Earlier I was reading the Washington Post’s latest on the Gilbert Arenas- Javarus Crittenton Mexican standoff, a.k.a. the sports story of the year. It’s a must read, very quotatious.

The Post is now reporting that the dispute began during a card game between Crittenton and JaVale McGee. Arenas was simply heckling Crittenton, who’s apparently not exactly the Teddy KGB of team bus hustling.

The dispute between Arenas and Crittenton began on the team plane during a popular card game between players called “Boo-ray.” Crittenton lost roughly $1,100 to JaVale McGee, a Wizards center, in the game, according to a player who watched the game and who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Crittenton, already angry over a dispute over the game’s rules, became irate when Arenas began needling him.


Their barbs escalated to a point where Arenas, smiling, said he would blow up Crittenton’s car, according to two players on the flight, who requested anonymity. Crittenton replied that he would shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired knee.

After reading this, I felt compelled to check out the rules of Boo-Ray, popular in Louisiana and seemingly a great way to piss away your bankroll. To give a quick and dirty explanation, first, each player is dealt three cards, then you go around the table and each player can decide to pass or play. Everyone antes a chip before the deal and regardless of whether or not they decide to play. If you pass, you’re out for the duration of that deal. If you elect to play, you can discard any of your cards and be dealt new ones.

When the game starts, the player to the left of the dealer selects the trump suit. Whoever plays the highest trump at the end of the hand wins the trick and gets to pick trump for the next pass. Once all the players have played three cards, the game ends and the player who took the most tricks wins the pot.

Now, the kicker, any player who won no tricks is said to be the “boo-ray,” which was initially meant to reference something like a borro or a donkey; those Cajuns put their own little flavor on the name. You’re considered the donkey because before the next game the boo-ray has to ante the equivalent of the last pot. So say you started playing with seven players, for the second deal, the boo-ray has to ante seven chips while everyone else ante’s one, making the new pot 13 chips. The boo-ray for the hand after that will have to ante 13 chips.

I know that was probably confusing, but I think the key takeaway is that boo ray sounds like it gets wild with pots growing exponentially. Even Charles Barkley was probably like too rich for my debt-ridden blood. However, with only two people it sounds like suited war and not really that interesting. It wouldn’t surprise me if it came out that more players on the bus were involved in the game, strictly from a level of enjoyment perspective. If you want the full run-down of the rules , you can read up on boo-ray here.





Wizards’ Arenas suspended indefinitely as new details emerge in gun incident (Washington Post)
‘Net reaction: Gilbert Arenas’ suspension, troubles (Balls Don’t Lie)