Monday, February 07, 2005 7:00 PM
Hand Evaluation – Visualization (
Counting Tricks )
PITBULLS:
Still another application of training yourself to “think in patterns” is counting
tricks. Counting is tedious
so memorizing the patterns & applying them when someone shows
out gives you an immediate “trick count’ in a lot of
instances. The opponents are in 3NT, partner leads the spade queen .
The dummy is ♠AKx ♥xxx ♦Kxx
♣KQxx , declarer wins the spade king , plays the king of diamonds & another diamond
to her Ace . Partner shows out.
Declarer now leads a club & plays the queen so now what ? You have ♠xxx ♥Qxx
♦xxx ♣AJ109 with partner
showing out of diamonds the 2nd round. This gives the diamond pattern as 6-3-3-1 so declarer has 6 diamond tricks
& 2 spades & a club for 9 tricks. You take your club Ace so its panic time. You lead the heart queen ,
declarer has Kxx & partner has AJ10x of hearts .
You are rewarded for down one. If you were lazy & did not apply patterns to count his tricks
& just returned partners suit , they make a
contract that should have been
defeated.
Sometimes the patterns are right before
your eyes to apply. Peter Jones & his partner were defending
6NT against Ray Grace on Thurs night. Peter had pre-empted hearts so
you lead a small heart from Jxx , the board comes down with ♠KQ109xx ♥void
♦AQxx ♣xxx . Declarer plays a small club from the board ,
partner plays the heart 9 & declarer wins the heart King. Declarer now
tests diamonds by playing the king & another so they run
. Declarer now plays the Ace , jack of spades
& another so you must discard properly. O.K. the board’s pattern makes counting
easy 6-4 & the heart trick won initially. Declarer with the heart Ace would
have 12 top tricks. You hold onto your club ace & a heart as it appears they have
bungled into 6NT off two
aces. Peters partner did not
bother to count ,so held onto the A & jack of
clubs so –1440 !! Peter was not very happy as 6NT making off two Aces is not a very good
performance. Bad defenders operate in a “fog of uncertainty”.
Goren in standard Bridge has
brainwashed players to total HCP’s for
bidding rather than the Culbertson way of counting tricks ( losers ) to determine a bid. Rod Klinger in his article
on losing trick count advises players to “think in tricks” by counting losers .
He defines losers as the first 3 cards in each suit that are not the Ace , King or queen. Susan had a close decision recently on whether
to open a hand 2♣ or at the one level.
Counting tricks via losers helps her come to the right choice. ♠Axx ♥AKQJx ♦K109x
♣A is a hand that is all prime cards . Using Klinger’s methods , you have a 4
loser hand . This hand is closer to a 2♣ bid than a one opener , so opening 2♣ will help partner out more
often than not. Counting losers or tricks is a bidding hand evaluation concept.
Counting tricks frequently
happens during the
auction so assists your bidding accuracy. Partner opens a weak 2♦ , you have ♠AQx ♥AKQxx
♦Ax ♣Axx . This is an easy
hand as you just apply patterns during the bidding to count your
tricks. Give partner KQxxxx
of diamonds so you can count 12 tricks by
establishing the 5th heart. When partner has a maximum weak two with
an outside king , you may be able to count 13 tricks
in diamonds. You bid 2NT to ask for a further description of her hand or just bid 4♣ KCB &
use the queen ask to find an outside king. A grand slam is a distinct
possibility just by counting tricks during the auction. Just “think
in patterns” to help you visualize the final contract.
You hold ♠Axx ♥AKJxx ♦Jxxx ♣A , partner bids 1♦. You respond 1♥ & partner
rebids 2♦. You bid 4♦ KCB & partner shows the AK of diamonds. You know that partner has
6 diamonds so the queen is not a problem. Apply a pattern in order to count tricks during the bidding. 6 diamonds
& a king in order for partner to have an opening bid means
7 tricks. This means you can count 13 tricks , when partner has 3 clubs or the 5th heart is established. When
partner has the heart queen , you have 15 top tricks.
I do not like playing controls over 2♣ but here is the perfect hand for that
system. ♠AQx
♥Ax ♦AQx
♣AKQxx so you open 2♣
& partner bids 2♥ showing two controls. This gets doubled so you bid 3♣ &
partner bids 3♠ showing 5 or longer spades. You show the spade support
with a Q bid of 4♥ & partner offers encouragement by bidding 5♦. Partner should
have 5 or more spades to the king & the ♦K for her two
controls. You can count
12 tricks off the top & the 5th
club established for the 13 th
trick. Sometimes you play the hand before the bidding is over by counting tricks. Your bidding accuracy improves immensely.
Here is a hand bid by Kiz Fung in Las Vegas where counting tricks during the auction assisted her in
making the correct 5 level bidding decision. Kiz held ♠Axxx ♥Kxx
♦A109x ♣xx . We were vul & they were not & LHO
opened 1♦ & I overcalled 4♠ . Her RHO bid 4NT
which shows clubs with a diamond fit. Kiz now starts counting tricks using my bidding & her
hand. Kiz counts 8 spade tricks , 1♦ & a ½ trick for the heart king. This trick is nebulous though as
the opening bidder is behind the king. Kiz knows we
have 9 tricks & when I have an outside card we may make game. What if the opponents land in diamonds ?
Since we have the boss suit , there is no need to hurry.
You can double 4NT to let partner in on the act or just wait. LHO does indeed bid 5♦ ! This goes for +500 as partner did have an outside ♣K but this
was not enough to make an 11 trick contract your way because you counted tricks
during the auction. Who would of thought that the elementary Bridge concept of counting tricks is a bidding skill !!!
When you have a source of tricks with a nice suit or a
void or both , counting tricks during the auction is a must for accurate bidding. A player held ♠void
♥Axxx ♦AKQxx ♣Q109x & opened 1♦ . Partner bid 2♣ so you have a source of tricks with both a suit & ruffing power. This is a hand to count tricks
during the auction . When partner has as
little as ♣AKxxx(x) ,
you can count 5♣ tricks , 5♦ tricks , 1♥ & two spade ruffs for 13 tricks. You can bid 5NT immediately as a grand slam force or
use exclusion in spades. No need to even support partner in clubs as you can count the tricks during the auction. Trick totals are way more important than HCP
totals.