How do you bid in Spades?
Bidding is where Spades is won or lost. A hand that bids accurately will beat a hand full of high cards that misjudges its own strength.
Count your likely tricks
Start with the cards that almost always win. The ace of spades and other top spades are strong because spades are permanent trumps. Off-suit aces usually score, and a king backed by a second card of the same suit often survives too. Short suits can also generate tricks once you are able to ruff with a spade.
Combine bids into a contract
In partnership play, your bid and your partner's bid are summed, and your team must reach that total together. Bidding is done in turn, so you gain information from the players ahead of you. A small conservative bid is safer, while an aggressive bid chases points but risks getting set.
Decide on Nil and special bids
If your hand is unusually weak, you might bid Nil and try to duck every trick for a big bonus. The boldest players even declare Blind Nil before looking at their cards. Some variants change bidding entirely: Whiz forces you to bid your spade count, while Mirror makes your bid match it exactly. Practice reading your hand at Partnership Spades.
The fastest way to make this stick is to deal a hand and try it.
Keep reading - related questions
What is a good bid in Spades?
A good bid is an honest estimate of the tricks your hand can realistically win, not a hopeful guess. Count your high spades, off-suit aces, and well-protected kings as near-certain winners, then add a little for short suits that let you trump. A slightly conservative bid usually beats an ambitious one, because being set costs far more than a few extra bags.
What is Nil in Spades?
A Nil is a bid of zero, a promise that you personally will not win a single trick all hand. If you pull it off, your team gains 100 points on top of whatever your partner bids and makes. If you take even one trick, the Nil fails and your team loses 100 points, so it is a high-reward, high-risk declaration.
How is Spades scored?
In Spades you score 10 points for each trick your team bid when you make the contract, and you lose 10 points per trick bid when you fall short and get set. Every trick you win beyond your bid counts as one bag, worth a single point but triggering a 100-point penalty once your team collects ten of them. Nil bids add or subtract 100 points on their own.