Nil in Spades

A hundred points either way, decided by whether you can lose thirteen tricks in a row.

Nil in Spades is a bid of zero: you promise to take no tricks at all. Make it and your side scores +100. Take a single trick and it's −100 instead, and the tricks you took count as team bags on top. Your partner's bid is scored separately, on your partner's tricks alone, so a nil never helps or hurts their contract directly.

What a nil is worth, in one hand

You bid nil and your partner bids 4. They take 5 tricks and you take none: +100 for the nil, +40 for the contract, +1 for the bag, so +141. Now say you get caught for one trick and your partner ends on 4: the contract still makes 40, the nil costs 100, and your trick is a bag worth 1. That's −59. One trick, a 200-point swing. Our app scores it exactly this way.

If you're still deciding whether to bid one, the bidding guide covers the count. The rest of this page is about playing it.

Which hands can hold a nil

The commonest mistake is bidding nil because a hand looks weak. Weak and safe aren't the same. A nil hand is about shape:

• Spades decide it. Zero to two spades, both low, is nil territory. With three spades you can end up forced to win a trump trick late, when you're the only one left holding spades. Any high spade and it isn't a nil, whatever else you hold.
• Low cards in the long suits. In a long suit you'll still be following when everyone else has run out, so you need small cards there to stay underneath.
• Kings and queens need company. K♥ with two small hearts is survivable: you duck twice and the king can go under the ace. A bare K♥ is a trick waiting to happen.
• A short suit helps. Once you're void in a suit, every time it's led you can throw away your most dangerous card, and a card that doesn't follow suit can't win unless it's a spade.

Ducking: the one rule

On every trick, play the highest card that still loses. Not your lowest: your highest safe one.

New players hang on to their small cards and dump them at the end. That's backwards. Your small cards are what get you out of the late tricks, when the aces and kings have gone and you're the one still holding something. Get rid of the dangerous middle cards early, under other people's winners, while it's still safe.

• Know what beats each card you hold. A 10 is safe while the J, Q, K and A of that suit are still out. Once three of those have gone, that 10 is a problem.
• Strip the high cards from your longest suit first. That's the suit you'll still be following when the others have run out.
• Avoid leading. If you have to, lead your lowest card, and make sure it really is low.
• Look ahead. If you're down to two cards and both can win, the nil is already gone. Think three tricks ahead, not one.

The bots in our app play a nil with exactly that rule: when they're following, they throw the biggest card that still loses.

Covering your partner's nil

When your partner bids nil, your own contract matters less than keeping them clean. A broken nil costs 100; a bag costs 1.

• Don't stretch your bid. Your winners are needed as cover. Overbidding opposite a nil is how a +100 turns into a set as well.
• Lead your side aces early. Each one is a trick your partner can safely drop a dangerous card under. Our Hard and Expert bots do this when their partner is on a nil.
• When you play after your partner, cover them. If their card might win the trick, beat it, even if that trick is a bag for you.
• When you play before them, play high. A big card from you gives them something to duck under.
• Don't lead a suit they're out of unless you're happy for them to discard into it. Watch what they throw away.

Breaking the other side's nil

A broken nil is 100 points to you, which is more than most contracts are worth.

• Lead low. The nil bidder wants something big to duck under. Lead a 3 and they may have nothing lower. Our Hard and Expert bots lead their lowest non-spade against a live nil.
• Lead the suit they're longest in. You can often tell from what they haven't discarded.
• Hold back your aces. Every ace you cash gives them a free trick to dump a high card under.
• Wear down the cover. If their partner is taking everything, make them use up their winners. Once the cover is gone, the nil hand is on its own.
• Draw the spades. If they have one or two low spades, get trumps going. A forced cut late in the hand breaks a nil as surely as anything.

Blind nil

Blind nil is a nil bid before you look at your cards, for ±200. According to pagat.com it's usually allowed only when your side is losing by at least 100 points, and the blind nil bidder may pass two cards to their partner and get two back before play. It's a bid for when you're losing anyway.

Our app doesn't offer blind nil. A nil here is always bid after you've seen your hand, and it's always ±100.

How nils get broken

1. Bidding on weakness instead of shape. Three spades and no aces is not a nil.
2. Saving the small cards for the end instead of spending the dangerous middle cards early.
3. A partner who stretches their own bid instead of covering.
4. Holding a long suit with no small cards in it.
5. Getting forced to cut late because nobody drew the trumps.

Other Spades pages

• How to Play Spades: one full hand with a nil in it, then the rules.
• Spades Bidding Guide: deciding what to bid in the first place.
• Spades Strategy: bags and playing the hand.
• Spades for Beginners: the five rules that matter.
• How to Play Spades with 2 People: two-hand rules and the draw.