In the spirit of improving the game, I'd like to propose that we incorporate a "standardized" carding system for the game of Spades. This will provide 3 major needed improvements to the game:
1) Play of the hand will improve with added information (from both sides).
2) You will be able to play with a number of different partners without having to discuss signaling and carding methods in detail.
3) Disclosure to opponents will be easier.
Note: Currently, spades doesn't require disclosure of carding methods because very few pairs have agreements and it would confuse average players. As agreements become more mainstream, disclosure will be not only needed, but it will help to elevate the game.
I will be making a video which will cover the basic system
-- STAT (Standard Attitude and Trump Signals)
The same system with reversed carding will be
-- UDAT (Upside down Attitude and Trump Signals).
The system is as follows and applies to non-bagging hands:
-----------------------------------------------------------
STAT Standard Attitude and Trump Signals
Leads
* Top of sequences AKx KQx QJx J10x KJ10x
* Low from Strength Q82 K73
* Top-of-Nothing 976 102
Attitude
* Standard Attitude (high = encouraging, low = discouraging) applies when we lead a suit for the first time.
* If Attitude is obvious, standard suit preference is next priority.
Trump
* When the opposition leads for the first time, we signal trump length. High = good trumps Low = bad trumps
* Subsequent leads we signal standard suit preference.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Coming Soon
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.
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.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Addicted To Bridge
Hey guys, if you've been wondering why I haven't posted for a long time, well it's because I've been playing Bridge over the past 6 months and I'm extremely addicted. If anyone hasn't tried Bridge, please give it a try. The game is endlessly fascinating and there is a huge online base of players on www.bridgebase.com. The site is set up extremely well, and best of all it's free. It records every hand you play, and you are able to replay it and view how others played the same hand. Feel free to send me an email and I can help you get started.
Bridge was never a big online game which is why I hadn't played it in the past much. Now it's absolutely huge online -- much bigger than Spades ever was even in its peak.
I'll be creating a bridge blog in a couple of months.
Bridge was never a big online game which is why I hadn't played it in the past much. Now it's absolutely huge online -- much bigger than Spades ever was even in its peak.
I'll be creating a bridge blog in a couple of months.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The 3 Most Common Spades Mistakes: Number 2 – Poor Trump Management
Proper trump management could potentially take several hundred pages to fully cover, so I will only point out the most basic and damaging errors made.
A) The Opening lead. With a hand containing a long spade suit, many average-level players will lead their short suit first in order to break spades. This is a play that works against your hand, as it weakens your spade suit. In fact, your opponents would do well to continue leading that suit to force you to use up your spades.
Your goal with this type of hand is to use your spades as leads rather than as cuts. You hope that someone else will open the spade suit for you (either partner or an opponent), and then use your spades as leads later on. By leading your longest suit instead, you hope to establish winners in that suit early on and prevent yourself from being forced to ruff. Save your short suit leads for when you have poor spades (“runts”) or when you want to get to the spades suit early for partner when he has a strong spade suit.
B) Leading partner’s void. I see this error all the time and it is closely related to the above. The hand with the long spade suit is leading spades, and partner runs out of spades to return back. Without a spade to lead, he decides to lead into his partner's void side suit. This further weakens the strong spade suit holding, and ends up destroying the hand in most cases. You are now a third opponent when you make a lead like this as that would be a good strategy for the opposition (leading into the long spade holder’s void). This is a great way to kill your partner’s timing and control of the hand.
C) Leading 3 rounds of spades. Another common error is leading too many rounds of spades. In general (80% of cases), two rounds of spades is correct. A third round can be damaging in most cases. Assuming your side has the majority of spades, normally one opponent is out of spades by the third round -- and in general, when one opponent is out of spades, it is bad economically to lead spades as you are killing 2 spades for every 1 you “pull”. Even worse, the opponent left with a spade may have the boss and now you have really hurt your prospects. Even if the opponent with a spade doesn’t have the boss, it can still be very damaging to lead a third round of spades. Your side may need an additional spade later on, and the player can pull the last spade at a later point in the hand. Of course, there are situations where a 3rd round is necessary and makes sense (when your side clearly has the boss – and the opponents have no other prospects), but these are the exception. Another exception isO when you are in a situation where your partner is the short spade holder, and the spades are split evenly among the opponents, this is a good opportunity to lead a third round and kill 2 spades with 1 of yours.
A) The Opening lead. With a hand containing a long spade suit, many average-level players will lead their short suit first in order to break spades. This is a play that works against your hand, as it weakens your spade suit. In fact, your opponents would do well to continue leading that suit to force you to use up your spades.
Your goal with this type of hand is to use your spades as leads rather than as cuts. You hope that someone else will open the spade suit for you (either partner or an opponent), and then use your spades as leads later on. By leading your longest suit instead, you hope to establish winners in that suit early on and prevent yourself from being forced to ruff. Save your short suit leads for when you have poor spades (“runts”) or when you want to get to the spades suit early for partner when he has a strong spade suit.
B) Leading partner’s void. I see this error all the time and it is closely related to the above. The hand with the long spade suit is leading spades, and partner runs out of spades to return back. Without a spade to lead, he decides to lead into his partner's void side suit. This further weakens the strong spade suit holding, and ends up destroying the hand in most cases. You are now a third opponent when you make a lead like this as that would be a good strategy for the opposition (leading into the long spade holder’s void). This is a great way to kill your partner’s timing and control of the hand.
C) Leading 3 rounds of spades. Another common error is leading too many rounds of spades. In general (80% of cases), two rounds of spades is correct. A third round can be damaging in most cases. Assuming your side has the majority of spades, normally one opponent is out of spades by the third round -- and in general, when one opponent is out of spades, it is bad economically to lead spades as you are killing 2 spades for every 1 you “pull”. Even worse, the opponent left with a spade may have the boss and now you have really hurt your prospects. Even if the opponent with a spade doesn’t have the boss, it can still be very damaging to lead a third round of spades. Your side may need an additional spade later on, and the player can pull the last spade at a later point in the hand. Of course, there are situations where a 3rd round is necessary and makes sense (when your side clearly has the boss – and the opponents have no other prospects), but these are the exception. Another exception isO when you are in a situation where your partner is the short spade holder, and the spades are split evenly among the opponents, this is a good opportunity to lead a third round and kill 2 spades with 1 of yours.
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