Does duplicate Spades overemphasize the bag (overbook)? Does the -1 penalty for bags have too much impact on the board's outcome? How will an extra bag affect your final standings? Let's examine the bag issue.

AKQ1093 7 AKQJ42 -- J AQ10942 98 AQ64 8654 63 1075 K985 72 KJ85 63 J10732 South West North East nil nil 12 nil West led the 4

I am using the same deal as shown previously in Duplicate #26, The Freak, simply because we only wish to do some calculations with the score. Let's show the complete bidding again, exactly as it occurred at the tables.

The first thing we notice is that only one pair of tables produced identical bids. Tables #2 and #3 bid the same as each other. It is not uncommon in a large field to see such variations in the bidding. Everyone has different notions about bidding and some use subtle tactics as well.

Turning to the results of Tables #2 and #3, we see that there is a difference of one bag. It went to the N/S pair of Table #3 and to the E/W pair of Table #2. The extra bag created an apparent 14% difference in the results for each of the four pairs involved. I say apparent because it is really only half that amount, as I will show.

Suppose N/S at Table #3 had avoided that one bag. They would score the same 210 points as their counterparts at table #2. The results of this 1-bag transfer would change the results as shown below. Only the pairs at Tables #2 and #3 are affected. Everyone else receives the same result as they had before.

We see that four pairs are affected by a one-bag transfer at a single table, and they have either gained or lost 7%. If a third table had also been affected then all six pairs would have their scores changed. The adjustment would be somewhat greater than 7% for two pairs but smaller than 7% for the other four. I'll leave the calculations to you.

How does this 7% one-board change affect the final 16-board total result? If your team had been one of the four adjusted pairs, your final score is changed by 0.44%. That is, a 55.00% final result becomes either 54.56% or 55.44%, depending on whether the one-bag transfer worked in your favor or against it.

We conclude that a single bag on a single hand has only a very minor effect on one's final totals, and may have no effect at all on the standings. Of course, these calculations apply to an 8-table game. The effect of a bag is magnified in smaller games but diminished when there are more tables. As e-Spades continues to grow and the fields become larger (as we all hope), we will see that a bag has even less impact in the end than it does in this example.