If you're going to gamble like NBA players, know these rules

I haven't played much poker in my life, or played it well, but there are some basic gambling lessons everyone should know.

And I don't just mean the rules of the game you're playing, but etiquette to keep it somewhat friendly and from anyone having to be investigated by the police for having a gun where it isn't supposed to be, as NBA player Gilbert Arenas is doing.

Arenas and Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton were playing the card game bourre, also called boo-ray, a game similar to poker that combines some of the grade school card game War. The players had a dispute over the game, according to various reports, and Arenas supposedly refused to pay Crittenton a debt from the game.

Bourre is a Cajun card game popular in Louisiana, and isn't played in casinos because players often have their own set of rules, according to a blog at Washingtoncitypaper.com.

That's my first informal rule for playing a serious card game: