Tournament Info

	2004
	WFWF Spades Tournament Extravaganza

Just so everyone knows............
n	Anyone is eligible to play.	n	Cheating/Gambling are not allowed.
n	Kibitizing is allowed.	n	‘Table Talk/Whining’ is frowned upon.

1. Determining the First Dealer/Scorekeeper
The game's first dealer and scorekeeper are chosen in the following manner:

n	A standard 52 card deck is fanned upon the table. Each player selects a single card.
n	The Highest Card^* chosen is the ‘First Dealer’. The Lowest Card chosen selects the ‘Scorekeeper’.

	^*If there is a tie for Highest/Lowest card, then those tied ‘draw again’ until the tie is broken.

2. Re-Deals
A Re-deal may be called if:

n	A person deals out of turn.	n	The dealer is not the last person to receive a card.
n	The person to right of dealer is not given the option to cut.	n	A card is dealt ‘face-up’ during the deal. The person can also accept the card or ask the dealer to ‘burn’ the card.

3. The Bidding
Each partnership must make a bid, which is the number of tricks they expect to take.

n	A Misdeal may be called if a player's hand does not contain any spades. The misdeal must be called at the time of the player's bid. If a misdeal is called the deal moves to the next player.
n	A Nil Bid is a declaration that the player will not win any tricks during the play. Any single player may bid nil. The player/team is awarded with +/- 100 points for the achieving/failing to achieve the Nil Bid.
n	Zero Bids are not allowed. An individual player must bid at least 1-Trick unless bidding Nil.

4. The Play of the Hand
The player to dealer's left leads any card except a spade on the first trick. Each player, in turn, clockwise, must follow suit if able; if unable to follow suit, the player may play any card.
n	Once a valid card is played……… it must remain on the table (“Once laid, it’s played”).

5. Renege [Not following suit]
If a player is caught not following suit, whether accidental or not, the hand is immediately finished.

n	The team that ‘reneges’ loses their entire bid.
n	The opposing team makes their entire bid.

Important:

If a player throws an invalid card by mistake…. it can be retracted only during the trick played.
- Once the ‘next trick’ has been led it cannot be retracted.
- A renege discovered on the ‘final trick’ results in the penalty above.

6. Scoring
Base Scoring: - A side that takes at least as many tricks it bids calls for a score equal to 10 times its bid. - Additional tricks (overtricks) are counted as a BAG. A single point is awarded for each bag.

n	Bag rule: The "10-Bag" will not be used in this tournament. Standard play only.
n	Sets: If a side does not make its bid, they lose 10 points for each trick they bid.
n	Nil Bids:

- A successful nil bid receives +100. An unsuccessful nil bid receives -100 points.

- Blind Nils are not allowed.

- Tricks won by the nil bidder count towards their partner's bid.

7. Achieving Game Victory
Victory is declared when one of the following conditions is met:

n	The first to reach 500 points first wins the game.
n	If both sides reach 500 points in a single deal, the side with the higher score wins.

8. Tournament Play
This is a five game tournament:

n	Round Robin Play will be invoked for games 1-3
n	The four highest scoring teams in Round Robin Play will advance to the semi-finals (See Points Schedule below).

	Points Schedule

Event	Points	Event	Points
Game Won	2	Point Spread of 150 or greater	1
Two or more nils made	1	Three Sets achieved (On your opponent)	1

	Tie Breakers: Won/Loss Record, Total Nils Made, Cumulative Point Differential

n	Semi-Finals: #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3......Winners Advance
n	Finals: One game, Winner Take All

fin