The Losing Trick Count
Counting losers is a good way of estimating the playing strength of a hand, particularly a
hand which contains one or two very long suits. High card points are best to assess the value
of a balanced hand, but counting losers tends to work better for the more distributional hands.
For example:
A
AKQJ9765
76
42
Counting this as 14 HCP is missing the true value of the hand and if you bid this as a 14-point
hand you will be making a gross underbid. Notice that it contains nine playing tricks.
The Losing Trick Count usually comes into play after you and your partner have established
at least an 8-card trump fit. However, it often pays to count your losers anyway since it at
least gives you an idea of the potential of your own cards. If you can gauge how many tricks
partner is likely to provide, you can then estimate the combined playing strength of the
partnership.
Many systems describe various bids or sequences not just in terms or points, but also in terms
of losers or in terms of points and losers. A jump raise by a passed hand (No bid, 1 , 3 )
for example would be described as showing 10-12 points and 8 losers. The value is in giving
partner a clearer idea of the hand opposite them.
Counting Your Losers
Void : No losers
Singleton suit : Count one loser, unless it’s an ace singleton (0).
Doubleton : Count two losers except for A-K (0), A-x (1) or K-x (1). Count Q-x as 2 losers.
3-card or longer suit : Count three losers but deduct one for the ace, king or queen. Deduct
one loser for each of these top cards.
Examples and quiz*
(Answers on the next page)
A8765 =
KJ4 =
94 =
KQJ9 =
KQ4=
K4 =
J8765=
973 =
976542 =
AKQ6 =
AK=
A=
2 losers
? (i)
2 losers
1 loser
?(ii)
1 loser
?(iii)
3 losers
?(iv)
0 losers
?(v)
0 losers
In a 3-card or longer suit, count the
queen as a winner as long as there
is at least one other honour in the
suit. If not, count the queen as only
half a winner.
AQ765=
1 loser
QJ764 =
? (vi)
Q104 =
2 losers
KQ765 =
? (vii)
Q8764 =
2½ losers
Q74 =
?(viii)
(i) 2 losers
(v) 0 losers
How did you do?
(ii) 1 loser
(iii) 3 losers
(vi) 2 losers
(vii) 1 loser
(iv) 3 losers
(viii) 2½ losers
So what does it all mean?
At least to start with, you should make the following two assumptions:
1. If your partner opened, they have no more than 7 losers
2. If your partner responded to your opening bid, they have no more than 9
losers.
Add your losers to the assumed losers held by partner, and subtract the total from 18.
The answer you get is the level which you should probably bid to.
For example:
7 (partner opens bidding) + 4 (the number of losers in the hand at the top) = 11
…and 18 – 11 = 7
….suggesting a grand slam is on the cards!*
*Wait!!! Slow down!! Softly, soflty, catchee monkey: you need to try to find out if your
partner has aces or voids in
and
or you could come badly unstuck!!!
This article is just an introduction to the idea of the losing trick count. If you want to
learn more, typing Losing trick count Bernard Magee into Google is a good place to
start.