Bidding in depth
The total number of tricks on a deal is about equal to the total number of trumps both sides hold in their best suits.
The Law is a rough guide for competitive auctions. The tricks are counted for each side in its own best trump suit.
For one side at the table, the practical rule that falls out of it is simple: bid to the level of your trumps. With a nine-card fit it is safe to compete to the three level; with a ten-card fit, to the four level.
Extra trumps take extra tricks — through ruffing and sheer length — so with a big fit even a weak hand can bid higher without disaster. And on the rare deal where you have overbid, the opponents almost certainly had a making contract of their own, so pushing them up (or being pushed) costs little. The Law tells you how high to contest; it does not promise you can make what you bid.
BidMaestro uses the Law when the opponents have bid a part score and would otherwise be left to play it. If your hand and what partner’s bidding has shown come to nine or more trumps in partner’s suit, it bids on to the two or three level instead of passing. It does not go to the four level on the Law alone. If partner still has a turn to bid, it competes only with at least 6 points, counting shortness — the strength of an ordinary raise — because partner will read the bid as one.
← Back to the bidding principles