Card reading (bridge)

Card reading (also known as counting the hand) is a term used in contract bridge to describe the process of inferring from the information gained by the bidding and the play of cards to previous tricks which remaining cards are held by each of the opponents.[1] The technique is used by the declarer and defenders to determine the probable suit distribution and honor card holdings of each unseen hand.

There are two basic facts underlying card counting:

They are really fundamental but very powerful.

Contents

General tips

Basic

Advanced

Counting suits

Counting one suit Counting two suits Counting four suits

Counting trumps

As a declarer, an efficient way of counting the trump is; instead of counting the number of trump rounds and cards trumped in, count the number of trump in the opponents' hands. Once the dummy hand appears, calculate the number of trumps the opponents have, then reduce this number mentally as they are played from the opponents' hands. This means keeping track of one small number, and your own trumps do not enter the calculation.

An even better way of counting is getting familiar with common distributional patterns. For example, 5-3 and 4-4 are among the most common trump distribution on the declarer and dummy's hands. In cases, if an opponent shows out on the second trump round, then 5-3-1 or 4-4-1 is known and the pattern 5-3-4-1 or 4-4-4-1 comes up automatically and the other defender is known to have begun with four.

Counting as a defender Counting HCP and winners

See also

References

  1. ^ Francis, Henry G., Editor-in-Chief; Truscott, Alan F., Executive Editor; Francis, Dorthy A., Editor, Sixth Edition (2001). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (6th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 65. ISBN 0-943855-44-6. OCLC 49606900. 

External links