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.
North made ten tricks in clubs, losing only one spade and two red aces, while West made eight tricks in spades at the other table, losing one spade, one diamond, one club and two hearts. If so, this average figure cannot help but be of lively interest in making competitive decisions. Thus, the total number of trumps is 18, the same as the total number of tricks. That is pure coincidence. It is only the equality between the total number of trumps and the total number of tricks that obeys a general law.