Monday, January 17, 2005 5:09 AM

Hand Evaluation - Patterns & Declarer Play

PITBULLS:

Keeping track of every card adding them up & subtracting the total from 13 would drive a Bridge player crazy over time. This counting is better suited for a computer than a human trying to have fun at a hobby. However , counting is necessary for declarer play , defense , opening leads & bidding. So how do get around this dilemma ?. Doing arithmetic requires effort whereas dealing from memory , the task can become an automatic reflex. Once information is memorized the effort is over , you just use it. Fortunately there are only a finite number of distributions that add up to 13. If you have these patterns memorized , you can avoid the work & tedium of counting at the Bridge table.

Ok a question how many distributions are there with a 4 card suit as its longest , what are they ?

Only 3 4-4-3-2 4-3-3-3 4-4-4-1

Ok a question how many distributions are there with a 5 card suit as its longest , what are they ?

Only 6 (3 frequent ) 5-3-3-2 5-4-2-2 5-4-3-1 5-4-4-0 5-5-2-1 5-5-3-0

Ok a question how many distributions are there with a