The Losing Trick Count - A Book of Bridge Technique

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Consequently, with NLTC, the number of losers in a singleton or doubleton suit can exceed the number of cards in the suit. Second, with NLTC the number of combined losers between two hands is subtracted from 25, not from 24 explanation below , to predict the number of tricks the two hands will produce when declarer plays the hand in the agreed trump suit. As with LTC, the NLTC formula assumes normal suit breaks, it assumes that required finesses work about half the time, and it must only be applied after an 8-card trump fit or better is discovered. When counting NLTC losers in a hand, consider only the three highest ranking cards in each suit:.

Here is the basic NLTC list. All singletons, except singleton A, are initially counted as 1.

Professional bridge player, Kevin Wilson, explains this concept of a suit that contains more losers than it contains cards: First you must force out the Ace [and when the opponents win their Ace, they might immediately score more tricks, or they might establish winning tricks for later in the play]. The idea of 1. Similarly, players might prefer to consider a singleton King as being more valuable than a singleton 2. As with other methods of evaluation, players can upgrade or downgrade the value of a given holding based on the ensuing auction.

As previously stated, NLTC uses a value of 25 instead of 24 with LTC in the formula for determining the trick-taking potential for two hands. We must remember, however, that both forms of the losing-trick count are used only after the partnership knows it has an 8-card fit or better.

In addition, losing-trick count predictions assume that all suits will break normally. Instead, losing-trick counts are intended primarily for suit contract evaluations, particularly when one or both hands are unbalanced. NLTC however can predict a grand slam with balanced hands examples below. Also similar to basic LTC, NLTC users may employ an alternate formula to determine the appropriate contract level for two fitting hands.

Losing Trick Count

The NLTC alternate formula is: Players who use the basic LTC variation of this formula i. This can help guide the bidding, as a standard opening hand typically has no more than 7. So, when an 8-card or longer major-suit fit has been established, if the opening bidder holds a hand that has one less loser than a minimum opening hand, then opener can safely invite to game and bid to the three-level.

If opener holds a hand that has two fewer losers than a minimum opening hand, then opener can force to game. If an uncontested auction has proceeded as 1 -1 , then opener with four-card heart support would act according to the following guidelines:. For instance, the LTC can never predict a grand slam when both hands are distribution:.

Whichever method is being used, the bidding need not stop after the opening bid and the response. All LTC methods are only valid if trump fit , or better is evident and, even then, care is required to avoid counting double values in the same suit e. Yet, the layout on the left may be expected to produce 10 tricks in spades, whilst on a bad day the layout to the right would even fail to produce 9 tricks. The difference between the two layouts is that on the left the high cards in the minor suits of both hands work in combination, whilst on the right hand side the minor suit honours fail to do so.

Obviously on hands like these, it does not suffice to evaluate each hand individually. When inviting for game, both partners need to communicate in which suit they can provide assistance in the form of high cards, and adjust their hand evaluations accordingly.

Losing-Trick Count

Monday, December 17, You can contact me via: At this stage in the bidding, one estimates that the partnership can take at least 10 tricks and bid to the 4 level. Thinking that the method tended to overvalue unsupported queens and undervalue supported jacks, Eric Crowhurst and Andrew Kambites refined the scale, as have others:. In his book The Modern Losing Trick Count , Ron Klinger advocates adjusting the number of loser based on the control count of the hand believing that the basic method undervalues an ace but overvalues a queen and undervalues short honor combinations such as Qx or a singleton king.

Also it places no value on cards jack or lower. Designed to be more precise than LTC, the NLTC method of hand evaluation utilizes the concept of "half-losers", and it distinguishes between 'missing-Ace losers', 'missing-King losers' and 'missing-Queen losers.

Some users of LTC make adjustments to the loser count to compensate for the imbalance of Aces and Queens held. Koelman argues that adjusting a hand's value for the imbalance between Aces and Queens held isn't the same as correcting for the imbalance between Aces and Queens missing. Because of singletons and doubletons [and because losing-trick counts assign losers for the first three rounds of a suit], the number of losers from missing Aces tends to be greater than the number of losers from missing Queens.

