10
votes
In spades, is a deuce of clubs considered a spade?
The deuce of club and hearts do not considered a spade in the standard game, however there are variants where they do.
From Pagat:
In some versions of Spades, some or all of the four twos are ...
- 3,799
8
votes
Spades rules on trumping in after spades are broken
As in most traditional trick-taking games, a player must follow suit if able. Breaking spades only allows a player to lead spades, i.e. to play a spade as the first card of a trick. Players can only ...
- 10.7k
7
votes
Accepted
How important is it to avoid bagging out in Spades?
What's the alternative to bagging out? If you over bid, you risk losing the number of points of your bid. If you under bid, you have a good chance of making your bid, and any bags are effectively ...
- 11k
7
votes
Accepted
Bridge guide for experienced Spades player?
The two games have some similarities. But they have a lot of differences too. Spades is a lot simpler, and so going from Bridge to Spades is relatively easy. Going from Spades to Bridge, well you're ...
- 1,258
6
votes
Accepted
Simplest finesses in Spades?
The smaller amount of information in Spades means it is hard to purposefully start a finesse, but you can still easily continue one if it is started by accident. For example, your partner happens to ...
- 11.1k
5
votes
How important is it to avoid bagging out in Spades?
In general, you are better off bidding accurately or 1 books under so you can make your bid and get positive points (rather than getting set and taking negative points). So yes, in general some small ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
Leading Aces in the game of Spades
It depends on a lot of context whether leading an Ace is a good idea.
When to lead an Ace:
Leading an ace when you have strong control of the suit is good. For example, leading from A-K or a bare ...
- 3,848
4
votes
Bridge guide for experienced Spades player?
You may find the jump from Spades to Contract Bridge much larger than you expect. However the popularity of (generic) Bridge pre-dates the invention of Contract Bridge by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt in ...
- 11.3k
4
votes
Can you trump the first trick in Spades?
No trumping the first trick is an unpopular and bad house rule.
A strong indication that this rule is not popular can be found in the big online Spades sites that do not offer this house rule: ...
- 3,799
4
votes
Accepted
Is it ok to show my cards when I know I I’m the only one with spades left
The rules (in most spades rulesets) prohibit showing your cards, yes.
That said, what you describe is a pretty common practice in friendly games, as (as you note) the rest of the hand's play is ...
- 10.3k
4
votes
In Spades, what is the meaning of a high/low sum of bids?
A low/high sum of bids can mean anything. The sum of 4,4,4,3 is the same as 1,1,1,12 (exaggeration), but those two mean completely different things. Instead of looking at the sum of the bids, you ...
- 437
4
votes
Accepted
In Spades, what is the probability a suit is distributed in a way, given I hold n cards from that suit?
TLDR:
The probability is about 8%.
Distribution of diamonds for any deal
With no restrictions at all then dealing a pack between four hands results in the following probabilities for distributions ...
- 9,283
4
votes
In Spades, who wins if both partnerships reach more than 500?
The partnership that have more points. That is the partnership that scored 505. The 1 points per overtrick is a real point, not just an indicator of bags.
From Pagat:
The side which reaches 500 ...
- 3,799
4
votes
Is there such a thing a 3 possible in Spades?
The possible trick winners of this hand are the three Kings and the short ♣'s which allows a 3rd trick ruff/cut.
Having only two spades is a weakness. It means that there is a higher probability an ...
- 3,799
3
votes
Accepted
in Spades, playing King over Queen
You got had! Nice play by your opponent (South).
Terminology:
A finesse is the play of a lower card than the highest held - in an attempt to create an extra trick - by the third hand playing to the ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Spades - how to bid my spades suit?
Your method of adding [Spade-Length] - 3.5 seems reasonable, except I would halve that whenever partner has already made a bid of 4 or higher. Any bid in excess of 3 is very likely to include Spade ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Spades - Strategy for Nil Vs. Nil round
Some of the strategy will depend on the bids of the non-nil players. In Suicide Spades, the non-nil players must have each bid at least 4, but that could still be anything between 4 and 13. A bid of ...
- 17.3k
3
votes
How do you score failed nil bids?
Given that there isn't exactly a single set of "official rules" for Spades, I would say that there two valid answers:
1) Tricks collected by a set (failed) NIL bid count as tricks for the partner, at ...
- 186
3
votes
Accepted
In Spades, what to lead from {Ace,King,...}
Spades and Contract Bridge share most of the same mechanics as far as play of the cards are concerned, and this has long been a matter of disagreement between experts. Also, the style of playing from ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
When to lead a spade?
In a nice spades strategy guide (written by Buckey) the situations to lead spades are the following:
Your partner has their bid or you can cover their bid.
You know your partner bid high spades. Not ...
- 3,799
2
votes
Accepted
What card game is this? Similar to spades
Sounds like Cassino (also called Casino according to Wikipedia).
- 1,139
2
votes
Accepted
What if every suit were trump, and partners hated each other?
The play would be a lot less strategic than at Spades, because it won't be possible to draw trump, and it certainly won't be possible to draw trump and then run a side suit. This is one major ...
- 1,858
2
votes
Accepted
Is bidding nil while holding the Queen of spade reasonable?
Your proposed hand is an excellent hand to bid nil. Because literally the only issue is with the Q♠ I'd try for it whenever partner bids does not also bid nil and your team doesn't have a huge lead ...
- 3,848
2
votes
Is it ok to show my cards when I know I I’m the only one with spades left
This procedure, called Claiming or Conceding as the case may be, is common in Contract Bridge (both Rubber and Tournament). However it is also error prone for beginners and can be used unethically by ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
Is it ok to show my cards when I know I I’m the only one with spades left
This is a common play, called: The rest are mine (TRAM).
Wikipedia:
A common play among more experienced or skilled players is for a
player who realizes that he cannot help but win all remaining ...
- 3,799
2
votes
Accepted
in Spades, when to bid such that the sum of bids equal 14?
There are no hard and fast rules or heuristics for such a decision, but the following indicators will tend to be positive in such a circumstance:
When one is clearly the strongest player in the game.
...
- 11.3k
2
votes
in Spades, when to bid such that the sum of bids equal 14?
In addition to Forget I was ever here's answer, it's appropriate to bid to 14+ tricks where your hand is disproportionately strong by itself (like comfortably bid 7 or more) and no one bids nil. This ...
- 3,848
2
votes
Simplest finesses in Spades?
Finesses are all about considering the risk. In the example Benjamin notes, where partner plays low, right-hand opponent (RHO) plays low, and you hold AQ, you have a choice. You can play Q, which ...
- 3,863
2
votes
Simplest finesses in Spades?
I think this completes the other answers, implementing the idea into actions.
Indirect Finesses are when partner plays a non-honor card towards your tenace. They also sometimes occur when you are ...
- 3,799
2
votes
Is there a complete study on the statistics to bid?
Most of the study was made on Spade's "bigger brother" Bridge, however some work has been done on Spades as well.
At 2020, during my ph.d I wrote a paper called Bidding in Spades.
If you ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible