The game of Burraco is a game in which the skills and skill of the player, are much more important than the so called luck factor. Burraco in fact, is a game in which strategy is the reigning queen during every move, and a good strategy, can be activated only by a player who is able to observe situations and foresee all possible moves, both his own and the opponent’s, in order to succeed in closing the game.
An important factor to note is theuniqueness of each Burraco game, in fact, no two games will ever be the same, which is why the use of a strategy, cannot be decided a priori, but it is always necessary to study the specific situation that arises during the first moves of the game, and only at that point, decide which strategy to use.
Clearly in paired games no strategy will work unless it is followed scrupulously by both players in the pair. Several game strategies have been devised over time; below we have considered the most famous ones and described them.
Read more: The importance of strategy in a burraco tournament
Burraco “winning” strategies
Among the many present in the players’ world are: the Counterplay, the Rule of n+1, Card Change, Opponent Compression, and Discarding a useful card. Let’s explain them one by one.
Counterplay is perhaps the simplest but at the same time the most effective one there is, it consists of dropping as many combinations and sequences as possible that are equal or as equal as possible to those of our opponent.
The principle lies in blocking our challengers from stretching their own ladders. There are two counterplays: the active one consists of opening a sequence similar to that of our antagonist, trying to use the cards he lacks; the passive one, on the other hand, consists of opening the game with the same cards as the opponent.
The rule of n+1 is a closing strategy; it is used in an emergency situation when one’s playing partner is left with only one card in hand, a rather dangerous situation. strategy is to drop all the sequence or combination with the aid of the matta, so when the partner finds in the studs one of those cards replaced by the matta he can make Burraco and, if the number of cards in his hand permits, close the game.
Card Switching is used when both players in the pair are low on cards in their hands, ready to close, but without having made up the burraco. The strategy is to always pick up your opponent’s discard by throwing away the last card you had in your hand. In this way we force our challenger to always play with only one card.
Opponent Compression is used by experienced players; in fact, it does not have a simple execution. It is also a complicated strategy to keep throughout the course of the game. To carry out this strategy, one of the players in the pair, or both, must always collect from the cockpit, thereby forcing the opponent to use the heel.
The strategy of discarding a useful card is a closing strategy. Discarding a useful card can slow down the game of opponents, who, trying to draw from the heel in order to make burraco, will see cards piling up in front of them on the discard pile. When the number of discards is sufficient, then you can throw out the useful card, which they were looking for, they will do Burraco, but they cannot close because they will have taken a substantial number of cards.
