Keep this safely in your folder so that you can refer back to it.
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The
trump is the strongest
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It often happens that even if one has sufficient points in two hands one loses a No-trumps contract because the opponents had a long suit which they cashed in from the lead and which they continued to lead when one was forced to give them the lead. So, to avoid this problem and nevertheless play at the level which the points warrant one will choose a trumps suit.
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Trumps
is a suit one chooses to play a contract which has priority over
the other three suits
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Trumps serve primarily to trump in when one has no, or no more, cards of a certain suit; it is never obligatory. It is equally possible to overtrump: i.e. to play a higher trump card than the opponent when one, of course, hasn't got a card of the suit led.
To play a contract with trumps (one can also say a suit contract) you need a lot more cards than the opposition, at least eight, to be able to trump several times the master cards which are left when you have none left yourself.
Having these eight cards with your partner
in the same suit is called "having a fit".
For example:-
Peter has Spades: K Q 9 5 3
His partner Emma has 8 4 2.
Together they have a "fit" in Spades
.
For reasons of scoring (made explicit later) one chooses to play with
eight cards in Major suits only (Hearts or Spades). One would wait to
have nine cards in the Minor suits (Diamonds and Clubs).
Distribution points
When one has found a fit with one's partner in a suit where you have lots of cards, it follows that you have few cards in one or more of the other suits; o play a trumps contract this lack is a distinct advantage because one can trump quickly (or immediately) the high cards of the opposition. So important is this advantage that you can add special distribution points for each suit in which you have 0,1 or 2 cards in suits other than trumps.
| Having no cards of a suit is called "a void" and is worth | 3 distribution points |
| Having one card of a suit is called "a singleton" and is worth | 2 distribution points |
| Having two cards of a suit is called "a doubleton" and is worth | 1 distribution point |
| The total of these points (Honours points + Distribution points) is called the DH points | |
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H
POINTS + D POINTS
= DH POINTS
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Furthermore, when one pair has more than eight cards in trumps, they add 1 extra point per card over eight: 1 point for nine trumps, 2 for ten etc…Let's practise counting the DH points of these two hands:-
| West: |  K
9 5 4 3 |
East: | A
7 6 2 |
|
 A
J 9 3 |
10
2 |
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 A |
K
J 6 4 2 |
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 Q
5 2 |
8
7 |
| The Spade suit with nine cards in the two hands will be trumps. | |
| West counts: 14 H points + 2 for Diamond singleton = | 16 DH points. |
| East counts: 8 H points + 1 for Heart doubleton + 1 for Club doubleton = | 10 DH points. |
| The pair therefore has 16 + 10 + 1 (for the ninth trump) = | 27 DH points. |
REMINDER: Don't count the distribution points until you have found a fit with your partner.