Spades for Winners

"East, on the backside of the nil, faces a difficult problem when he has a strong suit that has only one small card. Suppose West leads a seven and North, the nil bidder, plays a provocative eight. What should East play from AK3? Consider these three examples:

"It is early in the hand; East sees only Pard's 7, North's 8, and his own AK3. But as kibitzers, we can wander around the table, looking at all four hands. We see that East has a different winning line in each example.

"In Hand A, success is as simple as playing low at Trick One. In Hand B, East can only set the nil by winning the first trick and shooting back the 3. Neither of these plays, however, is sufficient for hand C. To succeed in this third case, East must win the first trick and then switch. He must wait for his partner to regain the lead and attack the suit a second time. How should East choose his play?"

"The bagging strategy works well when both sides play the same way. If a bagging pair competes against an aggressive pair, the aggressive pair is favored because it can call on more strategic resources."

"If your partner is an underbidder/dumper while you are an aggressive player, you are both in for a miserable time. Both of you are stuck with each other. You will take bags without having much hope of setting the hands. Is there any option for you? You will have to be flexible enough to adopt your partner's style because your partner could never play in your style."

"This may be the game's final hand. The opponents are leading by a score of 448 to your 320. Naturally, you and your partner note their eight bags. Partner bids 2, and so does your RHO. What is your call with the following hand?"

K10432 - A642 A832

"Many Spades players go wrong here. This looks like another bagging situation. If you bid only 2, or even 1, you can easily play along nil lines, and you can even trump your partner's high diamonds with high spades if necessary. There should be no problem at all to give the enemy two overtricks."

"But bagging is inferior strategy in this case. Their lead is too great, the finish line too close. If you succeed in bagging their team 6-bid, the score will be 410 to 360 in their favor--better, but you are still the underdog."

"You really need a set. A hand that can set good opponents does not come up too often, but here it is, right when you need it. You have ideal cards--aces and spades, with shape. How should you bid it?"

"If you were in fourth position you would bid the maximum. In third seat, a gentle underbid should do it. Too high a bid might intimidate your LHO, and too low a bid would not earn you a high score. A bid of 4 should be about right. If RHO also goes for 4 and is set, the score would see you trailing by only 388 to 382, a virtual tie. And the bag situation makes you the clear favorite."

"One of the more frustrating aspects of Spades is the question of whether to bag or set. One member of the team is trying to set the opponents while his partner is calmly pitching high cards to avoid bags. Is there any way for team to pull in the same direction?"

"Watch your partner’s plays carefully. Dumping winners or underruffing is a sign that partner will not cooperate with your efforts to extend the battle past your side’s bid. He may be quite wrong, but that’s beside the point. If you cannot set the opponents without Pard’s help, then you must abandon your efforts as well. On the other hand, partner’s deliberate attempts to win additional tricks must be matched by similar aggressive play from you."

North A J 9 3 -- -- West Q 7 Q J -- -- East 8 6 7 -- J South 9 6 -- 5 4

"In this four-card ending, you are South and your side has already made its bid; East-West need to win two more tricks for theirs. West wins the queen of hearts, collecting the three and the seven, and continues the jack, which East trumps with the eight of spades. Do you, South, overtrump with the spade nine, or do you discard a club to avoid a bag?"

"Looking at all four hands, it is apparent that East-West can be set if South overtrumps. On the forced return of a club, North then covers whichever spade West plays. But how is South to know the set is there for the taking? Is it merely a guess?"

"There is no guesswork involved if South is paying attention. On the two heart leads, North could have played the nine followed by the three. This high-low sequence conveys the message to partner that North has no further interest in winning tricks, and suggests to South that he too should unload winners. Playing high-low is normal in bag-avoidance situations."

"On the actual deal, South noted that North first played the three and then the nine. This reverse sequence announces a willingness to battle onward. Thus I can report that South duly trumped the heart, North finessed in spades, and a well-earned set was recorded on the scoresheet. Neither North nor South were experts; but each was certainly a good partner."

"A particularly troublesome situation occurs when a player can cut but knows that the next hand is waiting to overtrump. Here, anything can be
right -- take a discard, trump with a low spade, or play an intermediate spade. But it is usually quite wrong to trump with the boss spade.

"East leads the 10 and South has no useful discard. If South trumps with the A that will be the only trick for his side, but the play of the 4 instead secures two winners for North-South."