SOME TIPS FROM LAMB

Judi asked us to give some helpful hints on playing spades. Giving suggestions on proper bidding is easy to do in written form but proper playing of the cards in one’s hand is impossible due to the myriad of possible card combinations. We would we willing to sit at a table with you kibitzing us and play cards while giving pointers as we play. This might be informative but could also be terribly boring to you..
BIDDING
The cardinal rule in bidding is NEVER GO SET. Of course, this is not always possible due to distribution or the lay of the cards. However, a good team seldom goes set. If you bid 7 and go set but could have made a 6 bid you have lost 130 points
(-70 instead of +60). You will lose most games in which you give away 130 points on one hand. Going set on a nil while your pard makes a 3 bid is only -70 points so you can see that going set on a 7 bid is almost twice as damaging as going set on a nil.. The way to avoid going set is to NOT overbid your hand.

Use this point system to determine your bid. The total points in your hand is your bid. You will wind up with some partial points and should round down with ½ point or less and round up with more than ½ point.


NON TRUMP CARDS HELD POINTS TRUMPS HELD

POINTS

Ace

1

K x

1

King

3/4

Q x x

1

Queen or below

0

A Q

1.5

Ace-King combination

2

A Q x

2

King-Queen combination

1

K J x x

2

Void in a suit

1.5*

4 trumps

1

Singleton (1 card in a suit)

1*

each trump above 4

3/4

Doubleton (2 cards in a suit)

1/2*

K singleton

1/2


*Subtract 1 from trump holding if points counted here
x is a small card in the suit

Subtract one from your bid if you are playing in front of a nil or if your pard has bid nil. Add one if you are playing behind a nil. Protecting a nil or attempting to set a nil results in different card play and will affect the number of tricks you take.

Many games are won and lost on the bidding of the last hand. The burden of making the proper bid falls on the last person of the team to bid who should always bid something that gives your team a chance to win or at least prolong the game. Don’t be afraid to bid low and attempt to bag the opponents out even if they only have 6 bags. If the only alternative is to set the opponents make the bid total 14. Bidding double nil is a poor alternative unless pard has bid high. The first bidder of the team should never be the one to bid the double nil.

NIL BIDDING
Many spade players bid risky nils and pay the price. Nils are a high risk, high reward bid so you must bid the nil when the opportunity presents itself but you MUST resist the temptation to bid the risky nil unless the score dictates that you should.. If you go set on a nil but could have made a two bid you lost 120 points. Again, you are not going to win many games in which you give away 120 points on one hand.

Never bid a nil with any of the following holdings.
1) 3 card suit with an ace
2) King of trumps
3) Queen of trumps
4) Four trumps
5) K x x in a side suit is high risk but can be made sometimes
6) two or more medium to high cards in a suit with no low cards
If the opponents have bid nil you can consider bidding nil unless you have number 1,2 or 4 above.

PLAYING THE CARDS
You MUST know how many cards have been played in each suit and which high cards (low cards if you bid nil) are still outstanding. Counting cards is easy. You know how many cards you started with in a suit so you know how many times the suit has been played. All you need to remember is whether everyone followed suit. Keeping up with whether someone discarded in a suit will trip you up at times as it does us. Keeping up with which cards have been played is much more difficult but just requires concentration.

Some basic playing rules are:
1) Never lead from a King
2) Never lead from an Ace-Queen or King-Jack combination
3) Use the second hand low, third hand high philosophy. Unless you play the ace, always play low when you are second to play. Play high if you are third to play to keep opponents from getting a cheap trick. This rule applies for 11 and 12 bids but does not apply for 10 bids.
4)Lead your highest card from a sequence (i.e. lead a Q from the Q,J,10 or K from K,Q).
5)If you are nil, play the highest card in a sequence if you are playing a card from the sequence.
6).If your pard leads a K it means he has a singleton K or more likely the Q to back up the King.
7) If you bid double nil and have the trump Ace play it or take a trick as soon as possible so your pard can quit trying to protect you.

Always go for the set on a 12 bid. Never go for the set on a 10 bid. The 11 bid presents the most problem for us. Many players go for bag control rather than a set on 11 bids but that is a mistake in our opinion. We probably set as many 11 bids as we do 12 bids because opponents give us cheap tricks trying to avoid bags. The proper approach to 11 bids is to watch the fall of the cards and make a decision midway through the hand. You just hope that you and pard are on the same wavelength. Watch pard’s discards for an indication of which way he is going. If he discards a high card or undertrumps a trick, then he is going for bag control. If he takes a trick with a high trump and later plays a low trump he is going for bag control. If on the other hand he trumps a trick low or takes a a trick he didn't have to and already has his bid made, he is going for the set.

The play of a 10 bid is tricky. One guideline we sometimes use is if an opponent leads a low card, the second player might choose to play high so that his pard can also play a high card (2 high cards from your hands on the same trick helps). If an opponent leads a medium card, usually play under it to give them an unwanted trick. Make sure you don't give away too many tricks and go set.

Hope this helps
Boog (Roy) & Neal
1