Defensive Counting

Count, Count, Count

Count everything, all the time, without fail: cards, points, distribution, suits and tricks.

It's Not Hard. Don't be hesitant because it seems hard: it isn't. 13 is really not a big number.

Tricks often take 4 cards of a suit out at once, so it goes 13 - 9 - 5 left outstanding. You start play looking at 26 of the 52 cards, so how much do you really have to count to determine where the rest are ? It isn't counting that turns beginners off, it is remembering what they have counted and using the information for defense.

16 Cards Is Really All There Are. There are exactly 40 high card points in every hand. When dummy comes down, you can see 26 cards and you heard all the bidding, both by opponent and partner. You're only concerned with a total of 16 cards: 4 Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks, and some of them will be in dummy and in your hand so you can see them before the first trick is played.

You know the HCP ranges for openings, responses, preempts, etc. All you need to do is some very simple arithmetic to place HCPs in the hidden hands. When you've done that, you can begin to visualize what cards might be in the hidden hands. After a couple of tricks, some of the missing high cards will have been played, so where could the rest be ?

You learn to count everything with concentration -- with better concentration comes more enjoyment of the game. Defense seems tedious but to advanced players, it's at least as enjoyable as bidding and declarer play.

COUNTING DISTRIBUTION

Figure out the probable distribution before play starts:

"Declarer bid two suits - at least 9 cards in those two suits - and therefore has at most 4 cards in the other two suits" ... or "Declarer rebid his Spades and raised Clubs, showing 9 black cards and at most 4 red ones. If declarer is 2 - 2 in the red suits, then my partner has . . . " etc.

COUNTING TRICKS

"Declarer has 5 apparent trump tricks plus the A, K of Diamonds on the board in a 4 Heart contract. Where are the defensive tricks going to come from ? Declarer has a good 5 card Club suit in the dummy, so how many losers can he sluff if he gets it set up ? What cards am I going to play as he runs it?"

"Declarer took this bid from us, figuring that down one for minus 100 is better than minus 140 for our Three Spade contract. How many tricks do we need to beat him 200 and where can they be . . . ?"

KNOWING THE HIGH CARD IN EVERY SUIT

Remember it... and the next highest ... and the next.

When four cards of a suit go on each trick, it's not hard to remember what's high.

COUNTING THE NUMBER OF CARDS PLAYED IN EACH SUIT

"Hearts and Spades have gone around once. Diamonds have gone twice and there's still 2 in Dummy; partner has given me a high-low, showing 2, I have two, so declarer still has one.

I can lead a Diamond for partner to ruff and we can set this contract !"

CLAIMING

It speeds up play when all the players count, as many hands can be claimed. This lets everyone play more bridge in a shorter time. Good players will expect you to allow claims when there is no further play to a hand, and they will expect you to claim when you have a clear picture of the remaining tricks. It's common bridge courtesy and is allowed for in the Rules of Bridge.

If you feel uncomfortable when opponents claim because you won't spend the mental energy to concentrate and count, then you are the drag, not them.