Counting Losers in Suit Contracts

While No-Trump play requires counting winners, suit contracts demand the opposite: Counting Losers. At Trick 1, look at your "master hand" (the hand with the most trumps). Go through each suit and count how many tricks the opponents will win if they lead that suit right now.

Why counting losers works

In a suit contract, you have trumps to stop the opponents from running their suits. Your goal is to eliminate your losers before the opponents can cash them.

If you are in 4♠, you can afford 3 losers. If you count 5 losers in your hand, you immediately know you must eliminate 2 of them. You can eliminate losers by ruffing them in dummy, discarding them on dummy's side-suit winners, or taking finesses.

A worked example: The Loser Audit

You are in 4♠ (allowed 3 losers).

Declarer (South):

♠ A K Q J 2 (0 losers)

♥ 8 4 3 (3 losers)

♦ A 5 (1 loser)

♣ K Q (1 loser)

Caption: You have 5 losers (3 Hearts, 1 Diamond, 1 Club). You must eliminate two of them! Look at dummy. Does dummy have a void in Hearts to ruff them? Does dummy have the ♣A to cover your ♣K-Q? The loser count dictates exactly which suits you must address immediately.

Four common mistakes

• Counting losers in both hands and adding them together (only count the master hand!).
• Counting a suit like A-Q as 0 losers (it is a potential loser until the finesse works).
• Playing to Trick 1 before counting losers, causing you to draw trumps when you needed them for ruffing.
• Failing to count a missing Ace in the trump suit as a loser.

When the rule does not apply

If both hands have equal trump length (e.g., a 4-4 fit), you can pick either hand as the master hand. If playing No-Trump, abandon loser counting and count sure winners instead.

Key takeaways

• Use only in suit contracts.
• Count losers from the perspective of the long-trump hand.
• Compare losers to your allowable limit (e.g., 3 losers in Game).
• Eliminate excess losers via ruffing, discarding, or finessing.