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Runs and Bella

Melds are free points, which is exactly why people lose them. Here are the five mistakes that cost the most.

First, the quick version

• A run is a sequence in one suit. Three in a row is a twenty. Four or more is a fifty.
• Bella is the King and Queen of trump in the same hand. It's worth 20.
• Only one player scores runs each hand. If you win that contest, all of your runs count. Two twenties is 40, and a fifty plus a twenty is 70.

1. Treating Jack, 9 and Ace as a run

Runs use the plain card order: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. In trump the top three cards, Jack, 9 and Ace, rank highest but they're not in sequence. Nine, 10, Jack is a run. Jack, Queen, King is a run. Jack, 9, Ace is just three good cards. More on that in Why the Jack beats everything.

2. Calling Bella too early

You call Bella when you play the second of the King and Queen, not the first. Announcing it on the first card tells the table you're holding another guaranteed trump, and under the traditional rules that counts as table talk and costs you the points. The one exception is when the King and Queen are part of a run you're showing. Then they're already on the table, and you can declare Bella along with the run.

3. Forgetting the timing on runs

There are two steps. You call your run before you play your first card. You're announcing that you have one, not what it is. Then you show it before you play your second card. If you forget to show it, it doesn't count.

4. Thinking extra cards add up

A fifty is four or more cards in a row. Five in a row doesn't get you more than four does. It's still a fifty. Don't hold back a card you need for a trick just to pad a run.

5. Expecting every run to score

Only one player gets to count runs each hand, and everyone else keeps theirs in hand. The contest goes like this:

• A fifty beats a twenty.
• If the lengths match, the higher top card wins.
• A run in trump beats the same run in a plain suit.
• Two identical runs in plain suits cancel each other out, and nobody scores.

So a twenty is worth calling, but don't build your hand around it. Someone across the table may be holding a bigger one.