Thanks Arman! You are right, it should be a 10, NOT an 18!!! THAT would be quite the high point count. Haha. Thanks for letting me and others here know about the typo.
Thanks, Antara, good techniques to adopt! Would like to hear more about contract bridge from you. Still grappling with a quick and easy way to count losers in a suit game. Any advice?
Hello Robert, thanks for your comment. Here is the way to calculate losers - a suit never has more than 3 losers. If you have Axx, you have 2 losers. If you have a 5-card suit with either A,K or Q and rest are small spot cards, you have 2 losers. A suit with AKQx has no losers. If you have a doubleton, and either a A, K or Q and a small card, you only have 1 loser. So, it should be 3 minus the A, K or Q held in the suit. If you have more than 7 losers in your opening hand, don't ooen the bidding..always count your losers
Thanks Antara, sounds like a good quick method for calculating losers. I knew I must have been missing something! Ok will digest this method and put it to the test. Of course calculating winners seems to be more intuitive unless I'm missing something! Cheers Rob Leftwich.
Please can you advise? West opened 1C , my partner overcalled 1S. East passed and so did I. West bid 2C and my partner doubled. Please can you explain the meaning of the double? Many thanks
Let me offer these (IDEAS) with personal apologies up front... In my mind, in Bridge, I place a very high value on ACES-- this is because an ACE wins a trick at 97.5% success rate-- a number which I achieved a long time ago by keeping statistics over many, many hands.. *sometimes an ACE loses when trumped against a Void... or it may lose at times because a defender holds it back.. this doesn't happen very often..** So, in most any given bridge hand of 13 cards, with 13 overall tricks, the four ACES will each take 1 trick--- and this leaves 9 tricks left to be taken by other cards in other ways.... but... so:..... Next, I place a high value on KINGS... a King wins a trick at 67.5% success rate over time.. furthermore, a King is more secure when either "guarded" by a higher ace or a tandem supporting Queen.. ( however, a singleton King is somewhat less of value... and furthermore, a singleton 2 is worth as much as a singleton King, (almost), DEPENDING on whether or not it can be RUFFED when playing the hand on OFFENSE when you have a long trump suit and have found a "fit") And furthermore, a combination of KING - Jack can be very, very, tricky... and may be of no value at all when the ACE and queen sit right behind in the next opposing seat.. But, anyway, with a King winning at a 67.5% rate, that means that at least 3 of the thirteen tricks in a hand will be taken by KINGS.... and remembering that the ACES take four tricks... that means that SEVEN of the 13 tricks are accounted for... in the vast majority of hands.... Next, before I look at the QUEENS and JACKS-- which are for the most part of very little value, UNLESS they are in a SERIES with kings and aces, etc.-- Let's think about the many hands in bridge which are played in a SUIT with a Fit of at least 8 cards held in both hands as declarers... Well, to be brief, the extra trump cards will generally give at least TWO more tricks due to "ruffing values" AND set up some winner in a minor value card... Therefore, that accounts for THREE More tricks to go with the 7 tricks taken by the Aces and Kings... THUS, we have accounted for TEN TRICKS this way -- leaving only THREE to be left to the "fate" of the queens and jacks.. (the success rate of a QUEEN is about 35% or so... a JACK by itself is worth less... worth even less) So... for now, I am going to stop... but... I do have a very simple count and bidding system based only at the start, on the value of the High ACES and KINGS between myself and my partner,,, and here is a tease... IF, when sitting in first seat, I open ONLY with at LEAST THREE or MORE holdings of combined ACES and KINGS in my hand.. (otherwise with less than 3, I always PASS.... And, if I have only 3 HC's-- I open ONE CLUB--alerted... IF I have 4 HC's in my hand, I open ONE DIAMOND.... and, if I have FIVE HC's, I open ONE HEART... with 6, ONE SPADE... etc...always alerted... must be alerted.... and wanna know how my partner should bid in response... well, just ask... because there is a lot more ... yours, robert In short summary, DO NOT VALUE MUCH THE QUEENS AND THE JACKS... and also very important, most players bid too often and too high... LEARN to punish, trap and score on DEFENSE... *most poor players think too much of the value of their holdings*
Thanks Antara, very clear and helpful recap of hand evaluation!
Economical, clear presentation. Thank you.
Great class
Great session. Thank you!
Was just what I needed to re evaluate my hands:).Thank you.
Wonderful comments in evaluating a hand, thanks!
