This post talks about counting winners in NT. If you want some practice on doing that please read this post first:
Counting Winners
The reason why we count winners in NT is to determine whether or not we have enough tricks to make our contract. If we do not have enough tricks to make our contract we have to figure out a way to get more tricks! If we do have enough tricks to make our contract we try to figure out if we can make more.
So let's start. The final contract is 3NT. The opening lead is the K♠.
Dummy:
♠52
♥QJT9
♦J43
♣AQ6
Declarer (me):
♠A73
♥82
♦AKQT96
♣K7
Count winners -- Remember we can look at both sides to count our winners:
♠ 1 winner -- Right away I can win the A♠.
♥ 0 winners -- I can only count tricks that I will take right away. I don't have the A♥ so I do not have any winners right away.
♦ 6 winners -- Right away I can win 6 tricks in this suit. I have the A♦, K♦, Q♦, J♦, T♦ and even the 9♦.
♣ 3 winners -- I will win the A♣, the K♣ and the Q♣.
So right now I have 10 winners. The final contract is 3NT. That means I only have to take 9 tricks. This is good!!! But I am a little greedy. Since I can make my contract I'm wondering if there is a way to make even MORE tricks?
What about the ♥ suit? If I let the opponents win their A♥ and their K♥ that will set up my Q♥ and my J♥. That is TWO extra tricks for me.
Is there a problem with doing this? Let's think.
Hmmmm. The opponents started off with the K♠. They probably have length AND strength in that suit. If I let them in with either one of their ♥ tricks they will probably continue with the ♠ and I have no more winners in that suit. They might be able to take at least three tricks in the ♠ and then their A♥ and K♥ for five tricks. If the opponents take five tricks I will go down in my 3NT contract.
Good thing I thought about that! This time I will just take the 10 tricks I started with and let the opponents take the rest. I won't try to get more tricks because then I could go down in my contract and I don't want that.
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