Learning bridge
Valuing a bridge hand
Hand evaluation is how you judge what your cards are worth before you bid. High card points are the first step; shape, fit and the auction adjust the count, which is why two 11-point hands can be an opening bid and a pass.
Shape is worth more than the count admits
11 points, 4-3-3-3. Nothing will develop and there's nothing to ruff.
The same 11 points, 5-5-2-1. Two five-card suits to set up and a singleton to ruff with.
The high card points are the same. The first will take about three tricks whatever happens; the second will often take seven or eight in a spade contract.
Long suits win tricks with small cards. Once the opponents' cards in a suit are gone, your small ones are winners, and a 4-3-3-3 hand has no suit long enough for that to happen.
The rule of 20
Add your high card points to the lengths of your two longest suits. Twenty or more, open.
- Flat 11: 11 + 4 + 3 = 18. Pass.
- Shapely 11: 11 + 5 + 5 = 21. Open.
It's a shortcut for "does this hand have a source of tricks". Use it on the borderline hands and ignore it when the answer is obvious.
Shortage counts only after you have found a fit
A singleton is worth nothing until you know there are trumps to ruff with. Once partner has shown a suit you can support, count it, as the supporting hand only.
- Void: 5 points
- Singleton: 3 points
- Doubleton: 1 point
If both hands count shortage, you'll overbid, sometimes into a bad slam. Declarer's own shortage is usually already reflected in their long trump suit.
Where the honours sit
Point count treats every king as three, and they aren't all worth three.
- Honours together are worth more. ♠ K Q J is far better than a king, a queen and a jack spread across three suits. It's the same 6 points, but one of them takes two or three tricks while the other frequently takes one.
- Honours in your long suits are worth more. They protect the suit you're trying to establish.
- Lone honours are worth less. A singleton king often falls under an ace and takes nothing. A queen-jack doubleton in the suit an opponent bid is usually worth little.
- Aces are undervalued and queens overvalued at 4 and 2. Aces control suits and win tricks whenever you like; a bare queen needs the cards around it to cooperate.
A hand's value changes as the auction goes on
Your first count is a starting point. Each bid at the table, partner's or an opponent's, can move it up or down.
13 points as dealt.
- Partner opens 1♠. Excellent. Four-card support and a singleton heart: worth about 16 now.
- Partner opens 1♥. Poor. Your singleton is in their suit and your spade honours may be facing nothing.
- An opponent opens 1♥. Better than it looks. Your shortage is in their suit, which is where you want it.
The same 13 cards are worth a different amount in each auction. Re-value your hand after each bid, using what partner and the opponents have shown.
Losing trick count, for when you have a fit
Once a fit is agreed, point count stops being the best tool. Count losers instead: in each suit, look at the first three cards only and count anything that isn't an ace, king or queen as a loser.
A singleton is one loser, a void none, and a doubleton at most two. Add your losers to the number partner's bid implies, subtract from 24, and that's roughly the level you belong at.
It's rough, but it judges shapely hands with a known fit much better than point count does.
At the table
- Count high card points, and add length points for suits over four cards.
- On a borderline opening, apply the rule of 20.
- Once a fit appears, re-count: shortage on for the supporting hand, and switch to losers if you know them.
- Downgrade a hand whose honours are scattered, alone, or in the opponents' suit.
The ranges in the bidding cheat sheet all assume a hand valued this way, with these adjustments on top of the raw point count.