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How NOT to Bid in GamingPeak (or anywhere else for that matter)

John (Galt) Strichman is the author of How NOT to Lose at Spades, and can be reached at questions@spadesbook.com.

It’s cold here in Boulder, so I can’t think of anything better to do than jump ahead a couple of months to Baseball’s Opening Day. That can mean only one thing; it’s time to Play Ball!

Our team had a long flight back from spring training, and everyone is suffering from jet lag, especially so our manager. He is so wiped out, in fact, that he has actually fallen asleep in the dugout in the middle of the game.

Our best hitter (whom the fans affectionately call “Shutter the Cutter”) is on deck, and he wants to know what the manager wants him to do. Shutter is a big guy (all those steroids ya know), and he likes swinging for the fences. Sometimes, though, the manager has other ideas, and Shutter doesn’t want a repeat of that ugly incident last year when he almost wound up down in the minors after missing the bunt sign and grounding into a double play in that critical game against Yahoos.

Shutter looks into the dugout for a sign, but all he sees is the bald spot on the top of the manager’s head. He asks the ump for time, and walks over to Sleeping Beauty and gives him a shake.

“Hey Coach, whatcha want me to do?”

The manager wakes with a start, and blurts, “No Honey, she’s just a friend… I swear!”

When he finally comes to his senses, he asks Shutter four questions:

“What’s the score? What inning is it? How many outs are there?” and “Is there anybody on base?”

Without that information, there is no way for the manager to know what to tell Shutter to do. The manager doesn’t really care what kind of bat Shutter is using, or if his batting helmet fits right, or if he is wearing new cleats. In short, he doesn’t want to know about Shutter’s equipment, he wants to know how best to utilize Shutter and his equipment.

If there is a man on first with no outs in the 7th inning and the game is tied, the manager will probably tell Shutter to sacrifice bunt the runner to second to get him into scoring position.

If the bases are loaded with two outs in the 4th inning and the game is tied, the manager will probably tell Shutter to just try to get any kind of a hit.

If the bases are loaded with one out in the 8th inning and the game is tied, the manager will probably tell Shutter to try to hit a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run.

If the bases are loaded with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the team is behind by 3 runs, the manager will probably tell Shutter to try to hit a tater.

Never, however, would the manager make this decision without knowing the critical game conditions as Shutter approaches the plate. Doing otherwise would be making a huge strategic mistake.

Shutter’s manager may be a sleep-deprived philanderer, but he knows that, if he wants to win a pennant, making strategic decisions prior to having full information is not the way to accomplish the task.

The same concept applies to Spades players, and that brings us to one of the biggest and most common mistakes that I see here in Gaming Peak.

Prebidding

It is the critical and deadly mistake that I call Prebidding.

Prebidding is the practice of a player locking in his bid before it is his turn to bid.

This mistake was rampant in The Zone, and the fact that we have lots of exZoners here probably contributes to its being rampant in GP as well.

Prebidding would be like Shutter looking at his bat and saying “I think that I can hit a home run with this bat so that’s what I’m gonna try to do”, with no concern whatsoever for the strategic needs of his team as defined by the current conditions of the game.

Shutter would be making a big mistake if he played his turn at bat this way. Similarly, Spades players who select their bids before having as much information as possible about the game conditions, and without adjusting their bids to meet those conditions, are making just as big a mistake.

You can always tell when a player in Gaming Peak is making this mistake, because his bid will pop up immediately when it is his turn to bid. This is because he punched in his bid before it was his turn to bid, and the computer is just waiting for it to be his turn in order to show what that bid is.

Whenever you are playing against an opp or opps who make this bidding mistake, you will have a very good chance of winning the game. If you and/or your pard make this mistake, chances are you will lose the game if playing against opps who don’t prebid.

Before you select your bid, you should always wait for all of the other players bidding ahead of you to make their bids. You should then review the score of the game and the bidding pattern on the hand, and then determine how to best try to use the cards in your hand to deal with those conditions. A good way to learn this habit is to not even look at your cards until it is your turn to bid.

The following examples show why this “wait and see” approach is so important for not losing at Spades. Let’s look at one Spades hand in different game conditions and see why waiting to bid is so important.

Note:

In all of these articles, I will use the standard North/South/East/West approach for displaying hands in four player card games.

You will always be sitting in the South position, your pard will be sitting North, and your opps will be sitting East and West.

Also, the #/# designation after each player’s name will indicate what that player bid, and how many tricks he has taken at that point in the hand. For example:

“North 4/2” would mean that North bid 4 on this hand, and at this point in the play of the hand he has taken 2 tricks.

The number of bags that a team currently has will always be represented by the last digit of the respective score.

Finally, it is always assumed that the game in question is a No Double/Blind Nil game.

This Month’s Hand

Let’s say that you are dealt the following hand, and are the first bidder on the first hand of the game.

