The game of Spades and/or playing cards generally involves options or decisions. When we analyze hands independently, or an entire game, we see many errors have indeed been made by both sides. Errors involving bidding, nils, positional play, bagging errors, and many more. However the subject of this article deals with options.

Can we have two ways to win? I certainly think so. I am a firm believer that many bidding instances allow us two and sometimes three ways to win. Anytime we can enjoy an option that cannot cost us when an opponent guesses right but rewards us when they make the wrong guess we should take it. Today bidding options will not be discussed; instead options regarding play and the cards played involving both sides will be reviewed. I consider some options obligatory. Many might disagree but nevertheless I feel this way. I am painfully disguising my topic, which by the way is "Falsecarding", because I hate buzzwords that might simply confuse someone.

When making a deceptive play one must first have some understanding regarding the possibility of fooling partner as well as the opponents. Some cards and the order played should be mandatory. Note, I said mandatory. All rules have exceptions but some deceptive areas of card play are so general by expert card players that they are indeed obligatory.

What exactly is a Falsecard? A simple definition is a card played other than the lowest one held with the real intent to deceive an opponent. That is about as basic as I can make it. Several strains do exist. We can make a play while winning a trick by playing a card that is higher than we could have won the trick say with Ace, King, and Queen, we could take the Ace when an opponent leads this suit. This tactic could be used for many reasons. It could be that we are in some nil scenario and want the opponents to think our pard has a missing honor. It could be that a 12-bid is on the table and partner has only bid one and we want to give misinformation to the opps regarding missing cards and how to place them around the table. Anytime you win a trick with a Queen and then play the King and or Ace you have placed the cards fairly easily for the opps. Most of the time we win a trick as cheaply as possible so that we do not fool our partner but in doing so valuable info is passed to our opponents.

The term falsecarding should be applied in certain situations but another term called "Deceptive Maneuvers" should be applied in others. Deceptive play might be thought of as play that pertains to the entire hand or the entire game while falsecards should be associated to just one trick. A better description I suppose would be to say when a player is winning a trick constitutes one form and when a player is losing a trick gives reign to another. It is the losing that concerns me the most and one that we abuse routinely.

Options occur frequently that we are losing tricks and we do not maximize our chances to "Load the Dice!" Just because we're losing the trick does not mean we can't have our cake and eat it later. Remember, the more options we give the opponents to go wrong, the more chances we have to take extra tricks. One such area regarding this deception comes under the heading:

Play The Card You Are Known to Hold

This principle is not new; it is not some snare I devised today or any other day. It is simply good deceptive table play and can be exercised in just about any card game. An example of this technique presented itself recently in the MSN Zone playing in Rated Room One. It could have been a master of disaster if the simple concept of playing the card you're known to hold was invoked.

I was sitting E/W with my regular partner and feeling like a Rod Serling fan on the edge of my seat watching an episode of the "Twilight Zone." Yes, the Twilight Zone, not the MSN Zone, as this monster occurred. North and South were very good players, competent, high ratings, etc, etc, boasting ratings of over 2500. Sit back, place yourself in the South position and or E/W and watch a simple play cost a high-rated game.

North J 7 5 2 QJ63 J10987 West 6 3 Q K87542 6532 East 5 A10987643 A109 Q South AKQ109842 KJ -- AK6

The game going E/W's way and in the final stretch with N/S sitting with a score of 385 and E/W holding the winning position of 481. West opened the bidding with a 1-bid; North bid 1 also after an eternal hesitation. East (yours truly) bid 1, and South went into the think-tank. After a few minutes doing his math he placed an 11-bid on the table making a total of 14. The right decision or bid I must agree but looked how he followed up on that brilliant bid by making a simple blunder.

My partner led his singleton Q of hearts and North followed with a small heart. Normally I duck queens opting for finesse but with an 11 bid sitting behind me it seemed ridiculous to even consider it. I quickly popped the ace and my good little 2500-rated player played in tempo the... Jack!!!

Can you see the MISTAKE? Look at the problem I have if South plays the KING! I most likely will try to cash my second ace and N/S can make this pushy 11-bid. The concept, simple! Play the card you are known to hold, especially from information given by the opening lead.

In this case the Queen could easily have been led from the queen and Jack. Once South sees the Ace capture the queen he can see all the honors and his King and Jack are exactly the same size. This is a prime opportunity to load the dice and present me as East with a decision to go wrong. The Jack eliminated my guess and forced me to make the heart continuation and the easy set.

Getting back to the topic above regarding deceptive play and falsecards, one can quickly see that this is indeed an obligatory example and is indeed classified as a falsecard.

This is just the first part or article regarding this subject on falsecards and two ways to win. Look for more soon and start considering your options to load the dice by giving opponents extra chances to guess wrong. Remember, it is not the number of errors that kills us but the cost of those errors. Forget eliminating mistakes because we will all make them. Do, however, eliminate the obligatory plays.

Regards,
Ruffkid1 (Jay Tomlinson)