Counting

Bridge is a game of counting.
There are four suits. There are 13 cards in each suit.
Each of the four hands has 13 cards.

One can describe a bridge hand of 5 spades, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs as a "5422 hand".
Conventionally the order is (or SHDC) - in descending rank from the master suit, spades, to the lowest ranking suit clubs.

One might also describe the distribution of a suit around the table as:
5 for Left Hand Opponent (LHO), 4 for dummy, 2 for Right Hand Opponent (RHO) and 2 for Declarer OR something like "clockwise, round the table from my left, spades were 5422 ending with me".

Club Suit Calculation for Declarer
	Dummy 2
LHO ?		RHO 2
	Declarer 4

Declarer Calculates
When a defender discards to a round of clubs, declarer can calculate how many cards in that suit the other defender has.
For instance, if declarer took original stock of 2 clubs in dummy, 4 clubs in hand and noticed RHO discard on the 3rd round of the suit (i.e. RHO had 2), declarer makes the calculation: 13 - (2+4+2) = 5 originally for LHO. (as in diagram to left)

LHO Calculates
Similarly the non-discarding (or followed-to-suit) defender LHO calculates declarer's number of clubs:
5 in hand, 2 in dummy, partner could only follow suit to 2 rounds (uh....13-5-2-2=?...uh...)
Aha! Declarer has 4 and I can't even see the declarer's diagram to the left!

RHO Calculates
"Declarer and partner both followed suit...both started with at least 3 then...hmmmm...what was dummy's discard?" (again...no diagram)

Dummy Calculates
"Yawn... Did you call for a card? Which suit? Did you call for a club? No more clubs! Pick another one. (yet again no fancy diagram)

If declarer also knows that LHO started with exactly 2 spades and 3 diamonds, then declarer calculates LHO's number of hearts:
13 cards - 5 clubs - 2 spades - 3 diamonds = 3 hearts

Of course if a player knows how many of each suit either of the other-than-dummy-players has, then from such as an original 13 spades one can use deduction/induction/whatever to calculate the number of spades in the last remaining 'unknown' hand.

"Count is known." might be the lingo some use when it's all subtracted/added/figured out/up/out.

For example, if I held 5332 (5 spades, 3 hearts, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs), saw originally in dummy 4432 and know that LHO started with 2335, then I might do the subtraction/subtractions (now using a collective noun is right...now using an obscure, nerve-grating, hardly-ever-right collective-noun-avoidance [specifically to draw attention to variety ...or to otherwise emphasize quantity {too many, too few, too much, too little, not enough, laughably...perhaps sadly...perhaps undue emphasis...undue emphasis perhaps extremely undue...perhaps not...}] is better) to arrive at the other player's distribution...which is....uh...uh...could be Declarer....could be declarer's RHO...almost confusing.

Look! Over there!!! -----> -----> -----> -----> -----> -----> -----> ----->

Some people actually do these calculations in public...and quietly...with not pen, not paper, not calculator...without pay even!!!

13.13.13.13-
05.03.03.02-
04.04.03.02-
02.03.03.05-

02.03.04.04

or perhaps you use declining balance...->

13.13.13.13-
05.03.03.02

08.10.10.11-
04.04.03.02

04.06.07.09
02.03.03.05

02.03.04.04

or 2.3.4.4 for the last player...oops...2344

Having the ability to deal with the number 13 is an important one even if you're not incredibly superstitious.
Reduce the element of luck in your results by regularly counting the distribution(s) around the table.
Drop those singleton offside kings with confidence!
If you know a person has no cards left in the suit, start finessing the other opponent for eights instead of kings. "Had 5 spades, 5 hearts and 3 diamonds, huh?"
Practice your addition and subtraction from this link: count1.htm.
When you're finished with that, try count2.htm


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