                ♠  3 6 9 Q
                ♥  9 A
                ♦  3 6 9 J K
                ♣  6 8

A reasonable bid with this hand would be 3… (3 of 4 possibles including the Heart Ace, Diamond King, and 2 trump tricks).

Example 1

Now, let’s say that you are dealt the same hand in the following different game situations:

                North  4
        West  3         East  4 
                South  ?

                ♠  3 6 9 Q
                ♥  9 A
                ♦  3 6 9 J K
                ♣  6 8

The score is: Opps 233 Your Team 352

What should you bid?

Risk/Reward

Something strange is happening on this hand. On a typical hand, players may count the Aces and Kings of the three side suits as winners, as well as 5 to 7 Spades resulting in a total bid of 11 to 13 tricks.

Given the strength in your hand, more tricks have been bid in front of you than should be the case. This almost always means that more than the usual number of Spades are being counted as winners. When this is the case, it is usually because one or more players are either void or short-suited in one or more suits and/or one player has a strong Spade holding and is planning on pulling trump at some point during the course of play.

On hands of this type, one or more players’ bids are frequently at risk. An Ace or King counted as a winner may be trumped, or low Spades hoped as winners may be pulled. One team will frequently get set on a hand matching this profile.

Looking at the game score, your team has a commanding lead. Your team is in no significant need of points and in no significant danger of bagging before the end of the game. What your team does need to avoid at all costs is getting set and thereby placing an almost certain victory at risk…

….the risk from bidding low is virtually nonexistent - the risk from bidding high is extreme.

Bid and Plan

The only justifiable bid in this situation is 1 trick (making it a 12 bid hand). If it turns out that your partner’s bid is at risk, the extra strength in your hand should be able to compensate for any problems that he might encounter.

Your team should attempt to win every trick that it possibly can during the hand. You can take a maximum of only one bag on the hand without setting the opponents and, if you are fortunate enough to set the opponents, the game will be over for all intents and purposes. Specifically, if you set the opps the score will be 404 to 163.

Any other bid in this situation would needlessly add risk to your team’s chance of making its bid, and therefore of winning the game. Needless risk is very much like the plague.

Although some would argue for a higher bid here (let’s say 2), from a risk/reward standpoint there is no reasonable justification. The difference in likelihood of winning from (if your team takes 7 tricks) 413/163 versus 404/163, or (if your team takes 6 tricks) from 412/303 versus 403/303 is almost nonexistent in the first case and very marginal in the latter. Further, if your team does not have the cards to set the opps here, you sure don’t want to be bidding your maximum potential (requiring playing a perfect hand) given your commanding lead in the game.

This example is a classic representation of bidding according to the game score and bid pattern rather than according to the cards in your hand. If you were to punch in your normal 3 bid prior to seeing all of the other bids, you would wind up playing a 14 bid hand, possibly get set, and very possibly go on to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this game.

Example 2

Now, let’s look at the same hand again, this time in another game score situation.

                North  2
        West  1         East  3
                South  ?

                ♠  3 6 9 Q
                ♥  9 A
                ♦  3 6 9 J K
                ♣  6 8

Score: Opps 375 Your Team 446

What should you bid?

Risk/Reward

The risk that you are running in this situation is that your team might bag. The possible reward is that you may be able to win the game.

The opps have bid low, probably hoping to have the opportunity to try to either bag you or bluff you into a high bid that might be set.

The risk from bidding low is significant - the risk from bidding high enough to win the game is marginal at worst, and the possible reward is huge.

Bid and Plan

In this situation you should bid 4. This will allow you to win the game if you make your bid.

Further, in order to bag you, the opps would have to set themselves, and they would wind up trailing 410 to 335. If the opps are able to set you, they would have to eat at least 4 bags, and the resulting score would be 386 to 419, not at all bad for a worst-case scenario. If you bid 4 here, no matter what happens on the hand, your team will either win the game or be heavily favored to win the game.

In this case, if you were to punch in your normal 3 bid prior to seeing all of the other bids, you would wind up playing a 9 bid hand, and probably either bag on this hand or the next hand, putting an almost sure victory in jeopardy.

The number of possible examples here is endless. Of specific note is that, if either your pard or one of the opps bids Nil, that often should have a dramatic affect on how you bid your hand. If your pard bids Nil, that normally weakens your hand, and if one of the opps bids Nil that will generally strengthen your hand.

As you play over the next few weeks, imagine yourself as Shutter stepping up to the plate. Think of the other three players as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base. Look at the scoreboard, and try to make the wisest decision that you can about how to use your equipment.

Also, pay attention and watch for the mistake of pre-bidding by your opps. When you see it happen, look to see how it gets their team into trouble. This will help you to focus on the concept of adjusting bids to game conditions, and you will move one step closer to NOT losing at Spades.

Very best of luck, and Happy Spading!

Galt