Barbu (card Game) - Preliminaries

Preliminaries

Four players (no partnerships) use a deck of 52 French suited cards (♠ ♥ ♣ ♦) ranking A (high) K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 (low). Players draw for high card to determine who will be the first declarer. For the next seven deals cards are shuffled and dealt by the player on the declarer's right, and cut by the player on the dealer's right. 13 cards are dealt to each player, and the declarer names which contract all will play for that deal. The declarer names each one of the contracts once. After this declarer has played all seven contracts, the roles of declarer and dealer pass to the left for the next seven hands, and so on, until all have done their seven contracts.