How to Play the Spades Card Game with Just 2 Players

If you love a classic game of Spades but only have 2 players, it only takes a couple of small changes to start playing. While most of the rules stay the same as in the 4-player game, dealing the cards is a little different, and winning takes a little more strategy. Keep reading for advice from the game experts at Triple S Games on playing the game and how to win.

2-Player Spades: Rules Overview

To play Spades with 2 people, build a hand of 13 cards by drawing from the deck and choosing to keep or discard a card. Bid on how many tricks you’ll win. On a turn, play a card, and the highest value or spade wins the trick. Score points for your bid. When a player crosses 500 points, the highest score wins!

Section 1 of 10:

Object of the Game

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In a game of Spades, players bid on how many tricks, or rounds, they will win. Each person plays a card from their hand, and whoever plays the highest card wins the trick. Spades are the strongest suit, or trump, so they’ll always win. After you play all your cards, you earn or lose points whether you make or miss your bid. Be the first to 500 points, and you’re the winner!^{[1]
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Meet the wikiHow Expert

Triple S Games are Game Experts who have taught the rules to over 1,000 different games on their YouTube channel.

Section 2 of 10:

Dealing Cards in 2-Player Spades

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Shuffle the cards into a face-down stack. Use all 52 cards in the deck, but remove the jokers. Choose someone to shuffle the cards thoroughly and put them in a single face-down deck where both players can reach it.^{[2]
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- The card ranks from high to low are: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2.
- Game experts at Triple S Games say, “Spades are always trump,” so they’ll always be the highest value cards compared to other suits.^{[3]
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Draw a card and choose if you want to keep it. Choose someone at random to be the first player. Take the top card of the deck and look at it, but keep it secret from the other person. You can either keep the card in your hand or discard it.^{[4]
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- If you keep the first card: Add it to your hand. Look at the next card in the deck and discard it face down.
- If you don’t want the first card: Discard it face down. Take the next card from the deck and add it to your hand.
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Take turns picking until each player has 13 cards. Players alternate turns drawing and discarding cards from the deck. When you’re finished, each player will have 13 cards while the other half of the deck is discarded.^{[5]
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- Set the discarded cards aside for the rest of the round.

Section 3 of 10:

Bidding in 2-Player Spades

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Bid on how many tricks you think you’ll win. Make note of the cards in your hand, and think about how many tricks you can confidently win. Remember that high cards and Spades usually win tricks. You can bid between 0 and 13 tricks.^{[6]
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- If you bid 0 tricks, it’s considered a nil bid. Nil bids are more difficult because you can’t win any tricks during the round, but doing one successfully can earn you 100 bonus points.
- You can also declare a nil bid before you choose cards at the start of the round. If you do this, it’s a double nil or blind nil bid that could earn you 200 extra points.

Section 4 of 10:

Playing a Hand in 2-Player Spades

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The second player takes the first turn and leads the trick. They pick a card from their hand and play it face-up to the center of the table. The other player must follow suit and play a card of the same suit if they have one. Otherwise, they can choose any card in their hand.^{[7]
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Win a trick if you play the highest value card. Compare the values of the 2 cards that were played. Whoever has the highest card of the lead suit wins that trick. However, if someone played a spade, they win the trick because it’s the trump suit. When you win a trick, take both cards in a pile and set them in front of you.^{[8]
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- Example: If the lead card was a 5 of hearts and the other player plays a 4 of hearts, the 4 of hearts wins the trick.
- Example: If the lead card was a jack of clubs and the second card is a king of diamonds, the jack of clubs wins because it’s the highest in the lead suit.
- Example: If the lead card is an ace of diamonds and the second card is a 2 of spades, the 2 of spades wins even though it’s lower because it’s in the trump suit.
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Wait to lead with spades until the suit’s been broken. Spades are “broken” once one is played as the second card to a trick or if the lead player has no other suits in their hand. After spades are broken, either player can use them as the lead card in the trick.^{[9]
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- Deciding when to break spades can impact the game, so jump down to our strategies section to learn more.
Whoever wins the trick plays the lead card for the next trick. Keep playing one card at a time into a trick until you both run out of cards.

