The seasoned Spades partnership has an overwhelming advantage when they are matched against a pair who have never played together, or have had only a limited amount of time as partners. I have always believed that you are playing for fun or practice when you sit down at the Spades table with a new partner. Once in a while randomly paired partners find a perfect rapport with each other and can be quite formidable but this is the exception and not the rule. There is no substitute for experience. It is similar to "battery" in the game of baseball where a pitcher and catcher develop a comfort level with each other as the season unfolds. They both know the repertoire of pitches and understand the hitters from the other team. If you play Spades with "pickup", or unknown, partners the results will be very disappointing in the long run. Your game might be aggressive, with emphasis on bidding higher and going for sets, while your new partner leans toward bagging and conservative bidding - a recipe for disaster!

a. Card sense
b. A working knowledge of the game (offense and defense)
c. A desire to invest the time and effort to blend your styles and abilities together. A good memory and the ability to count cards are also essential.


There is plenty of written material out there. Three full length Spades books (including 'The Complete Win at Spades, by yours truly, have been published since 1998. There are many active on line Spades sites. 'Safe Harbors' is a great place to play! A search of the Internet will also yield a treasure of trove of useful instructional information.. If you are a newcomer, your team might want to try a few games against the computer. You will have the opportunity to discuss each hand with your partner (after the game is over), and review lines of play. Then you can step up to casual games against human opponents before making the leap to the competitive and tournament arenas.. The next logical step is to find a "live" game - perhaps at college, a family outing, or during lunchtime at work. If you are fortunate enough to play in a "live" tournament, you may take a few lumps. However, in time, your side will improve and will taste victory. The Spades Connection (Nashville, TN)) is a great 'live' venue for improving your game as it hosts a balanced mix of seasoned and intermediate players.

Here is a deal which occurred at a live event last spring. Check out this hand:

With 80 points needed for the win, West felt mighty good about his hand He bid four, and in a flash, North made the call of Nil. East had little difficulty bidding a four of his own, with plans on "covering" North's Nil! After all, one Nil bid meant nothing here, if South came in with any positive numerical bid from one to five. Because his partner had made a call of four, East was quite confident with his three good spades and the top two diamonds. Eight tricks appeared to be "in the bag"! When South decided to bid zero, East's world was rocked! Two Nils were daunting, to say the least! Now a N/S win was threatened with the rare "twin Nil". This was one of those end games in which bags were a factor - a familiarly recurring motif in the game of Spades.

West did not have a good Nil attacking hand and he reluctantly tried the three of diamonds. North easily ducked, as East inserted the six, and South tossed the King of clubs. East's seven of clubs was truly a desperate shift, as South ducked with the six spot, won by West's nine. The Jack of clubs was equally futile and ditto for the seven of hearts. After thrashing around for several minutes, the dogs were called in and the hunt was over, and the twin Nil rolled in for a nice 200 points and a thrilling and agonizing win (507 - 506).

The post-mortem comments were crisp and to the point. West claimed East should have bid 5 to protect against the twin Nil. And East hit back with, "YOU should have bid 5 partner, given the texture of your hand, and the fact that the club suit was probably going to win at least one trick". Don't you just love "results merchants" or 'hindsight analysts"?

Now we have some interesting hypothetical analyses. Suppose that N/S have a score of 207 instead of 307. A Nil bid by North is of no value. He must bid at least one. Assume that E/W still bid their eight for the win. Now the N/S bag count is very critical here. South must bid five in order to bring his side's total to six. Although this seems outrageous, the bags will be minimized. The plan is to take exactly six tricks and six tricks only. West makes the normal opening lead of the Ace, or King of hearts. North very rudely trumps this, and plays a diamond. South ruffs this, and back and forth they go in the red suits, as they score their six trumps separately. And that is enough to set E/W, reducing their score by eighty points. Sixty points are added to the N/S score. This does not, however, assure the win; the game continues.

Another interesting sidebar to this hand is that N/S don't have to win their two club tricks as six tricks are enough for the set. Most fascinating of all is the fact that N/S can generate as many as eight tricks, or as few as zero tricks. It all depends on the action by E/W. Ahhh, the adventures in Spades!

Happy Holidays!