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In the game of Spades, there are several popular jokers variations which add the two jokers, named big joker and small joker (BJ, SJ) to the ♠ suit while removing the 2♡,2♦.

In the simple jokers variation:

  • ♠ suit contains 15 cards, sorted from high to low: BJ, SJ, A, K, ..., 2.
  • ♥,♦ contain only 12 cards: A, K, ..., 3
  • ♣ have 13 cards as normal A, K, ..., 2

What are the major differences in the bidding of the simple Jokers variation, compared to the normal Spades game?

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    This is a difficult question, but by no means "too broad"? An earlier question on Spades I was able to answer based on my Contract Bridge experience, but I have never played Spades itself. However the specific strategic consequences of there being two more trumps and two 12-card suits is by no means unanalyzable.
    – Forget I was ever here
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 13:46
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    The main complexity is that instead of 4 suits of 13 cards each, the deck now comprises one 15-card suit, one 13-card suit, and two 12-card suits. Thus the relative value of cards, in the three side suits particularly, is subtly different. The biggest direct play difference probably hinges on the change in the increased a priori probability of a red-suit singleton or void compared to the baseline probability for a 13-card suit (now just Clubs).
    – Forget I was ever here
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 13:51
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    I haven't rolled the mathematics yet, but in particular I suspect that these two probabilities jump significantly when one holds 4 or 5 cards in a red suit compared to the same holding in Clubs
    – Forget I was ever here
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 13:54
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    P.S. Note my Meta question on the ethics of questions being closed by contributors with zero experience in the game in question, or even in any related game.
    – Forget I was ever here
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 14:03
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    We call that Losing Trick Count in Bridge. It works well for highly distributional deals with good fits, quite poorly for balanced deals and mis-fits. Experience in Bridge suggests that it is more accurate as a fine-tuning of Work Point Count than as a stand-alone evaluation method. Of course Bridge offers multiple rounds of bidding, which is a big deal.
    – Forget I was ever here
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 14:44

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