You're sitting at a card table. Maybe it’s a fold-up plastic one in a humid basement, or maybe it’s a digital lobby on your phone. The dealer slides the cards across the felt. You pick them up, fan them out, and see a handful of Big Spades. Your partner looks at you with that "don't let me down" squint. Now comes the moment of truth. You have to bid. But before you can even think about bidding, you have to understand the literal foundation of the game: what are tricks in spades and why do they make or break your score?
In the simplest terms, a trick is just one round of play where every player at the table throws down one card. Four players, four cards. That’s a trick. But in Spades, a trick isn't just a pile of discarded paper; it's a battle for territory. You aren't just trying to play high cards. You’re trying to fulfill a contract. If you say you’re going to take four tricks and you only take three, you’re "set." You lose points. Huge points. Understanding the mechanics of these mini-battles is the difference between being the person everyone wants on their team and the person who gets "accidentally" left off the invite list.
The Basic Anatomy of a Trick
Every single trick starts with a "lead." The player to the dealer’s left (usually) starts the first one, and after that, whoever won the previous trick leads the next one. This is where things get interesting. If I lead a 10 of Hearts, everyone else must play a Heart if they have one. That’s "following suit."
If you have a Heart, you play it. If yours is higher than mine, you’re currently winning the trick. If someone else plays the Ace of Hearts, they’re winning. It’s a straightforward hierarchy: Ace is high, 2 is low. But Spades is a game of sabotage. The moment someone runs out of a suit—say, they have no Hearts left—they can "slough" (throw away a junk card) or they can "trump" it.
Spades are always the trump suit. Always. A 2 of Spades beats the Ace of Diamonds. Period. That’s the "Spade" in Spades. When you’re asking what are tricks in spades, you’re really asking how to manage the flow of these 13 rounds so that you end up with exactly what you promised—or maybe a little more, though too many "bags" will eventually penalize you.
Why Some Tricks Are "Cheap" and Others Are Hard-Won
Not all tricks are created equal. Some are "gimmies." If you hold the Ace and King of Spades, those are basically guaranteed tricks. You lead them, you win them. Nobody can beat them. We call these "books" in some circles, though "tricks" is the official terminology.
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Then you have the "promotion" tricks. This is where the skill comes in. Imagine you have the King of Diamonds. You don't have the Ace. If you lead that King early, someone might "duck" (play a low card) or they might drop the Ace on your head. But if you wait until the Ace of Diamonds has already been played in a previous trick, your King is now the highest Diamond in the game. It has been promoted. You just "earned" a trick that wasn't a guarantee at the start of the hand.
Breaking the Suit and Leading Spades
There’s a rule most beginners forget: you can’t lead a Spade until Spades have been "broken." This means someone had to have used a Spade to trump another suit because they were out of it. Or, you’re so deep into the hand that you literally have nothing but Spades left in your hand.
This rule prevents the game from just becoming a "who has the biggest Spades" contest right out of the gate. It forces a strategic dance through the "side suits" (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) first. You’re testing the waters. You’re trying to see who is short on what. If you notice your opponent keeps discarding Diamonds, you know that the next time you lead a Diamond, they’re going to hit it with a Spade. They’re going to steal your trick.
The Mental Math of Bidding
When you bid, you’re predicting how many of these 13 tricks you can take. If you and your partner bid 6 total, you need 6 tricks to "make your bid."
- Under-bidding: You take 8 tricks instead of 6. You get your points, but you also get 2 "overtricks" or "bags." Collect 10 bags over several hands, and you lose 100 points. It’s a disaster.
- Over-bidding: You take 5 tricks instead of 6. You get zero points for the hand. Actually, you get -60 (or whatever your bid was x 10). This is called being "set."
- Nil Bidding: This is the ultimate gamble. You bid 0. You are claiming you will not win a single trick. If you succeed, you get a massive 100-point bonus. If you accidentally win even one trick, you lose 100 points.
Understanding what are tricks in spades is mostly about understanding your hand's "probability of winning." A "long suit" (having 5 or 6 cards of one suit) is a goldmine. Why? Because by the third time that suit is led, everyone else will probably be out of it, and you can start winning tricks with low cards because no one else can follow suit and they might not want to waste a Spade.
Common Misconceptions About Winning Tricks
A lot of people think the goal is just to play the highest card you have every time. That is a one-way ticket to losing. Honestly, the best Spades players are often the ones who know how to lose a trick on purpose.
