To evaluate a bridge hand, count your high card points (ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1) and then adjust for shape: add length points when you open, add shortness points only once you have a trump fit, and count nothing for shape in notrump. The total tells you whether to open and how high to bid. Two hands with the same 13 high card points can still take very different numbers of tricks, so the adjustments below matter as much as the count. The methods 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.
When to count distribution points#
Shape is worth points, but which points depends on the moment in the auction. Count one kind of distribution at a time, never length and shortness on the same hand:
| Situation | What you count | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Opening the bidding, no fit yet | HCP plus 1 for each card beyond four in a suit | Long suits make tricks once the opponents run out |
| Raising partner with three or more trumps | HCP plus dummy points for short suits | Short suits let the dummy ruff declarer's losers |
| Any notrump contract | HCP, nothing for short suits | Nobody ruffs, so a short suit is a weakness |
Add for length when you open#
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, a six-card suit two and a seven-card suit three. A hand with a good six-card suit and 11 HCP counts 13 and often takes more tricks than a flat hand with 12.
Dummy points: add for shortness, but only with a fit#
Once partner has bid a suit and you hold three or more cards in it, your short suits become valuable because the dummy can ruff. The more trumps you hold, the more a short suit is worth:
| Short suit | With three trumps | With four or more trumps |
|---|---|---|
| Void | 3 | 5 |
| Singleton | 2 | 3 |
| Doubleton | 1 | 1 |
Do not count shortness before a fit is found. A singleton in partner's suit is a liability, not an asset, and if partner bids your short suit you should mentally take back the length points you counted for opening.
Hand evaluation in notrump#
In notrump nobody ruffs, so count high card points and nothing for short suits. Tens and nines help, because they turn finesses into tricks, and a five-card suit you can set up is worth about a point. A flat 4-3-3-3 hand is worth a little less than its count. The partnership targets for notrump are 25 high card points for 3 notrump, 33 for a small slam and 37 for a grand slam, the lowest total that guarantees all four aces.
Four hands, evaluated#
Each hand below is written spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs.
| Hand | HCP | Adjustment | Total | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQ765 A84 KJ3 92 | 13 | +1 for the fifth spade | 14 | Open 1 spade |
| AJ864 KQ753 8 62 | 10 | Rule of 20: 10 + 5 + 5 = 20 | 20 | Open 1 spade, the higher of two five-card suits |
| QJ4 Q73 KJ52 Q63 | 11 | Rule of 20: 11 + 4 + 3 = 18, flat shape | 18 | Pass |
| 7 K964 A10853 J64 (partner opened 1 heart) | 8 | +3 for the singleton with four trumps | 11 | Raise to 3 hearts, a limit raise |
The second and third hands have about the same high card strength, but the two five-card suits will take tricks and the flat hand's queens and jacks may not. The fourth hand is worth only 8 points on its own, yet it becomes a game invitation once partner's hearts make the singleton spade useful.
The Rule of 20 and the Rule of 22#
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. The stricter Rule of 22 also adds your quick tricks, the defensive tricks you can expect to take in the first two rounds of a suit:
| Holding in one suit | Quick tricks |
|---|---|
| A K | 2 |
| A Q | 1.5 |
| A | 1 |
| K Q | 1 |
| K and at least one small card | 0.5 |
The second hand in the table above has an ace and a king-queen, two quick tricks, so it scores 10 plus 10 plus 2, which is 22, and passes the stricter test too.
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#
- Honors together are worth more than honors apart. K-Q-J in one suit takes more tricks than a king, a queen and a jack spread across three suits.
- Honors in long suits are worth more than honors 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, queens and jacks are worth less than their face value. Deduct a point for each.
- 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. With 10 points and five spades the total is 15, so you open; with 11 points and one spade it is 12, so you pass the hand out. Spades matter because in a part-score battle the side with spades can outbid the side with hearts at the same level.
Practice on real deals#
A good way to calibrate your judgment 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 practice 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. Once you can value a hand, Bridge Conventions Explained shows how Stayman and transfers use those counts after a 1 notrump opening, and Bridge Rules for Beginners covers the scoring the counts are aiming at. With no partner around, you can play bridge 4 hands with robots and test your count on every deal.