We are in the domain of competitive bidding. Now, in this extremely common position the classical rules are helpless to solve our problems. Point-count valuation will easily let us work out how many tricks we expect to make if partner is minimum for his bid. But we have no precise way to determine whether or not the opponents will make their contract. And nothing is more costly than to take a sacrifice against a contract that would have gone down.
Beginners learn that the more high cards they have, the greater is their chance to make game.
The discovery of an exact scale, fixing the relative value of the various honors, was a great step forward. But we do not have, today, a scale to tell us how high we can bid by virtue of our distribution. And just as it is impossible to talk of constructive bidding without reference to accurate hand valuation, it is impossible to investigate competitive bidding without at least indirect consideration of this law. The Law of Total Tricks Examine the following deal, Number 93 of the 1958 World Championship. Analysis shows that the result was never in doubt.