What tips for bidding in coinche are there to know?
Of all the types of belote game, coinche is the most strategic variant. And this is particularly true of the bidding phase, during which players must bid the value of the contract they plan to make, but also of the announcements made at the start of play.
Alexandre, our FunBelote ambassador, will explain to you how to bid and announce in coinche belote for scoring as many points as possible!
Alexandre, you are our ambassador and an experienced player! What would you like to talk to us about today?
Hi FunBelote community! This is Alexandre (alias Captain_Hook21). Today, I will take you through how to bid in coinche. That is, how to make a coherent bid and maximize the number of points you can make with the 8 cards given to you by the dealer. đ
Do you mean how to make a bid in coinche in terms of the announcements you hold in your hand?
Absolutely! If you already play coinche, you will know the special features of this type of belote.
The first is that there is no face-up card. The dealing of the cards is carried out in its entirety at the start of the round. The players each receive 8 cards and designate a trump suit by winning the auction in the bidding phase. It is therefore the participants who determine the suit chosen as Trumps and not the face-up card!
Second special feature: it is possible to make announcements as well as bids. An announcement corresponds to a combination of cards and enables you to score bonus points.
Note that if you have an announcement in your hand, the number of points for the cards to be played is always out of 162 points, which means that the highest bid is 160 (excluding capot or general, which are the maximum bids if you think you could win all of the tricks).
So what are the different bids in coinche? Please go through that for us again.
Of course! Announcements are classed as one of two types: sequences and squares.
A sequence, as the name suggests, is a sequence of several cards in the same suit (from 3 to 5 cards) in the traditional order for a deck of cards.
A square is a combination of four identical cards from each suit in the deck (Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds).
In coinche belote, players can announce the following combinations of cards (in ascending order):
– Tierce = three cards in the same suit going from the lowest (7, 8 and 9) to the highest (Queen, King and Ace). It brings in 20 points (+ 20 points scored if there is a belote rebelote in the trump suit).
– Fifty = four cards going from the lowest (7, 8, 9 and 10) to the highest (Jack, Queen, King and Ace). It brings in 50 points (+ 20 points if there is a belote rebelote in the trump suit).
– Hundred = five cards going from the lowest (7, 8, 9, 10 and Jack) to the highest (10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace). It brings in 100 points (+ 20 points if there is a belote rebelote in the trump suit).
– Square = four cards of the same value. Squares are either worth 100 (Queen, King, 10 and Ace), 150 points (9) or 200 points (Jack). Note that a square of 7s or 8s will not bring in any points.
There is also the announcement âbelote rebeloteâ in the trump suit (worth 20 points) but I imagine that the large community of FunBelote players already knows that đ.
OK! Each player can now identify his announcements. What do you do if several players have an announcement in coinche?
Thatâs a very good question. Here are the official rules for playing a game of belote with announcements!
The total number of points scored for an announcement does not depend on the suit of the playing cards making up the combination (trump or not). Nor on the value of the cards, except for squares.
However, the team that has the best announcement in terms of points gets to score the corresponding points. As you read above, I have gone through the announcements in ascending order. I did that deliberately so that you would now know the different types of announcements and their âhierarchyâ.
There are a few additional rules of the game:
An announcement in Trumps is always higher-ranking than the other announcements.
Squares are stronger than sequences.
So, for example⊠If, during a game, you have a square of kings in your hand and a sequence of 5 cards has been announced by one of the opposing players, as your announcement is the strongest, your team will garner 100 points and the opposing team 0. A stronger announcement crushes the other!
Another scenario: a player from each team has the same announcement. Letâs take an example of a 9/10/Jack tierce. You, or your partner, have this tierce in Diamonds and your side won the bidding with 110 Diamonds. The opponents have exactly the same tierce but in Spades. Knowing that the trump suit is Diamonds, your tierce is then âstrongerâ. Your team (the accepters) scores 20 points to 0 for the opponents.
Keep that example with your diamond tierce and the same tierce in Spades but in this case, it is your partner who won the bidding with 100 Clubs. Here, your announcement and that of the other player are âequivalentâ, so they cancel each other out. Neither the accepters nor the defenders score the 20 points for the announcement when the points are counted up at the end of the deal.
Thatâs very clear. You should therefore pay attention to the announcements of the opponents!
Exactly! And the final rule to note, most importantly of allâŠ
If you have an announcement, you are not certain to get the points for it. In order for an announcement to be âvalidâ, you must show it to the other players at the start of the second trick.
Noted! And what are your tips for making a good âbidâ in coinche?
My first piece of advice is to analyze each card in your hand carefully. Firstly, to see whether you have an announcement and secondly, to think about the announcements that the other players might have. Obviously, there is a great deal of probability behind the announcements; but we shanât go into that đ. You should just keep in mind that 32 cards are distributed between four players divided into two teams. Therefore, a player should try to find out, using his cards, whether one of the other three players holds a square or a hundred. For example, if you have a king, a queen, a nine, a ten, a jack and an ace, you know that it is impossible for another player to have a square đ. Same analytical strategy for a hundred, or even a fifty. You should analyze the cards in your hand and think about the possible scenarios in order to know whether another player can have a better announcement than you!
Next, my second piece of advice is to try to maximize the number of bonus points won if you have an announcement with your cards. If it is a fifty, hundred or square, there is a very strong chance that you have the strongest announcement, in which case you should take into consideration the points made with your announcement when making your bid.
You must keep in mind that there will not be announcements on every hand, so when you have an announcement, you should try to use it well. The advantage of an announcement is that it can help you to make your contract, which is not the case in belote contrĂ©e. Thatâs why, in coinche, there are often higher bids made, unlike in belote contrĂ©e.
For example, with a hundred or a square, your team will be able to make 100 points in total, so you can start off with a bid of 160. With a tierce, which is the weakest announcement, you should be careful, as if the opposing team has a higher-ranking announcement, you will not score the 20 points for the announcement, which can be detrimental to your chances of making the contract.
My final tip focuses on the communication with oneâs partner. If you ever have a strong announcement but do not know which bid to make, let your teammate put forward a bid. And then it will be up to you to raise the bid later in order to score as many points as possible! For example, if you have a square of queens but no suit stands out and your partner starts off with a bid of 80 Hearts, raise that bid to 160 Hearts đ. Obviously, this implies that you have put game tactics into place with your partner before the game started: how to play if one of you has an announcement like that, how much you should raise in this case, etc. A type of code to keep between yourselves to help you to win the game!
Thank you for these pieces of advice about belote with announcements and bidding! Any words to conclude?
You know, I love playing belote: all the belotes! Classic belote, belote contrée AND coinche belote. But in all honesty, I find that announcements make the game less natural⊠There is also a chance factor which is not found in belote contrée or traditional belote. In a case where one player has a square of aces or jacks, you know perfectly well that the team will succeed in its contract and will score lots of points, which is not the case in belote contrée.
Once again, that is just my opinion⊠And that will not stop me from loving to play and share my tips for coinche! đ
Do not forget: the secret of the best players is to play as much as possible!
Consider training yourself up thanks to the FunBelote app. It allows you to play belote but also the many variants, including coinche and contrée!
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Well, see you soon on the FunBelote mobile app for starting to play online!
Belotely yours,
Alexandre, alias Captain_Hook21