How to Evaluate a Bridge Hand: Points, Shape and When to Bid More

Two hands with the same 13 high card points can be worth very different numbers of tricks. An ace-king in a six-card suit will take tricks; a lone queen opposite the opponents' strong suit may take none. Hand evaluation is the set of habits that turns a point count into a realistic estimate of trick-taking power. The methods below build on the point count introduced in Bridge Bidding Basics.

Start with high card points#

Ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1. Forty in the deck, ten in an average hand. This scale is the shared language of every bidding system and the first thing to count when you pick up your cards. Everything below adjusts it.

Add for length#

Long suits produce tricks once the opponents' cards in that suit are gone. The common adjustment is one point for each card beyond four in a suit, so a five-card suit adds one and a six-card suit adds two. A hand with a seven-card suit and 9 HCP is often a better opening bid than a flat hand with 12.

Add for shortness, but only with a fit#

Once your side has agreed a trump suit, short suits become valuable because you can ruff. Counting as a supporting hand: a void is worth 3 to 5 points, a singleton 2 to 3, and a doubleton 1. Do not count shortness before a fit is found. A singleton in partner's suit is a liability, not an asset.

The Rule of 20 for borderline openings#

Add your high card points to the number of cards in your two longest suits. If the total is 20 or more, open the bidding. A hand with 11 HCP and suits of five and four cards reaches 20 and is worth an opening bid; a flat hand with 11 HCP and a 4-3-3-3 shape reaches only 18 and should pass. Some teachers refine this with the Rule of 22, which also requires two quick tricks.

Losing trick count for suit contracts#

Once a trump fit is found, many players switch to counting losers. In each suit, count one loser for each of the ace, king and queen you are missing, up to the number of cards in the suit. A suit of A-x-x has two losers, K-x has one, a singleton ace has none, and x-x-x has three. A typical opening hand has seven losers. Add your losers to partner's estimated losers and subtract from 24 to find how many tricks the partnership can expect. Seven opposite seven suggests ten tricks, which is a game in a major.

Upgrades and downgrades#

• Honours together are worth more than honours apart. K-Q-J in one suit takes more tricks than a king, a queen and a jack spread across three suits.
• Honours in long suits are worth more than honours in short suits. A queen in a five-card suit helps establish the suit; a lone queen may never score.
• Tens and nines add value in notrump hands. They turn near-misses into tricks when finessing.
• Singleton kings and queens are worth less than their face value. Downgrade them by a point.
• Aces are slightly undervalued at 4 points, and quacks (queens and jacks) are slightly overvalued. Hands rich in aces and kings play better than their count suggests.

Fourth seat: the Rule of 15#

After three passes you can end the auction by passing. Open only if the hand is likely to score a plus. A useful test is to add your high card points to the number of spades you hold and open if the total is 15 or more. Spades matter because in a competitive part-score battle the side with spades outbids the side with hearts at the same level.

Practise on real deals#

A good way to calibrate your judgement is to evaluate a hand, guess how many tricks it will take, then play it. Shark Bridge Game lets you load specific deals onto a table, so you can practise the same hand type repeatedly; the guide Loading Hands to Shark's Online Bridge Table explains how. Teachers running a class on hand evaluation can share a deal set with every student through Teacher's Console and poll the room on what each hand is worth.