One aspect of Bridge bidding systems is quantifying the strength of a hand. Many bidding systems rely on a few common methods for calculating a hand's strength. There is one common method for counting the value of a hand's high cards. An Ace is worth 4 points, a King is worth 3, a Queen is worth 2 and a Jack is worth 1. And, there are at least four common methods for counting the value of suit distribution in a hand. Two methods add points for long suits and two methods add points for short suits. Normally, systems using these methods refer simply to the "point count" of a hand, the exact value of point count being dependent upon the specific bidding situation. For some bids, point count is just the high card count. For other bids, point count is equal to the high card count plus one of the distribution values. For example, in some situations, point count is set to the high card count plus some number of points for each suit of five or more cards. Since these methods are in common use, the formulae for calculating these methods are included in the game. The next link shows these methods in the game's methods editor. In this version of the game, 6.3, the editor may view point count methods but not change them. This ability will be added in a later version. Until then, methods may be added by creating method files using a text editor. There are other ways to quantify a hand beyond those listed above. Some bidding systems define their own methods specific to their bidding philosophy. This game allows a user to specify their own methods for calculating the points in a hand. This next link contains a demonstration of adding point count methods. This is the text for the file named "demopoint.xml" described in the above link:
This is the text for the file named "pointdemo.xml" described in the above link:
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