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Counting your Winning Tricks
You have won the bidding and you are in No Trumps The opposition make the
opening lead and Dummy lays down their hand on the table. Now you need to count the winners in both hands.
What is a Winner
A winner or winning card is a card that will take the trick when one card from each player has been played. Examples of winning cards are Aces; An Ace and King in the same suit are two winners; The Ace, King and Queen all in the same suit are three winners. Voids can be winners only if you are in a trump suit.Counting Winners
After counting your winners in both hands subtract the total from the number of tricks you bid for. For example, a winning bid of 4S means you need to win 10 tricks. If the winners you count are less than the contract you bid means you need to use some card play techniques to try to develop more winning tricks.Calculating Winners
Think about features in the combined hands which will help you develop more winners. Do you have a long suit with gaps in the honours? - a hold-up play may make more winners in the suit. Does the bidding tell you that opponents have a long holding in your longest suit? - You may need to finesse against that player to create extra winners. Is it likely that the cards in a suit are evenly divided? - a play to drop opponents cards in the suit.If the opponents can win the first trick in played a suit then in your counting you have no winners in that suit. The total of your count of winning cards gives you the winning tricks count for Declarer and Dummy's hands combined.
The contract is 3NT. Your partner lays down this hand and you see that together have only 6 winning tricks (without losing the lead). You need to develop another three winning tricks in order to make your contract. How can you do this?
Count the Winners you hold in a Suit
| Your Card Holding | Winners in the suit |
|---|---|
| A 8 7 6 5 | 1 |
| K J 4 | 1 (maybe 0) |
| J 8 7 6 5 | 0 |
| A K Q 6 5 | 3 |
| A K | 2 |
| K Q 7 6 5 | 1 |
| A Q 7 6 5 | 1 |
| K Q J 10 9 | 2 |
| A K J 10 9 | 2 |
North
West
East
South
Instant Progress Quiz - Check all correct answers
Extra for Experts
A different game on Counting your winners, with questions for community discussion in the comments area below.
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