page_title: Glossary of card game terms
section_title: B
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of card game terms / B
caption_attribution_description: English: Playing Faro in an Arizona Saloon in 1895.
context_page_description: The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific, but apply to a wide range of card games.
context_section_description: balanced hand
  A hand of cards with no void suit, singleton or very long suit.
   banker
  Also called the house, the person responsible for distributing chips, keeping track of the buy-ins, and paying winners at the end of a banking game. A dealer against whom the punters bet.
   banking game
  A less-skilled card game of the gambling type in which one or more punters play against a banker, who controls the game.
   belle
  The last game of the rubber.
   Bells
  One of the four suits in a German pack of cards. Symbol: 
   best
  Highest ranking.
   best card
  Highest card of a suit not yet played. The commanding card, master card. Also king card.
   bet
  Any wager on the outcome of a deal or game; any chips put in a pot; to put chips in a pot.
  The first bet in a betting interval.
  bête, bate, bete or beet.
  A term used in certain games for a penalty payment e.g. for failing to take the minimum number of tricks, or for a stake or money which a player has lost.
  In Mistigri, the player who has failed to win a single trick is called the "bête". Likewise in Mauscheln, if the declarer, or Mauschler, fails to win a trick, he is the Mauschlerbete.
  Failure to make a contract.
  Double bête: a double penalty, usually for failing to make a contract after choosing to play out the cards.
   bettel or bettler
  Bid or contract to win no tricks. Also misère.
   bid
  Spoken declaration to win a minimum or specified number of tricks or points or the privilege of naming the trump suit or the game; to make such a declaration.
   To make a bid.
   bidder
  Any player who makes a bid.
  The player who makes the highest bid and plays out his announced contract.
   blank
   In card-point games, a card that is worth no points.
   A hand with no court cards, i.e. only pip cards.
   A card that is unprotected or (unguarded) by other, usually lower cards in the same suit: "I held the blank king of spades."
   To discard in such a way as to leave a card unprotected: "She blanked the King of Spades."
   blank suit
  A suit of which one holds no cards. A void (suit). To blank a suit is to get rid of all the cards of that suit from one's hand. 
   blaze
  A hand consisting only of court cards.
   blind
  See skat or widow.
   blocking
  Blocking a suit is keeping a high card back so that the player with a number of smaller cards cannot win tricks with them.
   bluff
  To attempt to deceive one's opponent(s) about the value of cards in one's hand.
   build
  To add cards to those already on the table in order to extend a set or sequence.
   bonus
  An extra amount added to a player's score for the game for holding or winning certain cards or for achieving certain goals, such as Schneider.
   Bower
  The Jack of the trump suit or the Jack of the same colour as the trump suit e.g. in Euchre or Reunion.
  Left Bower: the Jack of the same colour as the trump suit.
  Right Bower: the Jack of the trump suit.
   bring in a suit
  Make tricks in a plain suit after the adverse trumps are exhausted.
   bury a card
  To place a card in the middle of the pack or discard pile so that it cannot be easily located.
   buy
  To receive a card from the dealer, face down, in return for a stake e.g. in Twenty-One
  To receive or draw the spare hand, (skat or widow) in return for one's own hand and, possibly, a stake e.g. in Newmarket.
  To receive or pick up a card or cards in return for a hand card or cards e.g. in Préférence when the 2 talon cards are picked up and 2 discarded.
  To draw cards from the stock or talon.
caption: The banking game of Faro (1895).
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