How to Win Spades

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: April 6, 2020 References

Spades is a trick-taking card game in which players bet on the number of tricks, or rounds, that they think they can win with the cards in their hand. Though actual gameplay and scoring is pretty straightforward, there are certain strategies you can use to increase your chances of winning. Follow some basic rules for betting on the number tricks you will win and employ some simple in-game strategies and watch how it affects your performance in Spades!

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Betting on Tricks

1
Bet on all your aces and kings to take tricks. Count up the number of aces and kings you have and add that number to the total number of tricks you will bid on. Aces and kings almost always win a trick, unless they get trumped by a spade.^{[1]
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- An exception to this rule is if you have a king but it is the only card of that suit in your hand. Don’t bet on this king to take a trick because if you are forced to play it to follow suit, the next person in line can easily win the trick if they have an ace of that suit or a spade.
2
Bid on queens for which you have 2-4 other cards of the same suit. It’s likely that someone will beat your queen with a king or ace if you have less than 2 other cards in the queen’s suit because you might be forced to play it to follow suit at some point. It’s probable that someone will trump your queen with a spade if you have 5 or more cards in that suit because they won’t be able to follow suit.^{[2]
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- For example, if you have a queen of hearts and a 2 of hearts, don’t bid on your queen to take a trick because you aren’t very likely to win a round with your queen.
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3
Bet on all your spades that are 10 or higher. Any spade that is 10 or higher is likely to win a trick. Keep in mind that the ace of spades is an automatic win, the king of spades is a guaranteed win if you have the ace as well, and so on.^{[3]
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- If you have 2 or less cards in any given suit, you can consider betting on lower spades like 7-9, even if you don’t have more than 3 spades, and use them as trumps when you can’t follow suit.
Tip: A rule of thumb you can use is to bid on 1 trick for every additional spade you have if you have more than 3, no matter what they are. For example, if you have 5 spades, bet on 2 tricks.^{[4]
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4
Avoid betting on jacks and number cards that aren’t spades. Jacks and numbered cards in the 3 other suits almost always lose a trick. Don’t risk betting on any of these cards in your hand.^{[5]
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- If it is a close game and every trick counts, you can try betting 1 trick on jacks as long as you have all 4. It doesn’t always work, but you are much more likely to win a trick with jacks when you have all of them, since you have more opportunities to try winning with them.
5
Bid blind or nil if you are behind and want to take a risk for a 100-point bonus. Bidding blind means you guess how many tricks you will take without looking at your hand and a nil bid is when you bid on 0 tricks after you look at your hand. Both of these bids will give you an extra 100 points if you make your bid, but will penalize you 100 points if you get it wrong.^{[6]
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- For example, if you bid nil but you get 1 trick, you lose 100 points.
- If you bid blinds and bet that you will take 3 tricks, and you end up getting 3 tricks, you gain 100 points.
- Some games of spades also allow a blind nil bid, which is when you bid nil without looking at your cards. This type of bid gives you a bonus of 200 points if you guessed correctly, but takes away 200 points if you get 1 or more tricks.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Choosing What Cards to Play

1
Keep track of what has already been played. Try your best to remember what cards have already been played by other players, especially high cards that can beat cards in your hand. This will give you an idea of when to play certain cards in your hand so that they are less likely to be beaten.^{[7]
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- For example, if you have a queen of hearts, and the king and ace of hearts have already been played, you know that there is a high chance of your queen winning the trick when you play it.
Tip: Do your best to at least keep track of the spades that have been played, since they can trump any card. If you know all of the other players have already played their spades, you can be sure of winning tricks with your other high cards.
2
Lead with a low spade if you have 5 or more spades. Take advantage of your high number of spades to force other players to get rid of some of their spades. The other players will have to follow suit with their spades, meaning that they won’t have as many spades left with which to trump your other cards.^{[8]
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- This also makes your remaining spades more powerful and you can use them to trump other high cards and win tricks.
3
Play low value cards if you are playing second on a turn. Avoid playing a spade or high card if you are in the second seat for a round because the player after you has an easy opportunity to beat you. Take this chance to get rid of low value number cards or jacks that aren’t likely to win you any tricks.^{[9]
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- For example, if the player who led the round played a 7 of diamonds, and you have a 9 and king of diamonds, play the 9 to get rid of it. If you play the king, the next player in line can easily win the trick by playing any spade to trump your king.
4
Save the ace of spades for the end of the game. The ace of spades is a guaranteed win, so save it for the end of the game to use when you most need it. Use it last when you only need 1 more trick to make the number of tricks that you bid on.^{[10]
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- For example, say you have 3 out of the 4 tricks you bid on, and there are 3 more rounds of play. Let other players win the next 2 rounds, then play your ace of spades on the final round to win your last trick.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Taking the Right Number of Tricks

1
Aim to win tricks early with the cards you bet on. Play the high cards and spades that you bet on early in the game to win the number of tricks that you bid on. This will allow you to lose the rest of the rounds with your weaker cards so you take the correct number of tricks and score points.^{[11]
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- For example, say you bid that you are going to win 2 tricks, 1 with an ace and 1 with a king of spades, and you are the first player. Start off with the ace so that hopefully all the players will have to follow suit and you will win that trick. Then you can use your king of spades as a trump card in one of the following rounds to take your second trick.
2
Play aggressively or defensively according to your partner’s bet. Try not to get in their way if they made a very high bid, for example, because they probably have a strong hand and you want them to win tricks for your team. Do your best to win a lot of tricks, on the other hand, if your partner made a low bid, because they most likely have a weak hand.^{[12]
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- Another thing to look out for is if your partner seems to have no cards in a certain suit and you have a lot of cards in that suit. In this case, it can be a good idea to lead with that suit whenever you get a chance so the next player, your opponent, has to follow suit. Then, your partner can try to win the trick with a spade.
3
Avoid winning more tricks than you bet on. Winning an additional trick is called taking a bag, and you or your team will get penalized 100 points if you take 10 or more bags throughout the course of a game. This is especially important in longer games, when you’re playing to 300-500 points total, because it is more likely you will reach 10 bags. It is less of a concern if you are playing a short game of 200 points.^{[13]
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- If you are close to getting 10 bags and the game is not over yet, it’s better to win less tricks than the number you bet on because there is no penalty for not making your bid. In this case, you might want to purposely lose some rounds to avoid accidentally surpassing your bid and getting penalized at the end.
Tip: In some cases, you may want to break this rule as a defensive strategy. If someone has a big lead, you can purposely try to take more tricks than you bid on to stop them from making their bid. Still, try not to go over 10 bags so you don’t get penalized.