Spades strategy

Spades is won at the bidding stage as much as during play. A team that bids its hands accurately makes its contract most hands, collects few bags and leaves the costly mistakes to the other side. During play the job is easy to describe: win the tricks your team needs, avoid the ones it doesn’t, and stop the opponents from making theirs.

Go through your hand suit by suit and count the cards that should win a trick on their own. These are guidelines, not guarantees, but they keep your bids honest:

Use your partner’s bid

Bids are made in turn and shown to everyone. If your partner bid high, they’re counting on their own top cards; your borderline Kings and Queens are less likely to be needed, so count them conservatively.

Add up the whole table

There are only 13 tricks. If the four bids total 13 or more, at least one team will fall short, and every trick will be fought over. If they total 10 or 11, two or three tricks are unclaimed and will end up as bags for someone.

The last bidder knows the most

The fourth player sees all three other bids and can fit their bid around them, whether that means padding the team total or leaving room to set the opponents.

When unsure, think about bags and the score

If your team is close to 10 bags, lean toward the higher number. If you’re comfortably ahead late in the game, lean lower: a set is the quickest way to let the other team catch up.

A nil bid is scored on its own (the Spades rules page explains the details): your team gains 100 if you take no tricks and loses 100 if you take even one, while your partner’s bid is scored as the team’s contract. Tricks you take as a nil bidder don’t help your partner; they count as bags. Bid nil only with a genuinely weak hand: no Aces, no high spades, three spades at most, and low cards to play under the others in every suit.

Double nil, where both partners bid 0, is scored as two separate nils. Both of you have to duck every trick and nobody is left to protect you, so it’s rarely worth the risk.

When your partner bids nil, your job changes: win the tricks they might be forced to take, play high when they still have to play after you, and take over any trick they’re winning. As the nil bidder, play the highest card that still loses and throw away high cards whenever you can’t follow suit. Against an opponent’s nil, lead low cards and let them keep the tricks they win.

Watch the counter

The scoreboard shows each team’s bags. Once your team is on seven or more, treat extra tricks as a cost: make your contract, then stop winning. Play under the card that’s currently winning, and when you can’t follow suit, throw away your high cards in other suits so they can’t win tricks later.

Push bags onto the opponents

If the other team is on eight or nine bags and has already made its contract, letting them win extra tricks can trigger their 100-point penalty. This works best when your own contract is already safe.

Don’t overcorrect

A bag costs about 9 points in the long run. Missing a bid of 5 costs 50 at once, plus the 50 you would have scored. Making your contract always comes first; avoiding bags comes second.

A set costs the other team 10 points for every trick they bid, which is often worth far more than the bags you pick up stopping them. When the opponents bid high, especially if the table total is 12 or more, look for chances to take the tricks they need:

• Keep track of how many tricks they still need and how many are left.
• Once your own contract is safe, use your remaining high cards to win tricks they’re counting on.
• Trump their side-suit Aces and Kings when you’re void in that suit.
• If they need every remaining trick, a single winner in your hand is enough to set them.

Cash side-suit Aces early

Lead your Aces before the other players run out of that suit and can trump them. An Ace held too long can end up beaten by a small spade.

Lead short suits to create a void

If you hold a single card in a side suit, playing it early empties that suit, so you can trump it the next time it’s led.

Second hand low, third hand high

Playing second after an opponent leads, play low: your partner plays last and can win cheaply. When your partner leads and you play third, play high to win the trick or force out the last opponent’s top card.

Don’t trump your partner’s winner

If your partner’s card is already winning and you can’t follow suit, discard instead of trumping. Save your spades for tricks your team would otherwise lose.

Pull trump when your side is strong in spades

Once spades are broken, leading high spades draws out the opponents’ spades and protects your side-suit winners from being trumped. If the opponents hold more spades than you, avoid leading them and make them use their spades on your low cards instead.

You don’t need a perfect memory to count usefully. Start with these, in order:

1. 1
   Spades played. There are 13. Knowing how many are left tells you whether your side-suit winners are safe.
2. 2
   Who is void. When a player can’t follow suit, note it. They will trump or discard every time that suit is led.
3. 3
   Top cards gone. Once the Ace and King of a suit have fallen, the Queen is the boss card.
4. 4
   Suit totals. Each suit has 13 cards. If nine hearts have been played and you hold two, the other three players have two between them.

Close to 500

Bid conservatively. Making your contract is usually all you need to finish the game.

Opponents close to 500

Bid and play to set them, even at the cost of a few bags.

On nine bags

A single overtrick costs you 100 points, so ducking extra tricks matters more than usual.

Far behind

Safe play won’t close a big gap. Higher bids and aggressive set attempts are your best chance.

• Counting unprotected Queens and Jacks as sure tricks.
• Bidding low on purpose and letting bags pile up.
• Trumping a trick your partner was already winning.
• Holding a side-suit Ace until it gets trumped.
• Leading spades when the opponents hold more of them.
• Losing track of how many spades have been played.
• Ignoring the bag count until the penalty hits.