Counting Losers

In bridge when Declarer is playing in any trump contract (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣) the first thing they should do is to count their LOSERS. These are tricks that Declarer might have to lose. Declarer then knows how many losers they have and can decide if and how they are getting rid of any losers.

Here are a few examples:
Dummy
♣K94

Declarer
♣AQ3

How many losers does Declarer have in the ♣ suit?

Declarer has ZERO losers in the ♣. They should not have to lose any tricks in that suit.

Dummy
♣K9

Declarer
♣QJ3

Declarer has ONE loser in the ♣. They will have to lose one trick in that suit -- the Ace.

Sounds pretty easy, right? It gets a little more complicated.

You only look at the losers in ONE hand. Not the other. But Losers can be counted in EITHER hand so you need to count either the number of losers in Dummy OR the number of losers in Declarer's hand. So with this holding:
Dummy
♣983

Declarer
♣76

There are no high cards in this suit. That means that if you are looking at the losers in DUMMY you have THREE losers. You will lose three ♣ tricks because there are three small ♣ in Dummy. However if you are looking at the losers in DECLARER'S hand you have only TWO losers. There are two small ♣ in Declarer's hand. The theory behind this is that if the Opponents play one more round of ♣ you can trump the ♣.

However it gets a little trickier. You only look at the losers in one hand BUT if you have high cards in the other hand you get to look at those. So:
Dummy
♣A83

Declarer
♣K6

If we look at the losers in Dummy we can count ONE loser. The A♣ won't lose a trick and we won't have to lose the 3♣ because we have the K♣ in our hand to take care of that loser. But we will still have to lose the 8♣.

If we look at the losers in Declarer's hand we don't have ANY losers. The K♣ will win a trick and the A♣ in Dummy can take care of our 6♣. We can trump any more ♣.

Let's practice. How many losers do you have in Dummy? How many losers do you have in Declarer's Hand?

Hand 1:
Dummy:
♣985

Declarer:
♣62



Hand 2:
Dummy:
♣AKT2

Declarer:
♣64



Hand 3:
Dummy:
♣52

Declarer:
♣AJ



Hand 4:
Dummy:
♣AQ8

Declarer:
♣953



Hand 5:
Dummy:
♣K532

Declarer:
♣AT7



Hand 6:
Dummy:
♣K543

Declarer:
♣A8



Hand 7:
Dummy:
♣A9

Declarer:
♣KQ



Hand 8:
Dummy:
♣AQJ4

Declarer:
♣T93



Hand 9:
Dummy:
♣QJT

Declarer:
♣K4



Hand 10:
Dummy:
♣T82

Declarer:
♣A54



Hand 11:
Dummy:
♣Q93

Declarer:
♣KJ8



Hand 12:
Dummy:
♣AQ86

Declarer:
♣K95



Hand 13:
Dummy:
♣9543

Declarer:
♣K2



Hand 14:
Dummy:
♣7

Declarer:
♣T93



Hand 15:
Dummy:
♣A987

Declarer:
♣Q4



Hand 16:
Dummy:
♣AK4

Declarer:
♣65



Hand 17:
Dummy:
♣A7

Declarer:
♣T54



Hand 18:
Dummy:
♣AQ62

Declarer:
♣85



Hand 19:
Dummy:
♣972

Declarer:
♣QJ3



Hand 20:
Dummy:
♣AQ52

Declarer:
♣K8



Hand 21:
Dummy:
♣93

Declarer:
♣AK2



Hand 22:
Dummy:
♣Q53

Declarer:
♣962



Hand 23:
Dummy:
♣K76

Declarer:
♣32