Who Keeps Score? You Do. The potential scores for all contracts being bid-for must always be in your thoughts as you make each bid -- not after the hand is over. In duplicate scoring, it's not the absolute size of the score you make or give up that counts -- it's the size of your score compared to the others who play the same hand. There's no carry-overs or partials in Duplicate. Every hand is a complete contest on its own. Keeping score in Duplicate isn't about who writes down the score like in party bridge - - it's a mental process going on while you bid and play.
Example: If E/W lets N/S make Two Hearts for 110 points when they (E/W) can make Two Spades for 110, that is a 220 point swing -- the difference between a winner and a loser. Even if E/W go down 1 at Two Spades, that's only minus 50 or 100 points for them -- a winner over the minus 110 points for a Two Heart contract bid and made by N/S.Make It A Habit. This kind of mental scoring during the auction must become a habit. Don't think you can become a good bridge player without it. You just can't -- take up tennis if you want easy score keeping. And -- no one else can do it for you, because it must go on in your head as the bidding progresses.
It's not hard -- really. If you're smart enough to be able to read this book, you can do it easily -- it's the easiest thing you'll have to learn to be a really good bridge player. Don't let fear of math hold you back -- there's cheat sheets for picking it up quickly, so don't worry about it.
Make Them Earn Every Score. Generally, you want to force your opponents to the three level for part-score contracts or to the five level for game contracts. They'll do the same to you, so you can see you're going to have to be able to play the spots off the cards when you're the dealer.
If you could always play defense against 3 level and 5 level contracts, you would be unbeatable. Needless to say, opponents understand this situation and will try to do the same to you. Fun !
(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998 All Rights Reserved