Bidding Guide 2Z04 Richard Pavlicek

Point Count

How to evaluate a bridge hand

High-Card Points

For all bidding
each Ace	4 points
each King	3 points
each Queen	2 points
each Jack	1 point
Also, if your hand contains
any combination of 4 aces and tens	1 point

Distributional Points

For all suit bidding
each Void	3 points
each Singleton	2 points
each Doubleton	1 point

(1) Do not count these points in partner’s bid suit unless a trump fit is known to exist in some other suit.

(2) Do not count if the singleton is a king or queen. Add only 1 point for a singleton jack (in effect you are counting the singleton as 2 and ignoring the 1 HCP for the jack).

(3) Do not count if doubleton is K-Q, K-J, Q-J, Q-x or J-x.

Declarer Points

When partner raises your suit
5th trump if you did not promise 5	1 point
each trump over 5	2 points
each side suit card over 3	1 point

(4) These points are added to your previous total, which already includes both HCP and distributional points.

Dummy Points

When raising partner with 4+ trumps
each Void	2 points
each Singleton	1 point
When you will be the dummy in notrump
each card over 4 in your longest suit
if headed by the queen or better	1 point

Point-Count Goals

Add your total points to the points shown by partner to determine a bidding goal.

If your partnership total is
25 points or less stop as low as possible
26-32 points game in 3 NT, 4 or 4
29-32 points game in 5 or 5
33-36 points slam (any 6-bid)
37+ points grand slam (any 7-bid)

If your partnership total is
25 points or less	stop as low as possible
26-32 points	game in 3 NT, 4 or 4
29-32 points	game in 5 or 5
33-36 points	slam (any 6-bid)
37+ points	grand slam (any 7-bid)

Playing Tricks

Use instead of point count for preemptive bids and for bidding extremely freakish hands.

For honor holdings in any suit
A-K-Q 3 tricks
A-K-J or A-Q-J 2 1/2 tricks
A-K, A-Q-10 or K-Q-J 2 tricks
A-Q, A-J-x, K-Q-x or K-J-10 1 1/2 tricks
A, K-Q, K-J, K-10-x or Q-J-x 1 trick
K-x, Q-x-x or J-10-x 1/2 trick
For length in any suit
each card over 3 1 trick

For honor holdings in any suit
A-K-Q	3 tricks
A-K-J or A-Q-J	2 1/2 tricks
A-K, A-Q-10 or K-Q-J	2 tricks
A-Q, A-J-x, K-Q-x or K-J-10	1 1/2 tricks
A, K-Q, K-J, K-10-x or Q-J-x	1 trick
K-x, Q-x-x or J-10-x	1/2 trick
For length in any suit
each card over 3	1 trick