Spades Tournament

Rules

• A Spades team is a team of 2 people; each organization can enter 1 team.
• Game win goes to organization with the most combined points after 3 games.
• Bidding Begins on firsthand
• Dealer must offer the player to his/her right, the opportunity to cut the cards after they are shuffled and before they are dealt and the highest card flipped over determines dealer.
• A misdeal can be called for one of the following reasons:
  1. Player was not dealt exactly 13 cards
  2. Player does not have any spades
  3. Player does not have any face cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack)
• If a team fails to win at least 4 books on the first hand, they automatically lose that game.
• After the first hand is played, the non-dealing team must bid first; The minimum bid per team is 4.
• “Gentleman’s Bid” – Total bids for both teams combined must equal 11 or more. A total bid of 10 or less will require all players to “throw in” their hands to start a new deal. No points are awarded for a “thrown in” hand
• Table talk or providing hints to a partner is strictly prohibited.
• The highest cards are as follows: Big Joker, Little Joker, Ace of Spades
• The deuce of diamonds and the deuce of hearts are to be removed from the deck before the game begins.
• Once a card is played, it cannot be picked up. “A Card Laid is A Card Played.”
• The player with the deuce of clubs plays first
• Games must be played in a timely and sportsmanlike manner. Any disputes will be settled by the event coordinator.

Scoring

• 1 book = 10 pts
• Bidding and Winning 10 to 13 books = 200 pts
• Not making the “O” (a bid of 10 books) = Minus 100 pts
• Not reaching a team bid (set) = Minus (number of bidded books) x 10 pts
• Reneging = Subtract 3 books from the total books won. If the number of books remaining is less than the number of books bidded, the team is set and must score accordingly