How to Count Points
By Ralph Welton
There are many ways to evaluate the strength of a bridge hand. The most common is to assign point values to honor cards:
ace = 4
king = 3
queen = 2
and jack = 1
Then you simply add up all your points, and you get a number for the strength of your hand – its "high card points." The assumption is that hands with more points are likely to take more tricks.
♠AQ852 ♥KJ4 ♦Q8 ♣KQT How many points?
♠K52 ♥A83 ♦AKQ8 ♣T98 How many points?
♠9 ♥KQJ63 ♦KJ7 ♣AT52 How many points?
♠J63 ♥AJT9 ♦KQJT ♣Q4 How many points?
♠AKQJT8763 ♥7 ♦ – ♣Q52 How many points?
Counting high card points is simple, and good enough to get you started with evaluating the strength of your hand. However, there are adjustments to the count that improve the accuracy. So let's talk about the best and easiest to learn adjustments.
We count 3 points for a king, but that doesn't mean that all kings are equally valuable on each and every hand.
- Sometimes a king takes a trick, and sometimes it doesn't.
- Sometimes a king helps you establish skaters in a long suit, and sometimes it doesn't.
- Sometimes a king helps establish other honors as trick takers, and sometimes it doesn't.
To say that a king is worth 3 points implies that it's always worth the same amount. But that's simply not true.
Can we predict when a king should be counted at full value, and when it shouldn't?
Yes! Take a look at these two kings:
♠T932 ♥K ♦K742 ♣8765
Count the full 3 points for your ♦K. But your ♥K is worth less because you have no choice about when to play it. If your opponents play the ♥A, you won't be able to play a spot card on the trick. You will have to play your singleton king under the ace. So sad.
What do we do about this?
We adjust our counting by subtracting a point for honors without a lower card in the suit. This modest adjustment corrects for the disadvantages of honors in short suits.
(If you skipped the Bridge Bears pages on How To Win Tricks, especially blocked suits and skaters, now would be a good time to read them.)
How do we evaluate a doubleton KQ?
♠T932 ♥KQ ♦KQ42 ♣765
Follow the same procedure. Count your high card points, then subtract 1 point for not having a smaller card in the heart suit.
Even AKQ loses a point for not having a lower card in the suit.
♠KQ ♥AJT83 ♦ QJ6 ♣AQ8 How many points?
♠A ♥KQJT ♦ QJT ♣KJ964 How many points?
♠KQT98 ♥AQJ ♦ 832 ♣AQ How many points?
I hope you had no trouble with those, because I'm ready to move on to another adjustment.
Subtract a point for hands with 4-3-3-3 distribution.
A hand with only one 4 card suit provides almost no chance of developing skaters. And you have no short suit where you might trump partner's losers, either.
Let's try counting some hands where I've mixed in both 4-3-3-3 distribution and honors without spot cards.
♠K532 ♥QJT ♦AT9 ♣KQJ How many points?
♠QJ9752 ♥A ♦K876 ♣QJ How many points?
♠KQ6 ♥AKQ ♦T876 ♣A64 How many points?
♠K2 ♥JT7 ♦AQT93 ♣KT6 How many points?
We've covered when to subtract from our high card points. Are you wondering if we ever add points? Yes we do.
If you have enough trumps in the dummy, you may be able to trump one or two of declarer's losers. This wins tricks just as surely as winning with honor cards.
So we can assign a point value to the ability to trump.
We do this in two ways:
- Add a point for each EXTRA trump in support of partner's suit. How many is extra? Well, that depends on how many trumps you need for an 8 card fit. If partner has shown a 5 card suit, you can raise with 3 trumps. So a fourth trump is one extra (count 1 extra point), and 5 trumps is two extra (count 2 extra points).
- After you've found a fit, you can also count points for shortness in side suits. The sooner you run out of cards in a side suit, the sooner you can start trumping. The extra points are called dummy points.
- count 2 dummy points for a singleton
- count 5 dummy points for a void
Let's look at a few examples of adding extra points. You'll need to know how many trumps partner has, so you can figure out if you have any extra trumps.
Partner opens the bidding with 1♠ (5+ suit).
You hold: ♠K972 ♥7 ♦KJ32 ♣A642
Your hand is worth 11 + 3 dummy points = 14 total points.
The extra points are +2 for the singleton, and +1 for an extra trump.
Partner opens the bidding with 1♥ (5+ suit).
You hold: ♠A54 ♥QT8 ♦K9852 ♣76
Your hand is worth 9 (0 dummy points).
Partner opens the bidding with 1♥ (5+ suit).
You hold: ♠K542 ♥AT752 ♦ – ♣QJ86
Your hand is worth 10 + 7 = 17 points.
The extra points are +5 for a diamond void, and +2 for extra trumps.
I've made the next three hands as tricky as I can. Count carefully. And no peeking before you count!
Partner opens the bidding with 1♠ (5+ suit), and you hold:
♠QJ82 ♥JT7 ♦KQJ ♣KT6 How many points?
Partner opens the bidding with 1♠ (5+ suit), and you hold:
♠AQT82 ♥4 ♦KT7652 ♣6 How many points?
Partner opens the bidding with 1♥ (5+ suit), and you hold:
♠ 9 ♥KQ ♦KQT86 ♣AJ986 How many points?
Little Bear asks, "Aren't there other times when we should add or subtract points? What about when I have a really good long suit?"
Yes, Little Bear. There are many other adjustments that experienced players make when counting their points.
But let's not try to learn too much all at once. Remember, high card points all by themselves are a good start. After that, make the adjustments that you remember.
Dummy points are only counted when supporting partner's trump suit. Do not count dummy points when you are bidding your own suit. (Only the dummy counts dummy points – Duh!). Do not count dummy points for no trump, even if you have support for a suit partner has previously bid.
If partner has bid a major suit, count dummy points whenever you have a fit. Declaring in the major suit is preferred to declaring in no trump.
But if partner has bid a minor suit, do not count dummy points when you raise because many hands with a minor suit fit wind up played in NT. Partner needs to know when the points you promise with your raise will contribute to taking tricks in a NT contract. Dummy points do not.
If partner has avoided NT and has bid his minor a second time, count full dummy points when deciding if you should raise to a minor suit game.
Summary:
Count 4-3-2-1 points for honor cards.
Subtract points for honors without a spot card, and for 4-3-3-3 distribution.
Add 1 point for each extra trump.
Add dummy points for short suits, after you've found a fit...
- singleton = 2 points
- void = 5 points
Go to the next topic:
Bridge Bears is run by a retired teacher and ACBL life master who has 35 years teaching experience and who's been playing bridge for over 50 years. I don't claim to be one of the top players, but I do understand how slowly beginners need to go when they are trying to learn how to play bridge.