We introduce properties of Boolean algebras which are closely related to the existence of winning strategies in the Banach‐Mazur Boolean game. A σ‐short Boolean algebra is a Boolean algebra that has a dense subset in which every strictly descending sequence of length ω does not have a nonzero lower bound. We give a characterization of σ‐short Boolean algebras and study properties of σ‐short Boolean algebras. (© 2003 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim).