Getting to good games, slams, and staying out of poor contracts is an important aspect of bridge. The best way to improve your bidding is not to add a new convention but to improve your hand evaluation skills.

In Mastering Hand Evaluation: Understanding the Principles of Partnership Bidding you will learn about the science of hand evaluation, going far beyond 4-3-2-1 high card points. Enhance your ability to recognize good cards and discover the magic of the 30-point deck. Popular point count and losing trick count methods are examined and tested with a database of over 121,000 hands from championship play as well as practice matches with at least one world champion at the table. Improvements to the best methods are introduced based on the results.

When should you invite on the way to 3NT? When there is a known fit, how many losers does partner have for his 1NT opening? Based on the modified New Losing Trick Count, how many losers do you need to start a slam investigation if partner may have more than minimum values? When you learn the answers to these questions and apply the techniques, your partnership communication skills will improve dramatically.

Hand evaluation is not simply a personal skill. If you and your partner study these techniques together, you will both be on the same wavelength. Your new-found ability to have an intelligent conversation during the auction will lead to better bridge results.

Lawrence Diamond is a Gold Life Master with multiple Bracket 1 and Flight A wins. In 2014, he ranked 265th on the Barry Crane Top 500 list.