i've played spades at least three different ways
1. traditional- 52 cards, 4 suits, 13 to a suit. card values are chronological.
2. online- 52 cards, deuces are counted as high spades, so 12 hearts, clubs and diamonds
3. Brooklyn- 52 cards, 2 of clubs and 2 of hearts is replaced by the jokers, and the remaing deuces along with the jokers are counted as high spades. so 12 hearts , 12 diamonds, 12 clubs and 16 spades.
in this he counted the 2 of spades as a low spade so i've never seen that before