Elder : ‘Point of four’.
Younger : ‘Making?’
Elder : ‘Thirty-nine’.
Younger : ‘Not good’.
Elder: ‘Queens and Tens – six’ ( He counts his score for his trios without waiting for younger to confirm that the count is good. He knows that his trio of Queens is good because, from his own playing cards, he can see that younger cannot hold a Quatorze or a better trio than one of the Jacks.
His announcement ‘Queens and Tens’ means that he holds three Queens and three 10s. If he held four Queens and three 10s he would announce ‘Fourteen Queens and three Tens’.)
Elder, who has no more to count, leads the ♠ A: ‘Seven’.
Younger now counts his hand.
Younger: ‘Point of four – forty’, (Elder has a right to ask in which suit the point is. In this case, however, he has no need because he knows from his own cards that it can only be in hearts)’ and tierce to the Jack-seven’. (Here, again, elder has no need to ask because, from his own cards, he knows that the tierce must be in hearts.)
Younger plays the ♠ Q on elder’s ♠ A, and repeats his score – ‘Seven’.
The rest of the play is:
| Elder | Younger |
| ♠ J ‘Eight’ | ♠ K ‘Eight’ |
| ♥ Q ‘Eight’ | ♥ A ‘Nine’ |
| ♥ K ‘Nine’ | ♥ J ‘Ten’ |
| ♠ 10 ‘Ten’ | ♣ 7 ‘Ten’ |
| ♠ 8 ‘Eleven’ | ♣ 8 ‘Ten’ |
| ♣ K ‘Twelve’ | ♣ A ‘Eleven’ |
| ♦ 10 ‘Twelve’ | ♥ 10 ‘Twelve’ |
| ♦ Q ‘Twelve’ | ♥ 9 ‘Thirteen’ |
| ♣ Q ‘Thirteen’ | ♣ J ‘Fourteen’ |
| ♦ A ‘Fourteen’ | ♦ J ‘Fourteen’ |
| ♣ 10 ‘Fifteen’ | ♦ K ‘Fourteen’ |
Elder, winning the trick: ‘Sixteen, and the cards twenty-six’. This ends the deal with the score at elder 26, younger 14.
A player’s first consideration must be the point. The importance of bridge scoring for the point cannot be over-estimated, because not only does it add to a player’s score, but it protects him against a pique or repique, and, of course, scoring for point diminishes the opponent’s score to the same extent.
Normally, therefore, a player should retain his longest suit intact and discard from shorter suits. This, however, does not always hold good, particularly if the longest suit consists mainly of low cards, and the shorter suits of his ones.
The inexperienced player who is dealt the hand below will be tempted to retain the spades, and discard from the other suits, with a view to scoring for point and sequence. The experienced player will know that the better course is to discard all five spades, because the ♠ J is the only card that will raise the suit from a quart to a sixeme, and the odds are about three to one against drawing it.
It is likely that retaining the spades will win the point, but almost certainly it will result in the loss of the cards. This will make a big difference to the score, and the cards must always be considered together with the point.
If the non-dealer holds a long suit headed by top poker cards, usually it guarantees the point and the cards. The suit, therefore, must be preserved at all costs, but this is of much less importance for the dealer because he may never obtain the lead.