December 2011 - 18

Losing Trick Count - part 1
By Jennifer Jones

and never more losers than there
are cards.
2. With three or more cards in a suit,
count the ace, king and queen as
winners; anything lower is a loser.

Are difficult bidding decisions
causing you stress? Would you like a
"magic formula" to give you the right
answer most of the time? Then the
method of hand evaluation known as
Losing Trick Count (LTC) is for you!
LTC is more about the proper evaluation of fitting hands and distribution
than about high-card points. It's the
reason why some 19-point games
make and some 26-point games fail,
and it will help you make the winning
bid. Plus, you can use it on your own,
even if partner has never heard of it!
This article introduces counting losers, explains how it works and shows
how to apply it in some common situations. Here is the formula:
1. Count your losers
2. Add partner's losers
3. Deduct the total from 24
The answer is the LTC. This is the
number of tricks the partnership can
expect to win most of the time - i.e.,
if suits break normally and half of
your finesses win. It should only be
used after a partnership fit is established during the bidding.
Counting losers
1. Count losers only in the first three
cards of each suit. There are never
more than three losers in a suit
18 Bridge Bulletin December 2011

3. With a doubleton, count the ace
and/or king winners. Other cards
are losers. With a singleton, only
the ace is a winner; anything else is
a loser.
Examples: A K Q 5 4 has no losers; K 5 4 has two losers; A K 5 4 3
has one loser; K 5 has one loser;
7 6 5 4 3 has three losers; J 5 4 has
three losers; K Q 5 has one loser;
Q 5 has two losers. Are you getting
the picture?
Applying LTC
Losing trick count can be used in
many situations, but this month we'll
look at raises after partner opens the
bidding with one of a major.

A normal minimum opening hand
contains seven losers:
A K 9 7 6 A 7 6 4 Q 3 8 7.
If partner also has seven losers, the
total number of losers is 14. Subtracting 14 from 24 is 10: the number of
tricks the partnership can expect to
win. So if partner opens the bidding
and you have a seven-loser hand with
a fit, you should make a forcing bid
and head toward game.
An invitational hand contains

eight losers, a hand such as:

8 7 6 5 K 8 K 9 6 5 A 5 4.
If partner opens and you have an
eight-loser hand with a fit, invite!
Don't worry too much about high-card
points. Your eight losers plus partner's seven losers equals 15, which,
subtracted from 24, equals 9 - not

enough for game. Partner will pass
with a seven-loser hand and bid game
with a better than minimum (sixloser) hand.
What would you bid with these
hands after partner opens 1?
A J 7 6 4 K Q J 6 J 8 9 7
A 8 7 6 4 K Q 9 6 8 5 9 7
While the first hand has 12 HCP
and the second only 9, they both have
seven losers. That makes them both
game-forcing hands, so make a gameforcing bid such as Jacoby 2NT.
Both hands can be expected to produce 10 tricks opposite this minimum
seven-loser opener:
9 2 A 10 7 4 3 A K 10 4 Q J.
To learn more, visit the author's
blog site: http://jennbridge.blogspot.
com.
r

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The app is for the iPhone, iPad,
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http://www.jennbridge.blogspot http://www.acbl.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2011
