Law
of total tricks
Basics:
-
competitive bidding is the key to
success
in bridge
- the Law of total tricks is the key
to success
in competitive bidding
- the Law states: The total
number of
tricks in any deal is equal to the total number of trumps
Example: if North-South
have 9 
and East-West
have
9 
, there are 18
tricks
in the deal, meaning: if North-South can make 3
(9 tricks), East-West can make 18 - 9 = 9 tricks = 3!
Law protection:
-
the following rule can be derived from
the
Law: You should always bid to the level equal to the combined
number
of trumps held by your side;
-
in the example given above: if we
play 3
set 1 (= 8 tricks) we are still better off than if we let our opponents
play 3: they can make 18 -
8 =
10 tricks or 3 +1, good
for 170
points, while if we play 3
-1,
they only get +50 or +100 (depending on vulnerability and provided they
don't double); our net gain will be 120 or 70 points (see the table
for these and other 3 over 3 biddings)
-
even if we have 9
and the opponents have only 8 ,
we are still better off with a net gain of 90 or 40 points, depending
on
vulnerability
-
apparently, if we comply with the
rule, we
will be better off, even if we don't make the contract; this is called
'Law protection'
Exploring 3 over 3 takeouts:
-
according to our table:
with 9 trumps on our side (total trumps: 18 or 17) we should:
-
always bid 3
over 3
-
not vulnerable bid our 3 over
3
/
-
vulnerable bid our 3 over 3/
if we can make set 1 or better
-
if the opponents (taking a big risk) double
our contract, the rules given above still apply:
-
not vulnerable if we play
contract
set 1 or better
-
vulnerable if we make the
contract
For more information about
the
Law of total tricks see:
Larry Cohen: To Bid Or
Not To Bid, Victor Gollancz
The Law has recently been criticized in a book by Mike Lawrence and
Anders Wirgren called: I Fought the Law of Total Tricks
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