Optimal Hand Evaluation in Competitive Bidding

In his first book, Optimal Hand Evaluation, the author introduced a number of corrections to the Goren point count to reach "optimal" hand evaluation accuracy. That first book focused on non-competitive bidding situations where no further adjustments were needed as a result of the opponents' bidding. This book now deals with this specific topic.

First, it challenges the very premise of the Law of Total Tricks and compares the results of its application "at the table" by world-class players to the effectiveness of the Optimal point count. Then, it reveals how to precisely quantify:

- The point-count adjustments that should be applied to hands that are short or long in a suit bid by the opponents.
- Which point-count adjustments should be made to honors.
- How adjustments translate a hand's Offense to Defense ratio.
- What adjustments apply to balanced hands.

This book begins with an overview and two-page summary of the Optimal point count. The full rationale and statistical support data justifying the point count can be found in the first book, as well as over 100 example hands illustrating its accuracy.

Reviews

"The author espouses a very unusual and interesting way of estimating a hand’s value. Could Optimal be much better than the methods we have been employing all along? The author fervently believes so, and he may well be right." -- The Bridge World, May 2021