Is buraco played with two decks?

Yes. Every variant is dealt from two French decks. The only thing that changes is whether the four jokers go in with them.

How many cards does each player get?

Eleven, on any table and in any variant. Two mortos of eleven cards each are set aside as well, one for each side.

Are the twos wildcards?

Yes, in every variant. In open buraco they are the only wildcards there are, because no joker is dealt at all.

How many cards buraco uses

Two French decks, either way. That makes 104 cards in open buraco, which is dealt without jokers, and 108 in closed buraco, where the four jokers of those two decks go in as well. In both, each player is dealt eleven cards and two face-down mortos of eleven are set aside before anyone plays.

Before you sit down: the game still opens in Portuguese. The deal is the one described here and the table reads without much text, but we would rather say it now than after you arrive.

Open the game

Where 104 and 108 come from

A French deck is 52 cards. Buraco uses two of them, so the base is 104 whichever table you sit at.

In open buraco nothing else goes in and the total stays at 104. The wildcards there are the twos: a two can stand in for a card you do not hold inside a run. This is the variant a table is dealt by default when you play with other people, so 104 is the answer most of the time.

In closed buraco the four jokers are added and the deck comes to 108. That table has two kinds of wildcard, the joker and the two, and melds tend to close faster because of it.

How the cards are dealt

Each player starts with eleven cards. Two mortos are then built, face down on the table, eleven cards each, one for each side. Everything that is left stays face down as the stock.

The arithmetic falls out of that. At a table of four, 44 cards go to the players and 22 into the two mortos, which leaves 38 in the stock in open buraco and 42 in closed. At a table of two, 22 are dealt and 22 set aside, so 60 are left over, or 64 with the jokers in.

The morto is not a decoration. Your side picks it up when one of you runs out of cards, and only after that can anyone think about ending the hand. That is why the eleven and eleven matter as much as the total.

What each card is worth

Ace: 15 points.
Two: 10 points, and it doubles as a wildcard.
Three to seven: 5 points each.
Eight to king: 10 points each.
Joker: 50 points, and it only exists on a closed table.

Canastras are counted separately, on top of the card values: 100 for a dirty one and 200 for a clean one, with two rarer grades above them. Ending the hand adds 100, and the cards still in your hand are taken off. All of it is set out in buraco scoring.

Frequently asked questions

Is buraco played with two decks?: Yes. Every variant is dealt from two French decks. The only thing that changes is whether the four jokers go in with them.
How many cards does each player get?: Eleven, on any table and in any variant. Two mortos of eleven cards each are set aside as well, one for each side.
Are the twos wildcards?: Yes, in every variant. In open buraco they are the only wildcards there are, because no joker is dealt at all.

The rest of the rules, with the morto and the end of a hand explained slowly, are in the buraco rules guide.