Bidding Guide 2Z21 Main | 
Point Count
|
 by Richard Pavlicek |
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 |
Do not count these points in partner’s bid suit unless a trump fit is known to exist in some other suit.
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).
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 show 5 | 1 point |
| each trump over 5 | 2 points |
| each side suit card over 3 | 1 point |
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 a suit headed by the queen or higher | 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) |
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 | 2.5 tricks |
| A-K, A-Q-10 or K-Q-J | 2 tricks |
| A-Q, A-J-x, K-Q-x or K-J-10 | 1.5 tricks |
| A, K-Q, K-J, K-10-x or Q-J-x | 1 trick |
| K-x, Q-x-x or J-10-x | 0.5 trick |
For length in any suit
| Bidding Guide 2Z21 Main | | Top Point Count |
© 2002 Richard Pavlicek