Loved everything about this video. Excellent content - some new to me - good pace, clear enunciation. Thank you.
thank you Antara, this video is very clear in understanding bridge hand evaluation. Well done.
At 6:30 (slide on Shape) example 1c) has a typo in D suit.
Thanks Arman! You are right, it should be a 10, NOT an 18!!! THAT would be quite the high point count. Haha. Thanks for letting me and others here know about the typo.
Thanks, Antara, good techniques to adopt! Would like to hear more about contract bridge from you. Still grappling with a quick and easy way to count losers in a suit game. Any advice?
Hello Robert, thanks for your comment. Here is the way to calculate losers - a suit never has more than 3 losers. If you have Axx, you have 2 losers. If you have a 5-card suit with either A,K or Q and rest are small spot cards, you have 2 losers. A suit with AKQx has no losers. If you have a doubleton, and either a A, K or Q and a small card, you only have 1 loser. So, it should be 3 minus the A, K or Q held in the suit. If you have more than 7 losers in your opening hand, don't ooen the bidding..always count your losers
Thanks Antara, sounds like a good quick method for calculating losers. I knew I must have been missing something! Ok will digest this method and put it to the test. Of course calculating winners seems to be more intuitive unless I'm missing something!
Cheers Rob Leftwich.
Please can you advise? West opened 1C , my partner overcalled 1S. East passed and so did I. West bid 2C and my partner doubled. Please can you explain the meaning of the double?
Many thanks
AQT43. K5
KJ42. QT95
AQ8. K975
6. 432
1c - 1s - p - p
2c - dbl - p - 2h
P - 3h. - p. - 4h
Let me offer these (IDEAS) with personal apologies up front... In my mind, in Bridge, I place a very high value on ACES-- this is because an ACE wins a trick at 97.5% success rate-- a number which I achieved a long time ago by keeping statistics over many, many hands.. *sometimes an ACE loses when trumped against a Void... or it may lose at times because a defender holds it back.. this doesn't happen very often..** So, in most any given bridge hand of 13 cards, with 13 overall tricks, the four ACES will each take 1 trick--- and this leaves 9 tricks left to be taken by other cards in other ways.... but... so:.....
Next, I place a high value on KINGS... a King wins a trick at 67.5% success rate over time.. furthermore, a King is more secure when either "guarded" by a higher ace or a tandem supporting Queen.. ( however, a singleton King is somewhat less of value... and furthermore, a singleton 2 is worth as much as a singleton King, (almost), DEPENDING on whether or not it can be RUFFED when playing the hand on OFFENSE when you have a long trump suit and have found a "fit") And furthermore, a combination of KING - Jack can be very, very, tricky... and may be of no value at all when the ACE and queen sit right behind in the next opposing seat..
But, anyway, with a King winning at a 67.5% rate, that means that at least 3 of the thirteen tricks in a hand will be taken by KINGS.... and remembering that the ACES take four tricks... that means that SEVEN of the 13 tricks are accounted for... in the vast majority of hands....
Next, before I look at the QUEENS and JACKS-- which are for the most part of very little value, UNLESS they are in a SERIES with kings and aces, etc.-- Let's think about the many hands in bridge which are played in a SUIT with a Fit of at least 8 cards held in both hands as declarers... Well, to be brief, the extra trump cards will generally give at least TWO more tricks due to "ruffing values" AND set up some winner in a minor value card... Therefore, that accounts for THREE More tricks to go with the 7 tricks taken by the Aces and Kings... THUS, we have accounted for TEN TRICKS this way -- leaving only THREE to be left to the "fate" of the queens and jacks.. (the success rate of a QUEEN is about 35% or so... a JACK by itself is worth less... worth even less)
So... for now, I am going to stop... but... I do have a very simple count and bidding system based only at the start, on the value of the High ACES and KINGS between myself and my partner,,, and here is a tease... IF, when sitting in first seat, I open ONLY with at LEAST THREE or MORE holdings of combined ACES and KINGS in my hand.. (otherwise with less than 3, I always PASS.... And, if I have only 3 HC's-- I open ONE CLUB--alerted... IF I have 4 HC's in my hand, I open ONE DIAMOND.... and, if I have FIVE HC's, I open ONE HEART... with 6, ONE SPADE... etc...always alerted... must be alerted.... and wanna know how my partner should bid in response... well, just ask... because there is a lot more ... yours, robert
In short summary, DO NOT VALUE MUCH THE QUEENS AND THE JACKS... and also very important, most players bid too often and too high... LEARN to punish, trap and score on DEFENSE... *most poor players think too much of the value of their holdings*