Suppose your partner bid high and you bid low. Your job isn't to win tricks; it's to help your partner win theirs. If your partner leads a Queen, and you have the Ace, you don't play the Ace! You play a low card to let their Queen win. You "save" your Ace for later to capture an opponent's King. You’re working as a unit.
Also, "counting cards" sounds like something for Vegas geniuses, but in Spades, it’s just basic survival. You have to know how many Spades have been played. There are 13 Spades in the deck. If 10 have been played and you’re holding the Jack, 2, and 3, you need to know if the Ace, King, and Queen are still out there. If they are, your Jack is trash. If they’ve already been played, your Jack is the boss of the table.
The "Sandbagging" Problem
In many casual games, players worry about "bags" so much they stop trying to win. This is a mistake. While 10 bags costs you 100 points, being set once can cost you just as much or more. It’s usually better to take the bag than to risk the set.
But if you’re playing "New York Style" or "Street Spades," the rules on bags might be different. Some people play "no bags," where they don't count at all, but that's rare in competitive circles. Always check the "house rules" before you start throwing cards.
How to Count Your "Possible" Tricks
Before you shout out a number during the bidding phase, look at your hand and do a quick tally. This is how the pros do it:
- High Card Winners: Count your Aces and Kings. These are almost always tricks unless you have a "singleton" King (the only card in that suit) and someone plays the Ace immediately.
- Trump Length: If you have 5 or more Spades, you can usually count on at least 2 or 3 tricks just from "cutting" (trumping) other people’s suits.
- Void Suits: If you have zero cards in a suit (a "void"), that’s a trick-making machine. The first time someone leads that suit, you can slap a 2 of Spades on it and take the trick.
- The "Maybe" Tricks: Queens are 50/50. If you have the Queen, 10, and 2 of Hearts, don't count that as a trick. Count it as a "maybe." If you have two "maybes," bid one.
Real-World Example: The "Suicide" Lead
Let's look at a scenario. You’re leading. You have the Ace of Spades, the King of Spades, and a bunch of low Diamonds. You might think, "I'll lead my Ace of Spades first to get a trick."
Bad move.
When you lead the "Boss" Spades early, you’re pulling Spades out of your partner’s hand too. You want to keep your Spades to "cut" the opponents' winners. A better move? Lead a low Diamond. Try to get rid of your weak suits so that later in the game, you can use those Spades to trump. This is the nuance of what are tricks in spades—it's not just about having the cards, it's about when they hit the table.
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Nuances of Teamwork and Communication
You aren't allowed to talk. No "Hey, I’ve got the Ace of Clubs" or "Don't play a Diamond." That’s "table talk" and it'll get you kicked out of a serious game. Your only way to communicate is through the cards you play.
If your partner leads a King and you play the 2 of that suit, you’re telling them "I have more of these, but they’re small." If you play the Queen on their King, you’re telling them "I’m short in this suit, I'm trying to get rid of it so I can start trumping." Every card is a word. Every trick is a sentence.
Dealing with the "Joker-Joker-Ace" Variation
In many versions of the game, especially in the U.S., the two Jokers are added to the deck. The Big Joker (usually the colored one) is the highest card in the game, followed by the Little Joker (black and white), and then the Ace of Spades.
If you're playing with Jokers, the whole definition of what are tricks in spades shifts. There are now 15 trumps instead of 13. This makes "voids" more common and makes the "Boss" cards even more powerful. If you hold both Jokers, you basically own two tricks. No questions asked.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Game
If you want to stop guessing and start winning, here is exactly what you should do the next time you’re dealt a hand:
- Audit your "Short Suits": Look for any suit where you have 2 or fewer cards. These are your "power zones" where you will likely win tricks by trumping.
- Watch the 10s and Jacks: Most people track Aces and Kings. If you can track who played the 10s, you’ll know when your 9 or 8 becomes a winning card.
- Bid "Tight" with a Partner: If you’re playing with someone new, bid conservatively. It’s better to take a few bags than to get set because you didn't understand each other’s play styles.
- Don't lead a suit your opponent is void in: If you know the person to your left is out of Clubs, don't lead a Club! You're just handing them a free chance to use a small Spade to take your trick.
- Force the Spades out: If you have a lot of high Spades, lead them! This is called "drawing trump." It strips the opponents of their ability to cut your Kings and Aces in other suits.
Spades is a game of memory and psychology disguised as a simple card game. Once you realize that a trick is a resource to be managed rather than just a point to be grabbed, you'll start seeing the board differently. You’ll stop asking what are tricks in spades and start asking "How can I manipulate this trick to make sure my partner’s 10 of Hearts actually wins?" That’s when the game gets really fun.