Bergen Points: Hand Evaluation Beyond High Card Points

Bergen points are Marty Bergen's method for valuing a bridge hand more accurately than the plain 4-3-2-1 count. You start with high card points, then add or subtract for aces and tens, long suits, strong suits and weak short honors to get your starting points; once a fit is found, you add points for shortness (dummy points for responder, Bergen points for opener).

Bergen set the method out in his books Points Schmoints! and Slam Bidding Made Easier. It works with any natural system, and it fits especially well with 2/1 and Standard American because it plugs straight into the usual point ranges: about 25 to 26 for a major game, 29 for a minor game, 33 for a small slam.

The steps are quick once you have done them on a few hands. The sections below go through each one.

Starting points answer the first question in every auction: is this an opening bid, and how strong is it? Bergen's guideline is to open one of a suit with about 12 starting points in first or second seat, which agrees with the Rule of 20 on most hands.

Do not count shortness yet. A singleton is worth a lot with a fit and close to nothing in notrump or on a misfit, and you do not know which one you are heading for.

Computer studies of many deals show that the 4-3-2-1 scale undervalues aces and tens and overvalues queens and jacks. Kings are about right. Bergen's Adjust-3 fixes this with a simple count:

1. Count your aces and tens.
2. Count your queens and jacks.
3. Take the difference. If it is 0 to 2, change nothing. If it is 3 to 5, adjust by one point. If it is 6 or more, adjust by two.
4. Add the adjustment when aces and tens are in the majority, subtract it when queens and jacks are.

A hand with ♠A1074 ♥K1093 ♦A82 ♣102 has five aces and tens and no queens or jacks. Add one point.

Add one point for each card over four in any suit: +1 for a five-card suit, +2 for a six-card suit, +3 for seven. A long suit produces tricks after the high cards are gone, so it deserves points even before you know about a fit.

Add one point for a suit of four or more cards that holds three of the top five honors (A, K, Q, J, 10). ♠KQ1083 qualifies. ♠K9832 does not. Strong suits play well opposite a small doubleton, and they make good leads.

Short honors often fall under a higher card or need partner's help. Subtract one point for each of these holdings:

• Singleton king, queen or jack.
• Doubleton AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ, Qx or Jx.

AK, AQ, Ax and Kx are fine and keep their full value. Finally, subtract one point for 4-3-3-3 shape, which has no ruffing value at all.

When partner opens one of a major and you have support, your short suits become ruffing tricks. Add dummy points to your starting points:

Then raise by the usual ranges: about 6 to 9 dummy points for a single raise, 10 to 12 for a limit raise (see what 1♥ - 3♥ means in each system), 13 or more for a game-forcing raise such as Jacoby 2NT. Bergen also designed Bergen raises, which use the same counts.

Two notes. Count dummy points only for support of a major, or of a minor once you know you are playing there. Some teachers count a void as the number of trumps you hold instead of a fixed number; the two versions rarely change the bid.

Opener counted only starting points when opening. Once partner raises, opener recounts with Bergen points:

• Extra trumps: +1 for each trump beyond five (+1 with six, +2 with seven).
• A side suit: +1 for a side suit of four or more cards that can be set up.
• Shortness: doubleton +1, singleton +2, void +4.

Add partner's range and compare with the targets: about 25 to 26 for game in a major, 29 for a minor game, 33 for a small slam and 37 for a grand.

♠A1074 ♥K1093 ♦A82 ♣102

You have 11 HCP. Aces and tens: five. Queens and jacks: none. The difference is five, so add one point. No long suit, no quality suit, no weak short honor, shape 4-4-3-2. Starting points: 12. Open 1♦: with both four-card majors and three diamonds, that is the standard opening in five-card major systems.

The Rule of 20 says pass (11 + 4 + 4 = 19). Bergen's count, which rewards the three tens and two aces, says open. This is the kind of hand where the two methods disagree.

♠QJ5 ♥QJ83 ♦KJ4 ♣Q62

You have 12 HCP, but six queens and jacks against no aces or tens: subtract two. The shape is 4-3-3-3: subtract one more. Starting points: 9. Pass in first seat.

Plain HCP would open this hand. It has no aces, no quick tricks to speak of and nothing to ruff. Most of its points are the kind that need partner's help to win a trick.

♠K ♥QJ ♦AJ1064 ♣Q10753

You have 13 HCP. Aces and tens: three. Queens and jacks: four. Difference one: no change. Two five-card suits: +2. Diamonds AJ10 hold three of the top five honors: +1. Singleton king: -1. Doubleton QJ: -1. Starting points: 14.

Still an opening bid (1♦), but much less than the 23 that the Rule of 20 adds up to. The short honors are the reason: the ♠K and the ♥QJ may be worth nothing at all.

Partner opens 1♥. Compare these two hands:

• A: ♠8 ♥K1074 ♦Q9632 ♣J82. 6 HCP, no Adjust-3 change, +1 for the five diamonds: 7 starting points. With four trumps the singleton spade adds 3: 10 dummy points, a limit raise.
• B: ♠84 ♥K107 ♦Q9632 ♣J82. The same 7 starting points. With three trumps and a doubleton, add 1: 8 dummy points, a single raise to 2♥.

The high cards are identical. The fourth trump and the singleton make hand A two points better, and that is the difference between inviting game and not.

South has 17 HCP. Adjust-3: two aces against one queen and one jack, no change. Six spades: +2. Spades AKJ: +1. Starting points: 20, so South opens 1♠.

North has 9 HCP and four trumps. Starting points 9, plus 1 for the doubleton club: 10 dummy points. That is a limit raise, 3♠.

Now South recounts. Sixth trump: +1. Four-card heart side suit: +1. Singleton diamond: +2. Doubleton club: +1. Bergen points: 25. Partner has 10 to 12, so the total is 35 to 37, above the 33 needed for slam. South checks key cards with Roman Key Card Blackwood: 5♣ shows one key card (the ♣A), so only one ace is missing, and South bids 6♠.

The combined hands hold only 26 HCP, usually game values and no more. Double dummy, 6♠ makes twelve tricks on this layout: six spades, three hearts, two clubs and a heart ruff in dummy. Plain point counting would stop in 4♠.

Here are the first three hands side by side:

Plain HCP rates hand 2 above hand 1. The Rule of 20 sees no difference between them. The losing trick count gives both 8 losers. Only starting points separate the strong 11 from the weak 12. On hand 3 the Rule of 20 is far too high because it ignores where the honors are.

No method wins on every hand, and Bergen points take more effort. They earn their keep on the borderline decisions: open or pass, invite or bid game, game or slam.

• Counting shortness too early. Starting points never include short-suit points. Add them only after a fit.
• Adding dummy points with two trumps. Without at least three-card support, shortness is a liability.
• Double counting length as dummy. Responder counts length in starting points once, then adds shortness. Do not add length again as dummy.
• Forgetting to subtract. The minus adjustments (queens and jacks, short honors, 4-3-3-3) are the ones people skip, and they are the ones that keep you out of bad games.
• Using dummy points for notrump. Shortness is worth nothing in notrump.

Count one hand a day and the steps become automatic. The BridgeDummy Bidding Room is a good place for it: bid random deals with EPBot robots, count each hand first, and see where your count led you. For the rule behind fourth-seat openings, read Pearson points.