by Jude Goodwin © Great Bridge Links
Counting points, scoring points, winning points – what’s the deal with points in the game of bridge? Let’s take a look at the different kinds of points bridge players are talking about.
When you are playing whist, or other trick taking card games, and you open your hand, what would you love to see? Lots of honour cards of course. You know Aces and Kings and Queens and Jacks win tricks. My old friend Billy Scoffham used to love to say, “I opened up my hand and there was a party! All those faces …”
In the early days of bridge, a man named Milton Work thought it would make sense to give each of these honour cards a point value. That way, when you open your hand, you can count the points and know exactly how good the hand will be.
Milton Work was a prominent American bridge player, best known for his achievements in the world of competitive bridge and his contributions to the game’s development. He was born in 1887 and became one of the leading figures in bridge during the early 20th century.
Work’s most notable achievement was the creation of the “Work System,” a bidding system that was widely used and influential in the development of modern bridge. The system focused on a logical, structured approach to bidding, helping players to communicate more clearly and effectively during a game. Although Work’s system was eventually replaced by other systems as bridge evolved, his contributions are still considered significant in the history of the game. His emphasis on logical hand evaluation, including both high card points and distribution, helped form the backbone of modern bidding strategies.
Work’s use of High Card Point Count combined with Distribution Count is still used around the world today. So let’s take a look at the basics.
This is step one taught to all beginner players. When you’ve opened your 13 card hand sorted it into suits, you now count your High Card Points (HCP). For each honour card, count as follows:
Ace =4
King =3
Queen =2
Jack =1
Obviously the higher number of points you have in your hand, the more potential it has to take tricks. And consider this – there are only 40 points in the deck. There are four suits, and each suit has one of each card. So this is how it looks:
4 Aces X 4 = 16
4 Kings X 4 = 12
4 Queens X 4 = 8
4 Jacks X 4 = 4
Total = 40
Another way to look at it is, there are 10 points in each suit and there are 4 suits.
If you open your hand and count to 40 HCP, you’re going to win all the tricks. Nobody else has any points. In bridge this would be called a Grand Slam and you score big for grand slams. This kind of hand is extremely rare though, but there are many hands that count up to more than 20 HCP. Typically though, your hand will run around 7-15 HCP.
As you know by now, bridge is a partnership game. So, when you are bidding in bridge, you always COUNT YOUR POINTS and then add them to the number of points partner has. If you and your partner have a lot of points between you, you’re going to win lots of tricks together. For example, you might open a hand and count to only 10 HCP and feel disappointed. But if partner has 20HCP you have a combined total of 30 HCP! That’s most of the points in the deck – and your partnership should do pretty well in the trick-taking department of this deal.
Good question (I knew you were going to ask that)! This is done in the BIDDING segment of the game. Different bids promise different HCP values as well as suit length and distribution. We’re not going to go into bidding here but look for it in a future Bridge Basics article.
Yes, when a person says ‘points’ at bridge they might be referring to HCP. Or, here are some other things they might be referring to:
In addition to the HCP count, some teachers encourage their students to use distribution points to account for the number and length of cards in each suit. A hand’s distribution refers to how the cards are spread out across the four suits (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs). Unbalanced hands (with extra cards in one or more suits) are often given more value, as they may be more suitable for bidding at higher levels or playing at certain contracts.
Here’s how distribution points are typically assigned:
Void (no cards in a suit): +3 points
Singleton (one card in a suit): +2 points
Doubleton (two cards in a suit): +1 point
Determining the value of a bridge hand is referred to as HAND EVALUATION. Distribution points are a reasonable tool for hand evaluation but they often confuse new players. This is because a singleton heart is not much good if hearts is your trump suit, or if you’re playing No Trump and the opponents start to take all their heart tricks. I’ve often heard a new player complain that they had ‘16 points’ when they were defeated in a contract, only to see that 5 of those points were Distribution points which aren’t always a good measuring stick.
Once you understand how to play the cards in bridge, the trick taking part of the game, you’ll be able to apply distribution points more usefully. Until then, I recommend just sticking to HCP.
I often hear people discuss points for game, or matchpoints, or masterpoints. What are all these points?
The word ‘points’ is also used in scoring, of course. You win points for making different contracts, and you give points to the opponents if you don’t make your contract. You’ll also give points to the opponents if they make their contract.
These points are written on a scorepad (or typed into a scoring device) and have no direct relation to HCP.
These kinds of points are used as a scoring variable in DUPLICATE BRIDGE. They are not related to your cards or HCP.
In many parts of the world, and certainly in North America, when you win a sanctioned duplicate bridge game you win masterpoints. How many points you win depends on the level of the game. The higher the level the more points you might win.
Club Game
Unit Game
Sectional Tournament
Regional Tournament
National Tournament
World Tournament
As well, there are different types of masterpoints. Gold, Silver, Red and Black. And there different point levels you can reach and celebrate. If you live in North America, the big one in your early days will be Life Master. To become a Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), a player needs to earn a total of 500 masterpoints at ACBL-sanctioned bridge events. But that’s not all of it. 75 of these points need to be RED which you earn at regional or national tournaments. And at least 300 of these masterpoints need to be earned in ‘open’ games – meaning, not restricted by point.
The path to Life Master can be gradual, with players accumulating points over time by participating in different events, from club games to regional or national competitions.
OK let’s recap. High Card Points (HCP) are the total value of honour cards in your hand. Distribution points are value’s added to your hand for shortness (and sometimes length). Scoring points are what is earned after the hand is complete and depends on the contract and how many tricks were won. Matchpoints is a kind of scoring used in Duplicate Bridge. And finally, Masterpoints are awarded to ACBL members at various ACBL-sanctioned bridge games.
Got it? Be sure to visit our Learn To Play pages to continue your bridge journey and I’ll see you at the table!
Jude Goodwin is a Life Master, bridge blogger and cartoonist living in Vancouver, BC. Jude has been playing bridge since the early 1970s, was editor and publisher of the Canadian Bridge Federation‘s magazine Bridge Canada for over 35 years (now retired), is the author of the bridge book, Teach Me To Play, and two books of bridge cartoons. Jude is the publishing editor and owner of Great Bridge Links, launched in 1995 and Gifts & Supplies for Card Players.