Section 5 of 10:

Scoring in 2-Player Spades

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Earn 10 times your bid if you meet it. Count the number of tricks in front of you. If you won as many tricks as you bid or more, then multiply your bid by 10 to add to your score.^{[10]
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- Example: If you bid 6 tricks and you made your bid, you’d earn 60 points for the round.
- Keep a pad of paper nearby to keep track of scoring.
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Gain 1 extra point for each extra trick you win. If you win more tricks than you bid, the extras are called bags. Give yourself 1 extra point for each one, and keep track of how many you earn in between rounds.^{[11]
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- Example: If you bid 6 tricks but you actually win 9 tricks, you score 63 points (60 points for your bid + 3 extra tricks).
- It’s best to hit your bid exactly because winning too many extra tricks over the course of the game can make you lose points, as explained in the next step.
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Take a 100-point penalty whenever you accumulate 10 extra tricks. Any time you hit 10 extra tricks, you’re sandbagged. Subtract 100 points from your score. You can still earn points from your tricks for that round.^{[12]
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- Example: You already made 7 extra tricks in previous rounds of the game. If you bid 4 tricks this round but actually win 7, you have 10 extra tricks total and immediately lose 100 points. Then, you would score 43 points for the round.
- You can get sandbagged multiple times during a game of Spades.
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Lose 10 points for each trick you bid if you miss it. If you don’t win enough tricks to meet your bid, then you’re penalized with negative points. Multiply your bid by 10 and subtract that many points from your total.^{[13]
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- Example: If you bid 6 tricks but only won 5 during the round, you lose a total of 60 points.
- It’s possible to have negative points at the end of a round.
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Earn or lose points for making or breaking nil bids. If you made a nil bid and you don’t win any tricks during the round, you earn 100 points. However, if you win even 1 trick, then you lose 100 points instead.^{[14]
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- If you made a blind nil bid, you get 200 points if you don’t win any tricks, but you lose 200 if you win at least 1 trick.

Section 6 of 10:

Continuing & Ending the Game

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Gather all the cards, including the discarded ones from the start of the round, and shuffle them into a new deck. Players alternate who draws from the deck first when you’re building your hands. Then, bid and play rounds as normal.^{[15]
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End the game when a player hits 500 points. Game experts at Triple S Games state, “once one person has 500 or more points, the game ends and whoever has the most points wins.” If only one person got over 500 points, then they win the game!^{[16]
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- If both players cross 500 points during the same round, the person with the higher score wins the game.
- If you want to play a shorter game, end it after someone earns at least 300 points.

Section 7 of 10:

2-Player Spades Strategies

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1
Remember what cards you discarded. As you’re choosing cards for your hand, keep a mental note of all the cards that you get rid of. Those cards won’t be played during the round, so you can plan ahead to win tricks.
- Example: If you have the king of spades in your hand but discard the ace of spades, you now know that you have the strongest card for the round.
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Bid conservatively. The game experts at Triple S Games state, “The objective of each hand is to take is to win at least as many tricks as you bid.”^{[17]
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Triple S Games
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Expert Interview} Hitting your bid exactly is the most beneficial because winning too few or too many extra tricks can make you lose points. Consider how many spades you have as well as other high-value cards, and make a bid that you’re confident about hitting.
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Lead with high cards from non-spades suits. When you’re leading the trick, start off with the higher-value cards. This forces your opponent to play lower cards of the same suit or to play their spades early on so they’re at a disadvantage.^{[18]
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Save your spades for later in the hand. Rather than breaking spades early in the round, hold onto them to use during later tricks. Keeping your spades as long as possible forces your opponent to play theirs first and potentially lets you sweep the last few tricks of the round.^{[19]
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Keep track of what cards have been played. After each trick, try to remember what cards have already been played so you know what’s still out there. If you notice all the higher cards in a suit are already played, you may be able to win a trick with a lower value.^{[20]
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Section 8 of 10:

How to Play 2-Player Spades with Jokers

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Include the jokers as the highest trump cards for a new way to play. Designate one joker as the Big Joker and the other as the Little Joker. The Big Joker is the highest card in the game and wins any trick. The Little Joker is higher than any other spade. Shuffle the jokers into the deck, but still only take 13 cards into your hand when you’re dealing.
- Jokers can be played at any time and don’t have to be broken first, so they can quickly change who wins a trick.

Section 9 of 10:

Differences between 2-Player and 4-Player Spades

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Cards are dealt out to each player. In 2-player Spades, each player gets to choose which cards they add to their hand, so you have a little more control of the game. When you play Spades with 4 players, the dealer deals cards 1 at a time until each person has 13 cards.^{[21]
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Players work together in teams of 2. Spades is usually a 2-v-2 card game where partners sit across from each other and work together to win tricks. Each player still makes a bid they’re trying to hit, but the team members add their extra tricks and scores together after each round.^{[22]
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- Having a teammate can give you a little bit of a safety net because they can help you win a trick by playing a lower card or stop you from taking a trick you don’t want.

Section 10 of 10:

More Card Games to Play

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Check out these other fun card games when you need more to play. After you’ve played a few games of Spades, there are so many more 2-player card games you should try out. Check out our rules guides to learn how to play these favorites:
- War
- Speed
- Palace
- Trash
- Gin Rummy