PLAYERS, CARDS & DEAL
Jokers Up is a two-player spades special table! The rules are very similar to the classic 2-player Spades Up:.
In Jokers Up, the deck consists of 32 cards, from 7 to Ace, with the addition of Big Joker and Little Joker (like a regular game but without ♣7 and ♦7)
- Each player receives 13 cards, while the remaining 6 cards from the deck are discarded.
- Cards ranking from high to low: Big Joker, Little Joker, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7.
- Spades will always trump(=win a trick) other suited cards.
- Jokers count as Spades, and are stronger than ♠A
Each round begins with each player declaring a "bid".
- The bid is the number of tricks the player expects to win.
- The bid can range from 0 to 13.
- If unable to complete the bid, the player will receive penalty points based on the BID done as follows: 10 Points times the bid that was not met. For example an incomplete 5 bid will have a -50 score penalty.
- Any tricks taken above the bid made, will result in a penalty of -10 points per bag.
- Declaring a "0" bid is called: Nil
- NIL BID - gives 100 points, but also costs 100 points if the bid is not met.
- BLIND NIL - there is no blind nil in Spades Up.
The game ends when the first player reaches the upper/lower score limit declared on the table.
RAKE AND PAYOUT
A rake is the house fee that is taken from all players when entering a table. The rake is 15% of the buy-in. The rake is included in the amount paid to enter a table but is not included in the prize pool.
In Spades Up, winning a match earns you the entire pot, minus the rake as mentioned.
For example, when playing a 250 coins stake game: your 250-coin bet plus your opponent's bet of 250 coins minus the house fee of 75 coins makes the total pool prize – 425 coins. First place will receive 100% of the 425 coins prize.
Tied score: In case of a tie, the payout is split evenly between the two winners.