Hand Evaluation – Rote Rules ( HCPs ) by Robert Crosby… Robert (Bob) Crosby, who died in 2012, was one of Edmonton’s most accomplished bridge players, as well as being a prolific coach and writer.
You can not play the game of Bridge by way of rote rules. Bridge is based on the laws of probability so there are millions of different situations that come up. You can not have millions of rote rules memorized to cover every outcome. The solution to this dilemma is Bridge logic. Every bid , defensive play , opening lead & declarer play must have some Bridge logic associated with it & not a memorized rule. Deductive & inductive reasoning is used just like in detective work. Why did the dog not bark ? Deductive reasoning is based on – if premise 1 is true & premise 2 is also true than this conclusion results. There are 40 HCP’s in the deck & only 13 cards in each suit so these premises are the basis for logical thinking in Bridge. You think logically via hand patterns & HCP’s . Patterns are a tool to assist your thought process. Inductive reasoning is the reverse process from deduction. Gather clues to form a probable overall conclusion.
HCP’s as the sole hand evaluation tool epitomizes the horrible habit of…Click Here to Continue Reading