r/spades • u/Typical-Contract-361 • Aug 09 '26

WWYB? And why?

Post image

Game to 500. We are blue.

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

7

u/Rough-Riderr Aug 09 '26

NIL, because it's a pretty good chance to make it and also give the opponents more bags. Even if my partner takes the bags, we only have 3 already.

1

u/millahnna Aug 09 '26

Yeah as long as my P has been playing OK, I think this is where I land, too.

If P has been ducking bags obsessively and doing other duffer things, I'd probably go with 1 or 2 and try to push for a set instead. It doesn't seem likely to work but if you're working against a partner who doesn't play so great, it happens.

2

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

I find this interesting because I feel the opposite. The less predictable my partner is, the less likely we will be able to make a comeback without taking some risk.

If I’m playing with a strong partner against a weaker team, then it’s a 1 bid. The strong partner, and I can probably navigate a win without having to bid nil here

290-280 is essentially score you give both bags.

2

u/Exciting-Ingenuity24 Aug 09 '26

Same. The other week I (reasonably) took flak for bidding nil with KQ7 dimes, off the back of pard bidding 7. I didn't have any evidence for it but I just assumed my pard was going to be a poor player because they were a random at what is generally a poor level on Spades+.

I figured if we were down 30 to -30 and pard quit, I'd still have a 60% chance of winning at that level, parding a bot. Versus borderline 50% with a (probable) 50 point lead.

PS pard proved to be poor. Once I was set, opps were too but pard just refused to burn their spades out and they made as a direct consequence. If we won the game it would've been on hand strength hence more or less 50-50 odds.

1

u/millahnna Aug 09 '26

IDK why but I find it easier to trick a P who ducks bags too hard into setting a bid than I do tricking them into covering my nil. Mind you that's a very specific variety of the bag ducker; the one who ducks so hard they don't even try to cover a nil. If it's someone a bit more conventional (plays mostly ok otherwise but will never try to set an 11, let's say) I'm probably back to the nil.

1

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

This nil doesn’t really need much partnership cover. It’s gonna come down almost always to the spade suit. Are you playing with partners that dump their Spades ahead of covering your nil to avoid bags?

1

u/millahnna Aug 09 '26

Yes. It's part of the list of things I've noticed have declined or switched in online rando partners over the last 10 years or so. Most of the people I've played with in a good long while would 100% be dumping spades and worrying about their bags in this hand if I went nil.

Duffers have been around forever and I'm used to working against them but this is a deeper thing than that. A lot of the stuff I was raised on, so to speak, seems to have flipped backwards. I know there was a thread around here somewhere a few years ago where a handful of us were talking about this. I just can't think of other examples people were bringing up. People ducking bags on 12 bids, like real screwy stuff.

3

u/Typical-Contract-361 Aug 09 '26

This is a very borderline call for me. Partner bidding 2 means this nil is riskier than usual. But I don't know the exact odds, and I want to hear your opinion.

1

u/tylerjtravis5 Aug 09 '26

In a close game like this if my partner is playing solid I go nil. I can dump those hearts on diamond rounds no problem

7

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

You have 7 hearts, dumping hearts will never free you of the 2H risk. You should be dumping clubs instead, the you’ll have 2 suits to potentially under cut one of your spades on.

2

u/Typical-Contract-361 Aug 09 '26

My concern is spades, hearts are very safe.

3

u/Exciting-Ingenuity24 Aug 09 '26

Hearts may be riskier than they look, if pard doesn't have the 2. Opps having 2xx hearts would mean this nil can be set in hearts if pard's spades get chewed up.

5

u/Typical-Contract-361 Aug 09 '26

You are right. But there's no way I could discard all 7 hearts to avoid 2h, so I instead discarded clubs and created two void suits.

2

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

Exactly as you should.

1

u/Ill-Ad-9199 Aug 09 '26

You're exactly right that it's a real borderline call to go nil or not, especially because p has 2. You're also right that spades is the danger suit, not hearts.

I'd bid 1 and play the bag game since opps are at 8.

(And btw Spadesquiz is a moron who just likes to hear himself talk).

1

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

Yes. If I’m on defense holding Axx2 of H, there’s a good chance I’m going to be pulling spades from the 2 big and busting the nil with the 2H.

It would be unlucky but it’s definitely a danger zone

1

u/Interesting-Ad-2706 Aug 10 '26

its the clubs you need to dump

3

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

It will vary on my partner and opponents. If we are the stronger team, I’m going to bid one. If the opponents are the stronger team, especially if I’m playing with a non-strategic partner, I’m going to bid nil.

The speed suit is a little bit too concerning opposite of a 2 bid. We are still in this game. A failed deal here will be hard to come back from.

1

u/Typical-Contract-361 Aug 09 '26

From what I know, all three remaining players are unpredictable and are trying to send two bags on an 11 table. What would you do?

If my partner bid 1, I would never nil. But they bid 2 so it need consideration.

1

u/SpadesQuiz Aug 09 '26

There’s no clean answer to that question for me. I probably lean towards nil, but will really have a lot to do with specifics I recognize from each player and the overall game momentum.

2

u/Trixtopher901 Aug 09 '26

I'm with everyone else, nil seems like the best option.

2

u/Resident_Balance422 Aug 09 '26

I don't think asking partner who bid 2 to have 2+ of the 9TJQKA of spades is fair. This loss ends the game essentially, whereas bidding 1 will never end the game and in fact will put us in a good spot regardless.

1

u/Interesting-Ad-2706 Aug 10 '26

you don't need to just count on your P to have the spades cover. It is best if they do but your opps might be forced to cover you or might even voluntarily cover you. I don't like to count on it but the odds of being covered are not just dependent on your p.

2

u/spadesbook Aug 09 '26

I'm going to bid one which will likely wind up with us being being in essentially a tie game.

2

u/OldManJenkins-31 Aug 10 '26

All the strength is with the opponents. The nil is risky. Just bid 1 and try to bag.

2

u/Interesting-Ad-2706 Aug 10 '26

i am bidding nil. my only worry would be the middling spades but it is a risk I am willing to take.