Spades Books

  Please note all reviews are based on the opinion of Sensei JapaneseFreak. They have been evaluated based on the content provided, the skill in which the author passes the information to the readers and the overall usefulness of the book to the various levels of Spades experience found in players. "" ratings are out of 5 's and are based on the value of the book to readers at an advanced level or higher.

How Not Lose At Spades   - JohnGalt Strichman

   I highly recommended this book for players of all skill levels. For the beginning and intermediate players, How Not To Lose At Spades, will prove to be a vital resource. Strichman does an excellent job illustrating the logic and reasoning needed to improve one's game. After reading his book, players will have learned the necessary building blocks to becoming experts and will be ready to take their game to a new level. His book also has what I consider to be the best published coverage on endgame bidding and includes a great explanation on the techniques involved in evaluating risk over reward in various scenarios. Purchase this book directly from the author for $13.95 plus shipping.

Spades For Winners   - Steve Fleischman

   This is the first of a series of two books published by Fleischman. The book offers some good strategies and techniques but lacks depth or enough detail to be a good learning tool most players. There are some good excerpts on his thoughts and strategies, but players are left to figure out the logic for themselves. For the beginner and intermediate level players it lacks enough information on how and when the strategies covered should be used. A player of a higher caliber who can reason out the logic behind the plays to know when and how to use them effectively will get some good value out of this book. Purchase this book from the author for $16.00 plus shipping.

Master Spades   - Steve Fleischman

   This is Flesichman's follow up to Spades For Winners. Although I wasn’t too impressed by his first book, the same doesn’t hold for this edition. I recommend Master Spades for any player that has a good understanding of logic. Strategy-wise the book is highly advanced. The signaling and trump management sections offer some extremely valuable knowledge. With a good understanding of logic and general Spades strategy, a player will find this book an excellent tool. Purchase this book directly from the author for $15.95 plus shipping.

The Complete Win at Spades:   - Joseph D. Andrews

   This book is a compilation of Andrew's two previous books covering basic, intermediate and advanced strategies. Andrews was the first author in history to publish a book on spades and offers some valuable and widely used strategies. He covers in detail many of the standard strategies used in spades today. The book is a good resource for experienced card players who are new to Spades. This book can be purchased for $11.16 at Amazon.com.

Gaming Sites

TheZOO.net
   This is an excellent online play site for competitive Spades players who enjoy tournaments and like to win real money! TheZOO offers real, professionally-hosted, multiplayer Spades, Hearts and Bid Whist tournaments daily, all with cash purses. They are a newer site using Cases Ladder Online (CLO) software to play their games.

Cases Ladder Online (CLO)
   CLO is one of the newer gaming sites. The graphics are pretty good and it allows many table settings. It is still a work in progress but it will probably grow into one of the larger Spades communities.

MSN Gaming Zone
   MSN Gaming Zone is one of the oldest and largest gaming communities. Its graphic quality isn't the best, but the lay out is simple and easy to follow. Table settings are limited, but the site has its advantages. There are a variety of rooms to play in and hundreds of thousands spades players to play against. It is definitely worth checking out!

Yahoo! Spades
   Yahoo! has many ups and downs. I personally do not care for the table layouts or the attitudes of the majority of their players. Every site has bad apples but I have found very few friendly Yahoo! players. Players have many options for table settings and it is not difficult to get a game. It just may be the site for you.

Hardwood Spades
   Hardwood offers some of the better graphics in the business. Last I checked it still costs to play there. I have not had much experience, but they do have a 30-day trial and I know many dieHard wood Spades fans so I would recommend checking it out.

Mystic Island Gaming Park
   Mystic Island is a smaller privately-owned gaming site. They have less than 1000 active spades players, but it is a good community. Their graphic quality and table layouts, with the exception of the table chat, is one of the best I have seen. The people are generally friendly. The site has many plusses and is certainly worth checking out.

E-Spadesmaster
   This is one of the newest Spades gaming site to hit the market. Operated in conjunction with ACBL Bridge, it is the first attempted venture into online Duplicate Spades. Duplicate is a totally different game invented as an attempt to remove the luck of the cards. Players play against other players using the exact same cards. For example, Team A and Team B sit at one table. Team C and Team D sit at another table. Team A and C have the exact same cards. Team A is actually playing against Team C, trying for a better outcome on the hand in play than the other team has. The site is small but growing. The graphics are good and it offers many nice features. The majority of the players play in the daily duplicate Spades tournaments. The site still has a lot of flaws as does the Duplicate Spades format, but hopefully in the future they will get it together.

Pogo
   Pogo is a large gaming site offering a variety of card, board and arcade-type games. I have not played there much, but I did check it out. They have ladders and ratings and a myriad of table settings to choose from.

IPlay.net
   IPlay is an older site. Its graphic quality is lousy and it has many bugs, however it has some of the friendliest players on the internet. It is a great family site and its simple graphics makes it a great place to teach the young ones.

Spades Information Sites

Master Spades
   This is a great site run by Steve Fleischman, author of Spades For Winners and Master Spades. Players can find much valuable information and take part in the discussion forum. The site covers all areas of Spades and I recommend it to all players.

SpadeSpanker
   SpadeSpanker offers a link to many Spades resources. Along with links to gaming sites, tournament information, Spades related merchandise, Spades strategy sites and more it also has a message forum and articles related to Spades.