Questions tagged [spades]
A trick-taking card game, similar to Whist, in which Spades are trumps. Players bid the number of tricks they expect to make from the hand and then aim to make at least that number.
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Is there a complete study on the statistics to bid?
Is there any definitive publication or study on statistics in bidding? Based on the rules Spades offers about bidding, in the image below, a player may bid 2 or 3.
Ace Spades, Ace Heart, and King ...
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Open lead in a variant of Spades, where players must play a winner if able (CallBreak)
CallBreak is an Indian variant of Spades, The rules differences from normal Spades are:
Solo (no partnerships)
Possible bids are from 1 to 8 (no Nil bids)
Players must play a stronger card than the ...
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Is there such a thing a 3 possible in Spades?
We were playing Spades. My new girlfriend said she had 2 and 3 possible. I laughed and asked what she meant by the 3 possible. We stopped the game to figure this out.
Spades: 4,6
Hearts: K,2,3,5
...
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Simplest finesses in Spades?
What are the best finesses to use in Spades? Finesse got much attention
in Bridge but not so much in Spades. A finesse is a technique which enable a player to win a trick when an opponent is holding ...
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In spades, is a deuce of clubs considered a spade?
In Spades, is a deuce of clubs/hearts considered a spade? I played with some people that argued they consider their suit to be spade.
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In Spades, who wins if both partnerships reach more than 500?
If the final score is 504 to 505? Who wins? You both reached 500 exactly and the 5 and the 4 are just indicators of bags. So who wins? The person with less bags or do you just play one more round?
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In Spades, what is the probability a suit is distributed in a way, given I hold n cards from that suit?
In Spades, (or any other trick taking game), when I hold n cards of a certain suit, what is the distribution of the other 13-n cards in that suit?
In particular, what is the probability that ♦'s are ...
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Is the Hand pattern probabilities equal to suit pattern probabilities?
In Spades, I wish to know the probability a certain suit is distributed in a particular way. For example I wish to know what is the probability that the diamonds are distributed either 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-...
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In Spades, what is the meaning of a high/low sum of bids?
In Spades, when playing with 4 competent players, the sum of the four bids on most rounds is about 11. However some rounds have a very high or low sum of bids, mostly due to rare hands distribution.
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in Spades, when to bid such that the sum of bids equal 14?
In the game of Spades, sometimes I see a strong player bid such that the sum of bids is 14. This means that one of the contracts will be set.
In what conditions this "complete-to-14" bid is a strong ...
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In Spades, what to lead from {Ace,King,...}
In Spades, when holding AKx is there a correct play of either the King or the Ace? Playing the King produce a (rare) problem: if your partner is void, she might think the RHO holds the Ace, therefore ...
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Is it ok to show my cards when I know I I’m the only one with spades left
Is there any formal rule, or perhaps etiquette, that prevents me from showing my cards once I know I am the only one with spades left? I was recently playing a game and I got down to 5 spades left and ...
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After my Nil bid was set, should I try to take or duck?
In Spades, when someone is forced to takes a trick on a nil bid, some-times, players keep giving away their high cards.
In which situations it is better to try to take tricks and in which it is ...
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in Spades, playing King over Queen
In a game of Spades I played recently, on the first trick of the round, South was first to play and I was second (West).
South lead Q♥ and I had K,3♥.
I Played the 3♥, since I was afraid to play ...
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Value of short side suits in Spades
In Spades, what are the methods that count how many tricks a short side-suit is worth?
Steve Fleishman's book Master Spades describe the method called Simple bidding (Appendix A). According to ...
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Is bidding nil while holding the Queen of spade reasonable?
Holding the A♠ is a sure trick which means you can't win a nil bid.
Holding the K♠ is too risky since you can only play it when someone else (hopefully your partner) plays the A♠.
Assuming you don't ...
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Spades rules on trumping in after spades are broken
In Spades after spades are broken can any player trump in even if he has the suite that was led? Or does he have to be out of the suite that was led before he can trump?
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What if every suit were trump, and partners hated each other?
