Spades Tips & Strategies

Spades Column of the Month - July 2003

Jack is Back!
Take a look later in the column! But first, some old business.

Duplicate Spades: the Final Chapter
Duplicate Spades was introduced as a novelty at the 1998 Indianapolis "live" Spades Convention. It was also featured in the original Spades book (1999) by yours truly. Although this variation has a dedicated group of devotees for its "online" format, it is at least a generation away as becoming a standard. Last month's survey was most informative. Sixty-seven people completed the questionnaire. Here are the results based on the information submitted.

a) Only 12 people have played Duplicate Spades at a “live” Spades event.

b) Only 15 people have played Duplicate Spades “online.”

c) 37 people have read Duplicate Spades articles (in columns or Spades books).

d) 54 people would NOT travel to a “live” event that featured Duplicate Spades EXCLUSIVELY (most would play Duplicate if it was offered as a “side” event).

e) 62 people preferred the Standard (500 point) game over the Duplicate format (this is a very compelling result).

Conclusion: "Online" Duplicate Spades will continue to grow, although at a very slow pace. "Live" Duplicate is still in its infancy. Unlike the game of Bridge, which has thousands of local clubs under the auspices of the ACBL, Spades has only a few regularly organized "live" events. It will require a long time to train Duplicate Spades Hosts (Directors). The various movements (especially those for individuals) are complicated. The Rules are voluminous. The scoring system is not yet perfected. And the methodology of play is cumbersome to the average player. Only a handful of experienced Bridge Directors could conduct a Duplicate Spades session.

Final comment: Duplicate Spades will continue to be an "exhibition" game at any "live" event which has a Host who is qualified to direct a session. Duplicate is game which measures skill; however, the beauty of the regular game is that anyone can win on any given day (though the better players still triumph in the long run). Thus, the good-old fashioned 500-point game (in a eight or ten hand format with no DN's) is here to stay!

Spades Quiz
Look at these four hands. Each has the following shape: 5 spades, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds, and one club. The hearts and clubs are identical; the trump and diamonds represent the classic "5-5" layout. However, each hand has a different placement of high cards in these suits.

Hand A:

6 5 4 3 2
3 2
Q 5 4 3 2
2

Hand B:

A K J 10 2
3 2
Q 5 4 3 2
2

Hand C:

6 5 4 3 2
3 2
A K J 10 2
2

Hand D:

A K J 10 2
3 2
A K J 10 2
2

The scenario: the score in each case is tied at 255-255. You have first bid with each of the hands. What is your call for each hand, and why?

Win a special Bicycle Card Commemorative Collector's Tin. E-Mail your response to: heartsmoon@aol.com The solutions and analyses will be published next month. Good luck!

Jack Returns!
John Strichman returns for another guest appearance. Check out this really cool article! Copyright 2003, by John Strichman – JohnGalt is the author of How Not to Lose at Spades (Valley Publishing - Boulder, CO)

Breaking Away!
On the following hand, East bid Nil and West is on the lead on trick one.

North: Bid 2

West: Bid 7

East: Bid 0

South: Bid 1

Q 5 3
Q 8 2
Q 9 8 4 3
10 5

Score:
Your team: 265 (5 bags)
Opponents: 285 (5 bags)

Obviously, your team needs to set the Nil bid in order to maintain a reasonable chance of winning the game. Since West has made such a strong bid, it may appear to be very unlikely that you will be able to succeed in your objective. This, however, may not be the case.

On trick one, West leads the Ace of hearts, North plays the King, East dumps his 10, and South unloads the Queen. West then leads the King of clubs. North wins the trick with the Ace, East gladly throws his Queen, and South plays the 10. North leads back the 3 of clubs. East plays the 2, South plays the 5 (the last club in hand), and West wins the trick with his lowest club, the 6. On trick 4, West leads the Jack of hearts. North plays the 9, East the 6, and South gets rid of the 8.

On the next trick, West leads the 9 of clubs (the 4, 7, 8, and Jack have not been played). North ducks with the 4, and East is able to go under with the 7, leaving you (South) to decide what card to play. This is the situation as it stands. What card should you play in order to have the best chance of setting the Nil bid?

North: 2 bid, 1 won

West: 7 bid, 3 won

East: 0 bid, 0 won

South: 1 bid, 0 won

Q 5 3
2
Q 9 8 4 3
VOID

The Mistake
If you trump the trick with the Queen of spades (or any spade for that matter), you are making a very big mistake.

When the covering opponent has made a very high bid and is stuck in the lead, if you voluntarily break spades, you are frequently saving the cover opp from a very difficult position, not setting the Nil bid as often as possible, and you and your pard are losing more Spades games than you should.

Almost always, when the covering opponent has made a high bid (6 to 7 or higher), he is holding many spades in his hand. If he has 6 or 7 spades in his hand, it means that he has very few cards in the three side suits. As a result, he frequently will have a weakness in one of those side suits in terms of being able to protect his partner's Nil bid.

If he is forced to lead trick after trick prior to spades having been broken, he will be forced to lead lower and lower and riskier and riskier side suit cards. Consequently, you should do everything possible to keep the cover opp in the lead and prevent him from having the option of leading spades. The way to accomplish this is to keep the breaking of spades from taking place for as long as possible.

In the hand in this example, there would be no benefit to your trumping the club trick with the Queen of spades. Due to West's high bid, the chance of setting East in spades is virtually nonexistent, and there is little chance that you will not be able to make your bid (not that this should be a concern in this situation anyway).

Is breaking away really that important a Nil setting strategy? Here is what happened on this hand:

South made the correct play on trick 5 of dumping a diamond. West won the trick and was stuck in the lead. It turned out that West had 7 spades in his hand and, consequently, had only one more side suit card, the 8 of clubs. West was forced to lead the club 8 (only the Jack was still outstanding). North dumped the King of diamonds, poor East had the Jack, and when South threw a diamond, the Nil was set.

North/South set the Nil (actually they forced West to set the Nil), and went on to win the game. Had South made the typical play on trick 5 of trumping in, and very possibly leading back a low diamond, West (having no diamonds) would have been able to trump the lead and then begin leading his spades. He still would have had the 8 of clubs in his hand, but East most likely would have been able to dump the Jack on one of those spades, and the East/West team almost surely would have gone on to win the game.

In situations like this one, if you lose your patience and don't keep breaking away from the cover opponent, chances are the opponents will not lose their Nil, but you will lose at Spades.

Happy July 4^th to everyone! Enjoy the summer!