About a year ago I attended a live Spades tournament. I had invited a friend to pard me for the event. I arrived early and could only pace around nervously waiting for his arrival. Eventually it became clear that he was not going to show up. Naturally, this was a disappointment but I was not ready to leave. I had come to play Spades.

The director introduced me to a lady who also needed a partner, and so we had a match. After the customary greetings we sat down at our assigned table. We were two total strangers who had about 30 seconds to prepare our team strategy. "What's your style?" I asked. All I got in return was a blank stare. "Style?" she asked. (It would be rude of me to include a "duh" in this report. Maybe I didn't really hear it.) And so we struggled through our first game, not as a pair but as two uncoordinated individuals.

Spades players have their own personal philosophies of playing the game. Everyone wants to win, but there are differences of opinion regarding the most effective way to do it. Spaders eventually develop their own preferred style of bidding and play. All Spades players should be aware of their own favorite methods. When strangers must pair up, they can save time and trouble by alerting their new teammates what to expect.

For those who never really considered the different types of Spades players, I offer some general descriptions of styles. The purpose of this article is to enable a Spades player to evaluate one's own style of play. If you know your own category you can then quickly start up an effective partnership when matched with a stranger.

I make no attempt to endorse any particular style over another. For now, all that matters is knowing yourself. Let us start with first phase, the bidding.

The Precision Bidder

Precision bidders are noted for their consistency. They bid each hand according to a certain formula or bidding system, always trying to guess the exact number of tricks they will win with normal breaks. Aces, kings, and trump length determine their bids. The AQ62, for example, is always worth a 3-bid, no more, no less. Precision bidders will occasionally apply a bidding adjustment to their normal call, either up or down. They are not robots. It is their normal bidding methods that define their style.

The Conservative Bidder

Conservative bidders always look for reasons to adjust their bid downward. They usually find one. Clearly they dread being set. The AQ62 is usually counted as 2. A conservative bid provides protection against bad breaks and an unlucky lie of the cards.

Is there a difference between conservative bidding and underbidding? It doesn't really matter. Different players simply have different notions of the best way to win a 500-point Spades game. The conservative bidders insist their own methods are correct. They may even tell you it is the other players who bid the same way as themselves who are the true underbidders.

Here's a couple of examples. At a recent live tournament, I heard my LHO bid nil and my partner next bid 6. My RHO glanced at his cards and bid 2. When play began, he quickly showed up with the A and the A, and later surprised me by winning a third trick with the A. After the deal, when I remarked about his three aces, he replied, "I had a lot of clubs and didn't know if my ace would go through, especially after your partner's 6-bid."

Later I was kibitzing a meaningless game. It turned out that all four players were conservative bidders. Needless to say, there were many 10-bid totals and an occasional 9-bid. One the following deal the first bidder was North.

North
K xxxx xxx AKQxxx

South
AQJ5 xxx Kxxx xx

North decided her hand was worth all of a 1-bid. East bid 4, based on the AKQ10, the A, and four middle spades. He apparently felt he couldn't pitch them all. Now it was South's turn. I could only watch in fascination as South decided his hand was a straightforward 3-bid.

Then we come to West, who had a truly miserable hand. His only face card was the Q, but he had four spades so nil was ruled out. A 1-bid would only bring the table total to nine tricks. I noted his fumbling, hesitation, agitation, his anguish over what to do with his trash. After breaking out in beads of perspiration he finally ventured a 2-bid, possibly the most courageous overbid he had ever made in his Spades career.

Do not read any criticism into this description of conservative bidders. It is not intended. When it comes down to winning a tournament, the conservatives may well have the right idea.

The Aggressive Bidder

Aggressive bidders are the opposite of their conservative counterparts. They always seek a reason to increase their normal bid, or at least to sharply round upward. This is not quite the same as overbidding. The competent aggressive bidder is bidding on something, even if it is only a hunch that partner is not bidding the full value of his hand. Typical reasons for making an aggressive call might be hand texture, bidding in the 4th position, bidding after an opponent's nil, and knowledge of the bidding habits and playing skills of the other three players. The aggressive bidder does not always push to his highest possible call. He waits for opportunities.

The Overbidder

Chronic overbidders are very rare. They do not last long in Spades. They can often get away with an occasional overbid against poor players but will come to grief against better opposition. In fact, even chimps can take their aces and kings. A succession of sets will quickly cure the overbidder of his habit. I have never seen an overbidder stay that way very long.

On a different note, might it be acceptable to frequently stretch one's bid when teamed with a highly conservative bidder? This sort of question is beyond the scope of this article. If this is your style then you likely belong in the next category.

The Tactician

There are a number of highly experienced Spades players who can judge each situation with great accuracy. In most cases they are playing the people, not the cards. Tacticians might make use of the third-seat underbid, but only when they judge the player in 4th seat is someone likely to take the bait. They will overbid to an 11-total if they see both opponents are hopeless baggers, but may underbid against aggressive players. They will also rely on the game situation to determine their calls.

I recall being taken in by one such player. He held they following cards:

K4 8653 Q2 105432

His partner opened the bidding with nil and his RHO bid 4. This pathetic hand is barely worth a 1-bid and, more important, cannot provide decent nil coverage. But he had correctly judged his opponents as being highly aggrssive. Therefore he made the tactical overbid of 2! When the fourth hand predictably stretched to a 7-bid, the total was 12 tricks. It now seemed to the opponents too risky to try to set the nil. They could easily throw away their 11-bid in the process.

Although the nil bid could have easily been beaten in hearts, the defenders chose to make their 11-bid in safety. The 2-bid went set of course, but our tactician still collected 80 points for his side. Calling a normal 1-bid would have created enough room for the opponents to try to set the nil. They would have inflicted his side with a -90 penalty.

Adventures in Nil

None of the above applies to potential nil hands. When bidding nil, some folks claim to be super-cautious while others are quite frisky. Regardless of their normal bidding styles, there are players who will wait for the near-perfect hand before venturing nil, and there are others who like to live dangerously. In fact, the regular partners of those adventuresome nil-bidders often assign colorful names to their pard's quaint notions of a 'sound' nil hand!

In general, most of us fall somewhere in-between the two extremes. It is usually not possible to rate the soundness of one's own ideas of nil bidding. A Spades player typically places himself in the center of the universe, and everyone else falls to one side or the other. To know your own standing with regard to nil bidding, ask your favorite pard. Then you can come back with your opinion of Partner's nils!

Conclusion

I hope you have been able to locate your own methods in one of the above categories. Now that you know who you are, you can sit down with a stranger and describe your style of bidding. Continue to the second part of this series to evaluate your playing style.

Regards,
Popsicle