To anyone experienced in whist variations, are the following house rules playable? (that is, will this game be fun or frustrating to play)?
I'm developing a nutty variation of Spades for tonight, is ...
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Spades - Strategy for Nil Vs. Nil round
In the game of Spades, if two players from opposites partnerships bid Nil[1], then the round plays very differently from a regular round. This is because that each of the non-Nil players is trying to ...
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Spades - Suicide variant
In the game of Spades, the variant "Suicide" means that each partnership must have one partner that bids Nil while the other partner bids 4 or more. This is one of the most popular variants (after ...
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Spades - Nil to lead
In the game of Spades, assume you bid Nil and you are the leader of the first trick.
What is your first lead as a Nil bidder?
What signals you pass to your partner by doing so?
Answer can be split ...
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Spades - how to bid my spades suit?
In the game of Spades, what is the best or popular practice to bid the ♠ suit? That is to say, how to estimate the number of tricks my spades suit can take?
I calculate my takes in the spades suit by ...
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How do Jokers change the bidding in Spades?
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 ...
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Spades - is the rule "Second hand plays low, Third hand plays high" important?
In the game of Spades, is the rule of thumb: "Third player play high" exists? (as in the game of Bridge)
The logic behind playing third high is is to prevents opponents winning a trick cheaply.
In ...
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Spades - mirror variant
In Spades, the variant "Spades mirror" means that each player must bid exactly the number of Spades cards she got.
This variant remove the bidding phase of the game and leaves only the playing. Sums ...
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Leading Aces in the game of Spades
I see that some players start by playing all their Aces in the first opportunity. By doing so the Ace usually beats low cards. By letting some one else leading the suit, the ace can beat higher ...
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Open lead in Spades
In Spades, what should be the first card to play in a round? That is to say, what should be the open lead?
In the Bridge, this question was studied intensively, for example by The world of Bridge: ...
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The "Big Five" Bidding Convention in Spades
In the game of Spade, the Big 5 conventions (invent by Herm Carney and Roger Denino, as stated in a video by Joe Andrews) means that if the first partner bids 5 it signals to the second partner that ...
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When to lead a spade?
In the game of Spades, after spades are broken, you can lead a trick with a spade. In which situations it is best to lead spades?
I thought about three situations:
Hold high cards in a side suit ...
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What card game is this? Similar to spades
I'm from a latin american country and a game called casino is very popular (not to be confused with poker or actually casino games)
It's a four player game with a partnership. Making it a 2v2. The ...
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How important is it to avoid bagging out in Spades?
I'm very new to Spades, and am trying to grasp the basic strategy. In the few games that I've played so far, I've been sort of paranoid about bagging out; 100 points seems like a lot to lose. (Of ...
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How do you score failed nil bids?
Say you are playing 4 person spades, and somone bids nil and they get a book/trick what is the penalty? Does it count as a sandbag, or do they just lose the points from failing nil? Does that book ...
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Bridge guide for experienced Spades player?
I'm a long-time online Spades player who's never played a single hand of Bridge, but I'd love to give it a try sometimes. I've always felt that the games seem rather similar, so I was looking for ...
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How should I teach someone new to spades how to bid?
Bidding in spades is one of the hardest mechanics to master. The gameplay comes with experience, but sometimes bidding just goes awry. I know how I bid and that I disagree with the way other people ...
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Can you trump the first trick in Spades?
I just played a game of Spades with some family. The Ace of clubs was led on the first trick, and I was out of clubs. Needing quite a few tricks, I chose to trump. My fellow players instantly ...
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What card should I play when my partner has bid nil and I can't follow suit but do have Spades?
Setup:
My partner has bid nil or blind nil. The player to my right led the trick, and I can't follow suit, but have one or more Spades in my hand.
Possible situations:
I know my partner has no ...
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House rules for Spade bids of nil, blind-nil, and 10-for-2?
My favorite bids in Spades are the riskiest ones: 10-for-2, nil, and blind nil. 10-for-2 is always worth 200 points, and most rule sets I've seen put nil at 100 and blind nil at 200.
In our group, we ...
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