The keys to Spades are bidding wisely and working with your partner. Master these skills and you’ll always be a dangerous opponent.
Bidding
A bid is an educated guess on how many tricks you think you will win. When thinking about your bid here are some good rules of thumb to get you started: First, every Ace in your hand is probably good for one trick. The only time this is not true is when an opponent is out of a suit at the very beginning of the game and can trump in immediately, but this is statistically rare. Second, a run of Spades from Ace down is good for however long the run is. For example, if you have Ace, King and Queen of Spades than you are guaranteed at least three tricks.
Runs also apply to other suits, but with each lead of a suit the odds of someone being out and therefore able to trump in go up. So an Ace and King in a suit is likely to be good for two tricks, but not necessarily. And an Ace, King, Queen might work for three tricks, but don’t count on it!
Additionally, if you can “outlast” the other players you have additional guaranteed tricks. For example, if you have Ace, Queen and Five of Spades you can play your Ace for one trick, when the King is played you can play your Five, leaving your Queen in your hand as the remaining high trump.
If the Sandbags rule is being used, it will affect the intelligent players bidding. With no Sandbags, there is no penalty for taking more tricks than you bid. Because of this you should bid conservatively to insure you do not get negative points by being set. With Sandbags, the game is more interesting—if you underbid you will accumulate Sandbags which will eventually lead to losing points, if you overbid, you will take negative points for missing your bid. To succeed you must hit your bid consistently and that takes much more skill.
Nil & Blind Nil
The Nil and Blind Nil are a special type of bid in that you are hoping to make a large amount of points by taking no tricks. In a Blind Nil you can make more points, but you also must decide before you look at your cards!
If passing is allowed you should always pass high cards, especially trump. The other cards to consider passing are those with suits you have fewest of. If you can void yourself in a suit, then when that suit is led you can play the dangerous, non-spade cards from your hand. The more cards you are allowed to pass on a Nil bid, the easier it is to make that bid. With three or four cards passed it is relatively easy to make a Nil bid.
A Blind Nil is a large gamble and should only be used if your side is losing by significant amount.
The Hand
In general, if you are trying to make your bid you should try to take tricks and once you have made your bid you should avoid them. Easy enough to say!
Remember that you have a teammate. If your partner is sure to win a trick, don’t take it away without good reason (for example, if they are trying to make a nil bid, or if you are trying to avoid sandbags).
When passing cards to your partner, remember what you passed as you can use that knowledge to play more intelligently as a team with your partner.
If you are sure that your partner is not going to make their bid, you should attempt to take extra tricks in order to cover for them—but only do this under unusual circumstances. Your partner is bidding on their hand—you should worry about your own bid and generally trust that your partner knows what they are doing.
Try and be aware of who is void in which suits, and how everyone is doing. If an opponent has bid nil it is much better to give them a trick even if it means risking your own bid, and it’s always worth taking an extra trick or two to set your opponents.
Conclusions
When playing Spades it is important to always remember you have a partner. By paying close attention to what cards fall early in the game you can play to your partner’s strength and they can play to yours. At it’s best, both you and your partner’s hands will be stronger than they ever could be individually and this strength is both satisfying to grasp and the secret to success in the game of Spades.
Written with the assistance of Joe Andrews, President of the American Hearts and Spades Players’ Association.
