home tables count a maliutka as a win or call it by another name. On tamashebi.cc the maliutka is a table option: normally it is led in turn, and if the table enables it, the player holding a maliutka may lead it out of turn, before the opponent leads.
When they can be played
- Bura: it is your lead, a new trick is starting, and every card in your hand is a trump. Lead the whole hand and the hand is won.
- Maliutka in turn: it is your lead and your hand is one non-trump suit. Lead the whole hand; your opponent either beats all of it or gives the same number of cards.
- Maliutka out of turn (if the table allows it): it is your opponent's lead, but he has not played yet. You lead your maliutka in his place and the trick starts with you.
- Raises and "var" do not change any of this: a bura does not raise the stake, it simply wins the hand at whatever stake stands.
If both players hold a bura, who wins?
People ask this a lot, but two players can never hold a bura at the same moment. The 20-card deck of three-card bura has only five cards per suit, and two buras would need six trumps. Five-card bura has nine trumps, and two buras would need ten. Bura in pairs is the same: two players with five trumps each is more than nine. And a bura is only played on your own lead, so whoever leads it first wins.
What can happen is this: you hold a bura, but it is your opponent's lead, he holds a maliutka, and the table does not allow maliutka out of turn. He leads his three cards, you beat all three with your trumps and take the trick, but your bura is gone, spent on the beat. In that position you have to choose: beat and take the points, or give cards and keep the bura, hoping the lead comes back to you soon.
Bura with three cards vs five cards
In three-card bura there are five trumps, and one of them, the turned card, stays at the bottom of the stock until the end. Collecting three trumps is possible and does happen, especially mid-hand, when you gather trumps instead of spending them. In five-card bura there are nine trumps, but you need five in hand at once, which is much rarer. By the same token, a maliutka is rarer with five cards too: five cards of one suit take a long time to collect, and you often spend some of them on the way.
Example: a maliutka in five-card bura
Spades are trump. It is your lead and you hold five diamonds: ace, ten, king, jack and nine, 27 points. You lead the whole hand. Your opponent must beat all five, with higher diamonds or with trumps. Your ace, ten and king can only be beaten by trumps, because the higher diamonds are in your own hand, so he needs at least three trumps, plus the queen of diamonds or more trumps for the jack and nine. If he cannot do it, he gives you five cards: your 27 points stay in the trick, plus whatever he gives. One lead can bring in more than half of what you need.
How to stop your opponent's bura
- Count trumps. Three-card bura has five; if two are already out or in your hand, your opponent cannot have a bura.
- Remember the turned trump: whoever draws last gets it in their hand.
- If you suspect your opponent is collecting trumps, make him spend them: lead scoring cards he can only beat with a trump.
- Winning the trick is the best defence: only the leader can play a bura. While the lead is yours, your opponent cannot.
- Do not give away your trumps: in three-card bura, one trump in your hand often makes your opponent's bura impossible.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a bura win automatically if it is not my lead?
- No. A bura wins when it is your lead and you play the whole hand together. While it is your opponent's lead, wait, or answer in a way that wins you the trick.
- Does a maliutka win the hand?
- Under the tamashebi.cc rules, not by itself. It is a strong lead of a full one-suit hand that your opponent must beat in full. Some tables also allow it to be led out of turn.
- Are two trumps left at the end a bura?
- No. A bura is a full hand only: three cards in three-card bura, five in five-card. Once the stock is gone and hands shrink, it no longer counts.
- Play bura online
- Bura rules, step by step
- Five-card bura: rules and differences
- Bura strategy: practical tips
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