First, NLTC uses a different method to count losers explanation and loser-count lists below. Consequently, with NLTC, the number of losers in a singleton or doubleton suit can exceed the number of cards in the suit. Second, with NLTC the number of combined losers between two hands is subtracted from 25, not from 24 explanation below , to predict the number of tricks the two hands will produce when declarer plays the hand in the agreed trump suit. As with LTC, the NLTC formula assumes normal suit breaks, it assumes that required finesses work about half the time, and it must only be applied after an 8-card trump fit or better is discovered.

When counting NLTC losers in a hand, consider only the three highest ranking cards in each suit:. Here is the basic NLTC list. For simplicity, cards below the rank of Queen are represented by "x":. All singletons, except singleton A, are initially counted as 1. Professional bridge player, Kevin Wilson, explains this concept of a suit that contains more losers than it contains cards: When you're missing an Ace, you're losing more than just a trick; you're losing timing because the King, Queen and Jack that you might hold can't score immediate tricks.

First you must force out the Ace [and when the opponents win their Ace, they might immediately score more tricks, or they might establish winning tricks for later in the play]. The idea of 1. Players might prefer to adjust for the presence of Jacks and Tens, as these honor cards are assigned no value in the NLTC, but they're valuable holdings, particularly when they're together in the same suit, and especially when they're together and they support higher honors in the suit.

Similarly, players might prefer to consider a singleton King as being more valuable than a singleton 2.

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As with other methods of evaluation, players can upgrade or downgrade the value of a given holding based on the ensuing auction. As previously stated, NLTC uses a value of 25 instead of 24 with LTC in the formula for determining the trick-taking potential for two hands. Here's a basic pair of hands that helps illustrate why: We must remember, however, that both forms of the losing-trick count are used only after the partnership knows it has an 8-card fit or better. In addition, losing-trick count predictions assume that all suits will break normally.

In this example, given we possess an 8-card spade fit, and assuming the outstanding spades trumps split , the defenders can't prevent the hypothetical declarer from scoring one trump trick with these otherwise worthless hands. A losing-trick count formula that doesn't predict one winning trick with these two hands poses a theoretical concern. It's worth noting that these two example hands are flat shaped and are therefore poorly suited to considering losing trick counts, as losing-trick counts are not designed for notrump hand evaluation. Indeed, when one partner has 12 losers - which can only occur with shape - basic LTC can't predict 13 tricks.

Also similar to basic LTC, NLTC users may employ an alternate formula to determine the appropriate contract level for two fitting hands. The NLTC alternate formula is: Players who use the basic LTC variation of this formula i. This can help guide the bidding, as a standard opening hand typically has no more than 7. So, when an 8-card or longer major-suit fit has been established, if the opening bidder holds a hand that has one less loser than a minimum opening hand, then opener can safely invite to game and bid to the three-level.

If opener holds a hand that has two fewer losers than a minimum opening hand, then opener can force to game. If an uncontested auction has proceeded as 1D-1H, then opener with four-card heart support would act according to the following guidelines:. Next consider responder's hand. The NLTC solves the problem that the LTC method underestimates the trick taking potential by one on hands with a balance between 'ace-losers' and 'queen-losers'.

For instance, the LTC can never predict a grand slam when both hands are distribution:. Whichever method is being used, utilizing LTC evaluation need not stop after the opening bid and the response. A small number of modern bidding systems systemically utilize multiple responses and rebids after the opening bid to refine LTC evaluation and to allow further adjustments to be made based on combined suit length, shortages found, and high cards held. For example, the Imperspicuity losing trick count bridge bidding system [11] uses the Law of Total Losers [12] , shape asking relay bidding [13] , loser asking relay bidding [14] , CROS and CRO relay bidding [15] , and LTC techniques, to systemically determine the final bidding level, after opening bids and overcalls are initially made based on LTC evaluation methods.