Spades for Winners [Paperback]

Steve Fleishman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 097143400X | ISBN-13: 978-0971434004 | Publication Date: October 28, 2001 | Edition: 1st

Spades for Winners is an instructive and entertaining how-to guide to the popular card game Spades. Written by the leading authority on the game, the book demonstrates technique and strategy, and includes emphasis on everyone's weakness, trump management. The book contains information on Internet play and Rules & Options. This is the complete book of Spades.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Steve Fleishman created a stir in the Spades world with his brilliant Master Spades website. For the first time, Spades players could see the game as it should be played. The forceful, aggressive style of play gives the opponents no time to relax or to recover from a mistake. For competitive players, this approach is far superior to the popular alternative, the bagging strategy.

"Spades for Winners" presents Spade theory that is far ahead of its time but will soon become mainstream. Ideas such as weakening your opponents' trumps appear in print for the first time. Learn when it is correct to lead spades and why this is a particularly powerful stroke.

This book gets beginners off on the right foot. Starting with a simple bidding system that is every bit as effective as the complex systems, the author takes the reader on a tour of basic strategy and card play. Experienced players will benefit particularly from the chapters on those topics that are the weaknesses of virtually every Spades player - nil defense and trump management. Scores of full-deal examples demonstrate every principle, each one bound to lead you to improved play.

"Spades for Winners" is not all hard labor. There's a great deal of fun in these pages - a great deal of fascination and absorbing reading. For the Spades player, there is no other book like this one.

About the Author

Both a physicist and a chemist, Steve Fleishman is an expert on Chess and Bridge with over 30 years of competitive tournament experience. He is currently the leading authority on Spades theory and strategy, and has contributed many original ideas to the game of Spades.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Master Spades; 1st edition (October 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097143400X
• ISBN-13: 978-0971434004
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,480,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent spades strategy book, January 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Spades for Winners (Paperback)

I knew from the first minutes of reading this authors spades tips that I had found the book that I wanted.

I had previously purchased 2 different spades books and found them very disappointing. I was already a good, experienced, spades player and was not interested in studying the obvious and rehashing beginning spades techniques.

This book offered me expert spades strategy that I could immediately put to use. He very effectively taught me how to be an agressive, smart, competitor. My skills quickly advanced. Now I can honestly say that I am not just a good spades player, but an advanced spades player. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about learning how to play with the best.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incomparable, February 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Spades for Winners (Paperback)

To sum up this book in one simple line, "Spades for Winners" is incomparable. Now there is finally a book that covers every facet of the game through expert analysis and an aggressive approach. Steve Fleishman has blown away the Spading community with a far superior exposition on Spade theory. To even try and compare other books with this cutting edge book is akin to comparing a top expert in any field with a novice. Such a comparison does not do the book justice!

Fleishman begins with a simple yet superior bidding system and then progresses through beginner and intermediate play of the hand. Every hand is treated with a thorough analysis explaining each technique. Particular attention is given to trump management -- a subject that has been neglected in all other literature on Spades.

The beginner can read this book without being overwhelmed. Fleishman presents Spades theory in such a way that it is easy to absorb while also providing keen analysis. If you want to learn how the very few elite players play this game, buy this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really helpful spades book, February 15, 2002

By 

Cherokee Turner (Muskogee Okla) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spades for Winners (Paperback)

This is really a great book for the spades player. I
never knew there was so much about spades. I have been
playing for about five years and thought it was a very
simple game and there was nothing left to learn. Wow was
I wrong. One of the things that really impresed me was
that Fleishman explained the secret of making high-level
bids. I always was afraid to bid too high but not any
more.

If I had to find something negative to say it would be
that the author sometimes is way ahead of me. I didn't
use to count the cards. But now I am making the effort
and it is paying off. I advise others not to bother
with any of the other spades books they are only for
beginners. This is the one for serius spades players.