Win at Spades: Advanced Play and Strategy: Sophisticated Strategies, Techniques, and Tips for the Advanced Player [Paperback]

Joseph D. Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

Higher-level competition demands an understanding of advanced techniques. Joe Andrews now digs in and teaches the finer points of the game to the experienced player. Among the topics: advanced bidding strategies, play of hand, partnership conventions, aggressive defence, protecting your partner's 'nil' bids. 'Bagging' opponents, duplicating Spades techniques, and individual games for three and four players. Both intermediate and experienced players will find this book improves their play. More than twenty popular and interesting variations of Spades are described and assessed. Included are: Suicide, Homicide, mirrors, Joker, and Reverse.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566251184
• ISBN-13: 978-1566251181
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,232,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it, December 18, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Win at Spades: Advanced Play and Strategy: Sophisticated Strategies, Techniques, and Tips for the Advanced Player (Paperback)

This book is worth a buck or two in the cutout bin, but certainly not... to the advanced player it allegedly targets.

It's a thin book at 135 pages, and has a great deal of material that's inappropriate for its "advanced" audience. The first three chapters include such material as "a review of the basics" and "general spades information" which is fine for a beginner book, but not advanced.

The actual meat starts with chapter four, which opens with this doozy: "Novice players are always advised to review the trick-taking possibilities of their hands before proceeding with bidding." How earth shattering.

The writing style is rather wordy, and it's not uncommon to find six or eight consecutive sentences all ending in exclamation points. This gets old in a hurry. There are continous Bridge references which are both irrelevant and annoying. This is supposed to be a Spades book; I don't even know how to play Bridge.

Here are some other choice tips included in this book for us "advanced" players:

"The wrong bid can lead to a lot of problems." "The bid of nil has a certain degree of risk." "The making of a nil bid is usually a true team effort." "High spade holdings can be very dangerous" when bidding nil! "If your partner has bid a nil preceding your bid, and your hand has nil potential, forget" about bidding nil! When covering a nil, "Never lead a low card!" "The greatest opportunity to set the opponents is when the total of all tricks bid equals 12 or 13." When attacking a nil, "Do not lead a suit in which the nil bidder is void."

And on and on. The only chapters I found interesting were one on finessing, and one on partner signalling conventions. I do consider these "advanced" topics. But the rest of the book is just fluff to the advanced player.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book to Help Improve Your Spades Playing Skills !, July 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Win at Spades: Advanced Play and Strategy: Sophisticated Strategies, Techniques, and Tips for the Advanced Player (Paperback)

I have been playing Spades regularly on the internet at the MSN Gaming Zone site during the past 4 years, averaging 20 or more games weekly. I play in the competitive rooms mostly and have participated in numerous zone-endorsed tourneys, finishing 1st in many. Having this experience, I still do not consider myself an "Expert" by any means. I'm always open-minded and receptive to tips and strategies used by others that may improve my skill.

Upon reading Mr. Andrews' book entitled Win At Spades - Advanced Play And Strategy, I found perfect examples of hands encountered in actual games, along with the author's professional analysis. As a result of reading this book, I have incorporated three or four new tips and strategies, enabling me to win more games.

I highly recommend Mr. Andrews' book for those looking for tips and strategies to improve their game, and I feel the...price tag on this book is a very good investment.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You Mr. Andrews!, January 12, 2000

By 

Shannon Faith (Ft Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Win at Spades: Advanced Play and Strategy: Sophisticated Strategies, Techniques, and Tips for the Advanced Player (Paperback)

As a life-long spades player, I would like to thank Mr. Andrews for providing ideas about how to better my game. The name of the book says it all, if you get the book and implement the techniques, you WILL win at spades.

I have seen some reviews that criticize Mr. Andrews writing style. I thought the book was well written, but the purists among you might ask yourself the following question: Do you want a spades book written by a professional writer that plays spades as a hobby? I prefer a spades book written by a professional spader that writes for a hobby!

The book contains many clever conventions that can really give you an edge against your opponents. It deals with some fairly complex ideas, but an intelligent person with a desire to WIN will find tried and tested tools for improving their game.

Implementing Mr. Andrew's advanced techniques has given me a winning edge. It really makes the difference between a good player and a great player.

-Shannon Faith 4th Place 1999 Orlando Open Spades Tournament 1st Place July 99 ZESTOC Spades Tournament 1st Place March 99 Knit2Fit Zone Spades Tournament 1st Place Dec 99 Dawg Fight Tournament

I have a least 20 other major tournament wins... you be the judge :-)