 | Hand Evaluation: Basic Principles |
When the value of your hand changes.
Introduction
Once you have played bridge for a while, you realize that the value of your hand can change during the bidding. Most of us recognize the following principles:
- Flat hands (those with even distribution) don’t change in value too much.
- Distributional hands can change in value by a considerable amount.
Many of the articles in this series deal with some of these circumstances (for example, Counting For Short Suits). The purpose of this article is to give some additional common cases where you need to reevaluate the value of your hand based on the bidding (both by your partner and by your opponents).
Partner Bids A Suit
Let’s start off with a simple (and obvious) case. When your partner bids a suit, honours in that suit go up in value. There isn’t a precise “number” to put on the increase, but be aware that this situation does increase the value of your hand. Here are two examples; one obvious, and one not so obvious.
Example 1
North dealer, neither side vulnerable
| North | East | South | West |
| 1♠ | 2♦ | 2♠ | ?? |
| ♠ 4 3 ♥ A 10 8 4 ♦ K 7 6 ♣ 10 8 4 2 | Your ♦K is worth more than three points, because partner has overcalled in that suit. You should upgrade your hand, and bid 3♦. |
Example 2
North dealer, neither side vulnerable
| North | East | South | West |
| 1♥ | Double | Pass | ?? |
| ♠ K 10 8 4 ♥ 4 3 ♦ Q 7 6 ♣ Q 10 4 2 | When partner makes a takeout double, he is in effect “bidding” the other three suits at once. All of your high cards are in the suits partner has “bid”. You have a much better hand than simple point count would indicate. Tell partner the good news and bid 2♠. This jump in response to a takeout double normally shows 9 to 11 points, but partner should not be disappointed with your hand. |
Kings: Up And Down
Kings increase in value when:
- The suit has been bid by your right–hand opponent.
- Most of the opposing high cards are on your right (ie, your right hand opponent opens 2♣ or 2NT, or his subsequent bidding indicates a strong hand).
- Your partner has bid notrump.
Kings decrease in value when:
- The suit has been bid by your left–hand opponent.
- Most of the opposing high cards are on your left (ie, your right hand opponent opens 2♣ or 2NT, or his subsequent bidding indicates a strong hand).
- Your partner is known to be extremely short in the suit (singleton or void).
Queens And Jacks
- The point count overrates unsupported queens and jacks. In other words, when you hold a queen or jack without also holding the ace or king of the same suit, your queen or jack is generally worth less than the point count indicates. Of course, this does not apply if your partner bids the suit (see above).
- Queens and jacks go down in value when either opponent bids the suit. If the suit is bid on your left, they decrease more than if the suit is bid on your right.
- Queens and jacks tend to be more useful in notrump than they are in a suit contract.
Unbid Suits
Honour cards in unbid suits are worth more than honour cards in suits bid by the opponents, but less than in suits bid by your partner.
Suit Length
- Your hand increases in value when you have length in a suit bid on your right. Your hand decreases in value when you have length in a suit bid on your left.
- When one opponent bids a suit, the worst length you can have is three cards.
- When the opponents bid and raise a suit, the worst length you can have is two cards.
Partner Raises Your Suit
When you have a good suit and partner raises, your hand does not go up in value by very much. Partner will have certain high card values, but you don’t know where. However, when you have a bad suit and partner raises, your hand goes up in value (partner will probably hold high card values in the trump suit, and be able to take care of some trump losers for you).
Conclusion
Hand evaluation is one of the most complex subjects in bridge bidding. This article has only scratched the surface; there is a lot more to learn if you’re interested. The best book on the subject is “The Complete Book On Hand Evaluation In Contract Bridge”, by Mike Lawrence. It’s definitely not for beginners, but if you have some experience in playing bridge (and the time to truly study the content), you will find your results improving by a considerable margin.