The Duplicate Format Explained

[Pokah]

[Special Thanks to HCMAliTwo for contributing to this guide]

Duplicate Spades is a format of Spades created by Joe Andrews, author of the popular Spades book The Complete Win at Spades. Joe has been instrumental in helping bring this format to Mystic Island and has proved to be a very challenging way to play Spades and is targeted at the medium to advanced player. Mystic Island has exclusively offered this challenging format for nearly a decade.

Duplicate Spades is where each table gets the same deal. Unlike an end game where you play to a certain score, duplicate is a scoring method of how well your team has played the cards that has been dealt to you. Your team is scored accordingly with other teams sitting in the same seats as you, whether North /South or East/West. Teams receive bonus scores by setting their opponents. Your team is scored what ever part your opponents failed to make. For example, if your opponents bid nil and the cover bid is 4, if the nil is set, your team gets 100 points. If the cover bid is set, your team receives 40 points. If both are set, your team receives 140 points. The extra points will help your team in the ranking of teams in that round.

And the end of each hand (otherwise called "round"), the north/south teams are ranked and scored separately from the east/west teams, thereby eliminating the "luck of the deal". One round consists of one hand. The teams receive points from the computer for the top four scores from the round. The computer keeps track of the teams' points and at the end of the tourney, the team that accumulated the most points wins. Unlike in an end game where a negative score gets no points, in duplicates a team with a negative score can get points provided that they rank in the top 4 places of that round.

IT'S HOW WELL A TEAM PLAYS THE HAND THEY WERE DEALT, NOT HOW WELL THEY PLAYED AGAINST EACH OTHER. Riskier bidding can lead to more points for your team as well for your opponents if you fail to make your bids.

At the start of the next round the scores are reset to 0-0 and your team and a different set of opponents will square off. The computer will list a seating chart for that round. N/S remain at the same table while E/W will move down 1 table. Each round is timed for 5 minutes.

During the event, the Scores button at the top of the lobby will launch a webpage showing a round-by-round breakdown where you can see the hand that all 4 seats were dealt for the round, how each player bid, and the round scoring. This is a great way to compare your play/bidding with others. Click here for an example from a recent event.

Duplicate has undergone a face lift and now allows for multiple hands per round and also a format which randomizes partners each round, thus increasing the difficulty as you have to adjust your play based on a partner you may or may not know.