No Deal: a 52-Card Stock
Each player ends up with a 13-card hand from a standard 52-card deck, but nobody deals it. The cards are shuffled into a face-down stock, and the two of you pick your hands from it one turn at a time, a bit like choosing teams in the schoolyard if half the class were sent home along the way. This is the traditional draw-and-discard version of two-player Spades, and it is the game our Spades Duel table plays.
| Stage | Cards or tricks |
|---|---|
| Starting stock | 52 cards |
| Final hand per player | 13 cards |
| Discarded by both players | 26 cards |
| Played after bidding | 13 tricks |
Two Cards Out, One Card In
Every turn takes two cards off the stock and puts exactly one of them in your hand. You look at the top card and make a single decision. Keep it, and you must look at the next card and discard it face down. Refuse it, and it goes face down to the discards while the next card comes to you, whatever it turns out to be. Your opponent sees which way you chose but never sees either card. Turns alternate, starting with the non-dealer, until the stock is gone.
13 Each, 26 Dead, 13 Tricks
Twenty-six turns empty the stock, and the count comes out neatly: each player has 13 cards in hand and 13 in the discards. The 26 discarded cards sit out the whole hand and are never shown, so half the deck is simply missing, and you know your own discards but nothing about your opponent's. Then you both bid, and the 13 cards in each hand are played out as 13 two-card tricks. Since you bid on a hand you built yourself, there is no blaming the dealer: every card you hold is one you chose.