INTRODUCTION TO THE LOSING TRICK COUNT

(continued)

1. WHAT IS THE LOSING TRICK COUNT?

Why do we count points? Purely as a guide to the number of tricks we figure to win. 26 points means a game is probable, 33 points and a slam is likely. The Losing Trick Count (called LTC from here on) is a different means of assessing the number of tricks the partnership is likely to win. It is used after a trump fit has been established and is clearly superior to counting points because more accurate assessments are obtained more often.

Suppose you pick up, lucky you:

ª A © 7 ¨ A K Q 9 8 7 6 4 3 2 § 6

What is your hand worth?

If you thought of this as thirteen points, even for a fleeting moment, your bridge concepts require a drastic overhaul. The hand should be viewed as 11 winners, 2 losers. And all you need to know is whether partner can cover both of your losers, only one of them or none at all. For this, the Blackwood Convention, sooner or later, will solve your problems.

LTC operates in a similar way. Even though your winners and losers are not as clear cut as in the above example, LTC enables you to gauge the playing strength of your own hand and estimate accurately the trick taking potential of partner's. Put these assessments together and you can tell how many tricks the partnership will win most of the time.

Sound easy? You will be surprised just how easy it all is.

2. THE BASIC LOSING TRICK COUNT

How To Assess The Partnership's Playing Strength

The LTC is used

after a trump fit has been established. It is not designed for notrump hands and is quite unsuitable for misfit hands. Thus, it is vital that you do not envisage LTC as replacing point count. It is used as an adjunct to the point count when a trump fit comes to light.

After the trump fit is known, LTC will give a more accurate guide to the potential of the partnership hands.

3. THE LTC FORMULA:

• COUNT YOUR LOSERS
• ADD PARTNER'S LOSERS
• DEDUCT THIS TOTAL FROM 24

The answer is the number of tricks the partnership can expect to win.

The LTC does not guarantee that you will in fact make this number of tricks. Do not expect your insurance company to underwrite your contract on the basis of the LTC potential.

The LTC answer is the number of tricks you can expect to win if suits break normally and half of your finesses work. In other words, it is the number of tricks that will be won most of the time. If three out of three finesses fail, or if trumps break 4-0, it would be unreasonable to blame the LTC for your wretched luck.

The calculations are not complicated since there are only two stages:

• COUNTING YOUR LOSERS
• ASSESSING PARTNER'S LOSERS

You will not experience difficulty with either of these aspects and we will examine each in turn:

4. COUNTING YOUR LOSERS

A. THE RAW COUNT

Count losers only in the first three cards of each suit (The 4th, 5th, 6th etc. cards in a suit are taken as winners.)

With three or more cards in a suit:

Count the A, K and Q as winners; anything lower is a loser.

With two cards in a suit:

Count the A and K as winners; anything lower is a loser.

With one card in a suit:

Count the A as a winner; anything lower is a loser.

There are never more than three losers in a suit. There are never more losers in a suit than the number of cards in the suit.

Examples:

Axiom 1: As points increase, losers decrease; as points decrease losers increase.

Axiom 2: The more balanced a hand, the more losers; the more unbalanced a hand, the fewer the losers:

Even if self evident, these fundamental principles are worth repeating:

As the points increase, the losers decrease.

As the points decrease, the losers increase.

The more unbalanced the hand, the fewer the losers.

The more balanced the hand, the more losers.

Continue to Next Page