Spades anyone?

**winbig** · 19th September 2010, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by rouletteguy

Can anyone give us a 1 paragraph spiel about how this game is played please?

Standard partner version of spades:

All 52 cards are dealt out to 4 players. You sit across from your partner and everyone gets 13 cards. Spades are always the 'trump' card, and take precedence over whatever suit is played. You can't lead out in spades unless they've been played in a previous trick or if you aren't able to follow suit. Aces are only counted as high, and the rest of the cards count as their normal values. Kings are higher than queens, etc.

Scoring is based on bids. Prior to any play, every person places a bid based on how many tricks (hands) that they feel they can win. The winning bidder starts the play, and your partner can help you cover your bid.

If you meet the number of tricks you bid on, you gain points..say if you bid for 6 tricks and get 7, you'll get 61 points. If you go 'set,' (don't win enough tricks,) you'll lose 60 points.

You can also bid 'nil,' in which you can't take any tricks at all, and is worth 100 points. Although your partner can help you, the nil bid doesn't preclude them from taking tricks. So if you win your nil bid and your partner takes a trick, you'll get 101 points.

One variation which is interesting is called 'sandbagging.' Basically, if you underbid your hands too much, once you reach 10 extra points, your score drops 100 points. See the paragraph above in regards to bidding 6 and taking 7 tricks. The 7th trick would count as that extra point.

edit: One more important rule in Spades is 'reneging.' Basically, if you can follow suit, but instead decide to 'throw off' with a different suit, then you automatically 'go set,' and lose however many tricks you bid. The hands continue to play out, but you will still lose those points. I'm sure that the software won't let you do this online, so it mainly applies to offline games, and you really need to pay attention to who's playing what.

**silcnlayc** · 20th September 2010, 12:13 AM

pokeraddict: Where can you play spades for money nowadays? I always liked playing duplicate spades as well if that is still around.

I do not know if it is against the rules to put the site here ...Max/ Bryan? Can I ? Yes, you can play for money and some of the pots are really good ones..they get into the hundreds as I have seen....I would love to find a partner that can REALLY play and knows the tricks...I used to make some good money and would like to find a partner like I had at the other site that closed down that was so compatible with my play...

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**gloria460** · 20th September 2010, 01:47 AM

I love spades and I'm a cut throat player. I love the sound of the cards slapping the player or the table. My partner and I took no prisoners and we used to piss people off...all in good fun...never played for money.

**pokeraddict** · 22nd September 2010, 01:37 AM

I would really prefer to play singles or duplicate spades. It's too easy to cheat at partner spades online. PM me a link if you don't want to post it even though I don't see why it would be against the rules as long as it isn't your site or an affiliate link.

**Jasminebed** · 22nd September 2010, 04:32 AM

Won't help the US players, but I'm pretty sure that 32Red sent me a spades promo.

I love playing spades, I played a lot online for fun, and some in real life, but it is very difficult to play with a partner that doesn't know you, and even for fun people will cheat, so I don't want to guess what people will do for money.

Even without stuff that can be detected like IMs, people can talk on the telephone.

Pretty cool if you can have private tables though, where you can play with people that you trust not to be cheats.

I might be interested in cutthroat spades, I would have to play in fun first.

**felicie** · 22nd September 2010, 06:05 AM

I'd be interested whats the link please? Thanks

**Luckylizzy** · 30th September 2010, 07:50 PM

I first played spades when I was 15 with my now husband's parents. I was teamed up with his mom and he was teamed with his dad. I remember that was one of the most fun times I had in my life just playing a simple card game.

Now my mother in law plays all the time with a group of friends online. Whenever I talk to her she has to tell me about her latest achievement in the game. She only plays the free version but I want her to play for real money because she is like a pro!

But Jasmine brought up a good point of how they can just cheat by talking over the phone. Maybe they could create a spades software where the players are under webcam surveillance while playing so the other team can see what they are doing at all times

That would be cool!

**silcnlayc** · 30th September 2010, 11:14 PM

The site is spadester.com . I think it might be a little harder to cheat here since anyone can sit at any table and there are only 3-4 players at a table on most tourneys.

I have been practicing a lot and have had a great time trying out all the different versions they offer.

Since slots and casinos are almost impossible to win anymore and get a fair shake...I figured, this would be a nice change to break the monotony of losing..Remember, you can play in fun mode too!
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