06/30/2012
These are the rules for the spades tournament:
Played with four players in pairs ("Partnership spades")
Rank of suit
Spades is always trump. Other suits have no intrinsic value during play, but a card of the suit led in the current trick will beat a card of any other suit except a Spade.
Rank of cards Highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
Object of the game
To score 500 points by winning at least the number of tricks bid in each hand, and are lost by failing to take at least that many, or in some cases by taking too many.
Each table will have its own dealer - The dealer shuffles, and the player to the right is given the opportunity to "cut" the cards to prevent the dealer stacking the deck. The entire deck is then dealt face-down one card at a time in clockwise order (with four players, each player should receive 13 cards).
Bidding
Each player decides how many tricks they will be able to take. The player to the left of the dealer starts the bidding and, in a clockwise direction, each player states how many tricks they expect to win. There is only one round of bidding. Every player must make a bid. As Spades are always trump, no trump suit is named during bidding as with some other variants. A common variant borrowed from the related game Oh, hell is that the sum of all bids must not equal the number of tricks to be played. This ensures that at least one player or team will be set or "bagged" (forced to take an overtrick). Another game variation allows each player to optionally increase their bid by one point after all players have bid but before game play starts. A reduction in bid, once bids are made, is never allowed.
Nil
A player that has already looked at their cards can bid Nil. The object of the bidder is to take no tricks during the hand. The player's partner may make a normal bid and then help them by attempting to take tricks the nil bidders would otherwise take. If the Nil bidder takes no tricks, he receives the Nil bonus; if unsuccessful, the player or team subtracts that bonus. [5] More than one player (opponents or teammates in partners) may bid Nil on a deal.
Double Nil
Both players in a partnership bid Nil and if successful, the team's Nil bonuses are doubled. If either player or both players fail(s) to make theirs Nil bid, there is no penalty.
If a partnership does not meet its bid, it scores −10 points for each bid not made. When playing in partnerships, the players may either bid individually (the bids are then summed), giving no information other than their bid to their partner. The bids are recorded by a designated scorer, and play of the hand commences.
Blind Bidding
One or more players, having not yet looked at their cards, may choose to bid on the number of tricks they will take. When bidding "blind", the player's bid, if made exactly by that player, is rewarded with bonus points, while failing to make the bid results in the bonus being subtracted from the player's or team's score. Blind bidding is capped at a bid of seven. Blind bids are allowed only if the bidding team is at least 100 points behind.
Blind Nil
The most common blind bid, the player bids that they will not take a single trick during play of the hand. Bidding nil offers an additional bonus on top of the blind bid. A failed nil bid, similar to a failed blind, results in the bonus being deducted from the score.
Double Blind Nil
It is possible for both players of a partnership to bid Blind Nil. If this is done successfully, the team takes double the combined bonus. If either or both players take tricks, however, there is no penalty
Game play
Each hand consists of a number of tricks or "books" (the 4-handed game contains 13 tricks using all 52 cards). The player on the dealer's left makes the opening lead by playing a single card of their choice. [8] Players in clockwise fashion then play a card of their choice; they must follow suit, if they can, otherwise they may play any card, including a trump Spade. [7]Once a card has left the hand of a player, it stands and cannot be retrieved unless the player who threw the card makes an effort to correct his mistake before the next player lays down
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