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How to Play Spades with 2 People

Nobody is dealt a hand. You build one card by card, and half the deck goes in the discards unseen by your opponent.

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How to Play Spades with 2 People

To play Spades with 2 people, put the shuffled deck face down between you and take turns drawing: look at the top card, then either keep it and discard the next one, or discard it and keep the next one. When the deck runs out you each hold 13 cards. Then you bid and play 13 tricks head to head, spades trump, scored like the four-player game but with no partner. That's two player Spades, also called two-hand or two person Spades.

2 player Spades at a glance

  • Cards: one standard 52-card deck. Each player ends with 13 cards; the other 26 are discarded face down.
  • Deal: there isn't one. You draw and keep or discard, as below, until the stock is gone.
  • Bids: each player bids alone; there is no team contract.
  • Play: follow suit if you can, spades are always trump, and spades can't be led until broken.
  • Score: 10 per trick bid when you make it, minus the same when set, +1 per bag, −100 at ten bags, ±100 for nil.

How many cards in 2 player Spades? The draw

Each of you plays with 13 cards, and you choose them as you go. This is how pagat.com describes the draw:

  1. Shuffle the full 52-card deck and put it face down between you as the stock.
  2. On your turn, take the top card and look at it without showing it.
  3. If you want it, put it in your hand. Then draw the next card, look at it, and discard it face down.
  4. If you don't want it, discard it face down. Then draw the next card and put it in your hand, whatever it is.
  5. Take turns until the stock is gone. You each end with 13 cards in hand and 13 in the discards.

So every turn is a small gamble. Keep a good card and you have to throw away the next one, even if it's better. Throw away a poor card and you're stuck with whatever comes up next.

One turn each, worked out. You draw the 4♥. You don't want it, so you discard it and take the next card into your hand: the J♣. Your opponent draws the A♠ and keeps it, then looks at the next card, the K♦, and has to discard it. Each of you is one card closer to 13.

Bidding with two

  • Bids are individual. There's no partner's bid to hide a thin one inside. You make your number or you're set for 10 times it.
  • The two bids don't have to add up to 13. Any tricks nobody bid for become bags for whoever takes them.
  • Nil is still worth ±100, and it's harder, because nobody is covering you.

In partnership Spades a slightly hopeful bid can be rescued by your partner. Here nothing rescues it, so bid what you can count.

What changes in the play

The rules of play don't change: follow suit if you can, spades are always trump, and no spade leads until spades are broken. What changes is what you know.

  • Half the deck is gone, and you don't know which half. An ace you haven't seen may be in your opponent's hand or in the discards. You're playing the odds more than reading the cards.
  • You saw some of the discards. Every card you looked at and threw away is a card your opponent can't hold. Remember them.
  • Counting spades is worth doing. Only 26 cards are in play, so keeping track of the trumps is manageable and usually settles the hand.
  • Bags still hurt. Ten bags is still −100, and with no partner you collect every one of them yourself.

Scoring and the match

Pagat says two-handed Spades is scored by the three- or four-player rules. With the four-player scoring: 10 points per trick bid when you make it, the same lost when you're set, +1 per bag, −100 at ten bags, and ±100 for nil. Each player keeps their own score and their own bag count. 500 is the usual target; pagat lists 300 and 1000 as alternatives.

Two examples: bid 5 and take 7, and you score 52 and bank 2 bags. Bid 5 and take 4, and you lose 50.

Can you play Spades with just two people online?

Yes, but not head to head. Our app plays the four-player game, so two friends can open a private room, pick seats, and add bots for the other two chairs. You can sit as partners against two bots or on opposite sides with a bot each. For the true two-hand game with its draw, use a real deck and the rules above.

Other player counts

3 players (Cutthroat)
No partnerships, 17 cards each, one card left out. See how to play Spades with 3 people.
6 players
Pagat describes three teams of two, partners opposite, using two decks shuffled together with two low cards taken out (102 cards, so 17 each). If two identical cards land in the same trick, the second one played beats the first.

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