What is the Losing Trick Count (LTC)?

The Losing Trick Count (LTC) is an advanced hand evaluation method used exclusively after your partnership has found an 8-card or better trump fit. Instead of counting High Card Points, you count the "losers" in your hand by looking at the top three cards of each suit. Missing the Ace, King, or Queen in a suit counts as one loser. The formula is: 24 minus (Your Losers + Partner's Expected Losers) = The number of tricks your partnership can make.

Why the Losing Trick Count works

Raw High Card Points (HCP) are a poor metric for suit contracts because they do not accurately value distribution. A hand with 12 points and a 4-3-3-3 shape plays terribly, while a hand with 12 points and a 6-4-2-1 shape plays wonderfully.

LTC directly measures how many tricks you are likely to lose before you can ruff. A standard opening hand usually has 7 losers. A standard response has 9 losers. 24 - (7 + 9) = 8 tricks (a 2-level contract). By communicating your loser count to partner, you can confidently bid games or slams on hands with fewer than standard HCP.

A worked example: Counting your losers

Your Hand:

♠ A K 8 4 2 (Missing the Queen = 1 loser)

♥ K J 9 3 (Missing Ace and Queen = 2 losers)

♦ 5 (Singleton missing the Ace = 1 loser)

♣ 8 4 2 (Missing Ace, King, Queen = 3 losers)

Total Losers: 1 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 7 Losers.

Caption: You hold 11 HCP, which is borderline for an opening bid. However, counting your losers reveals a 7-loser hand, which represents a full-strength opening bid! If partner raises Spades showing a 9-loser hand, you calculate: 24 - (7 + 9) = 8 tricks (2♠). If partner shows an 8-loser invitational hand: 24 - (7 + 8) = 9 tricks (3♠).

Four common mistakes

• Using the Losing Trick Count before a trump fit has been explicitly agreed upon.
• Counting more than 3 losers in a single suit (a suit can never have more than 3 losers).
• Treating an unsupported Queen (Q-x-x) as a winner (it should usually be counted as a full loser unless partner bids the suit).
• Using LTC for No-Trump contracts (LTC assumes you can ruff losers in short suits; it fails in No-Trump).

When the rule does not apply

The Losing Trick Count is strictly for suit contracts where a fit has been established. Never use it to evaluate balanced hands or when playing in No-Trump, where raw HCP and long-suit establishment are the only reliable metrics.

Key takeaways

• Only use LTC after finding a trump fit.
• Count missing Aces, Kings, and Queens in the top 3 cards of each suit.
• Formula: 24 - (Your Losers + Partner's Losers) = Tricks you can make.
• Standard Opener = 7 losers; Standard Responder = 9 losers.