I'm putting together a series of videos on card signaling. These detailed videos will cover a complete conventional signaling system that I recommend for any advanced-level regular partnership.
This is a subject sorely lacking in any spades literature, and if you are an advanced+ level player, you'll want to add this to your team's arsenal.
3 comments:
Personally i don't believe a convention/signaling system can leads to any real advantage for these reasons:
1) Spades game signals can't be sophisticated like in the Bridge game. It would be very easy for opponents to understand your intentions. Shortly that's a double-edged weapon (it might be either advantage or disadvantage as well).
2) Often, in order to signal, you are forced to waste a potential value in your hand such a honor (even a J might be promoted in order to gain 1 extra trick).
3) If you have talent you might get enough clues by analyzing your hand (combination of your cards plus few clues more like for example the lead), to get informations about your P or opponents hand (tenaces, voids, singletons, doubletons).
4) You can give to your P the best clues you can just choosing the right card to play when pitching or discarding. Many players don't think about it while playing. Even they give you wrong clues that influence your next lead.
5) The only way to prove the real efficiency of a signaling system is to play and win thanks to it by increasing your percentage of wins (I'm available).
Anyway I really appreciate your effort in looking for a good signal system. I just don't think it can produce a tangible advantage.
Bye.
(HittoOgami).
Hi, thanks for the comments HittoOgami. It's great to see people thinking about this subject.
Let me try to address each of your points.
1) Spades signals would be just as (if not more) sophisticated as those used in Bridge. Contrary to popular belief, the signaling used in Bridge is fairly straight forward and simple.
I'm going to be showing why signaling in Spades is actually MORE important than it is in Bridge.
In regards to the opponents understanding intentions, many ill informed players bring this up as an issue without understanding it.
First, in Spades there is no requirement for you to announce your signals. The odds of your opponents understanding your signals and the system being employed are about 1 in a million.
Second, if one day everyone starts using more signaling (which should happen), then the only question is -- do we benefit from the signals more than the opponents do? In almost all cases, the simple answer is -- Yes. This is why in the closely-related game of Bridge, where you are required to announce your signals, all players continue to use them (abundantly, I might add) even 80 years later.
2) When signaling, we never use any card that can potentially cost us. The example you gave (Jx), one would never play the J simply to show shortness.
3) Being able to read a hand is far more important than the signals themselves. Signals are merely a tool a skilled player uses to assist him with reading a hand.
4) No comment here, as my videos covering this subject will go over this.
5) I'm not sure what you have in mind, but playing simple "500 spades" wouldn't prove anything. It would have to be a duplicated format of some kind.
The easiest method to "prove" the efficiency would be for me to reset several hands where signaling was important and see if you and your partner find the right line. Then once the set is missed, I can illustrate how it could have been found.
To give a simple example of the importance of signaling, look at the basic card layout below:
North: Some Side Suit: AKxxx
South: Some Side Suit: 109x
When North leads the A or K, does it matter which card South plays? Why or why not?
Well, thank you for your answer.
Here is my opinion:
In a certain way what you call signaling system, I call "clues collecting". In order to do this, of course, your P and yourself should choose the right card when leading, pitching or discarding without, compromising your potential of getting extra tricks eventually (such "count signal").
But that's more part of a common sense than a real signaling system like in Bridge game during the bidding phase.
In your example we have North AKxxx and south 109X.
What to say. Well, first of all North should procrastinate as long as possible the lead on that suite because of its strong tenace and the particular importance of the Ace (as you have well described in your article). The hope is to promote Johnson stealing Q with A or K, then T in your side. So, potentially NS might steal the opponents' Q and J promoting after two rounds that South's T (still a honor, don't forget it).
Some time in Spades or Bridge game, even a grunt card such a 7 might be important (I would say fundamental. I like to drink beer).
So, definitelly I think you are talking about "signals" in order to give to your P more clues instead of a real "convention".
In such case I agree completely with you. Also, signals are extremely important by the Nil side in order to help the cover and confuse opponents.
In regard to point 5, I was talking about wins increasement percentage (not just one game of course).
Anyway, good job Dustin, bye.
(HittoOgami).
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