Card reading (or counting the hand), in contract bridge (with playing cards), is the process of inferring which remaining cards are held by each opponent. The reading is based on information gained in bidding and the playing of cards to previous tricks. The technique is used by the declarer and defenders to determine the probable suit distribution and honor card holdings of each unseen hand.
There are two basic and fundamental facts underlying card counting that are considered to be powerful:
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- The total number of cards in each suit is thirteen.
- The total number of cards in each hand is thirteen.
Famous quotes containing the words card and/or reading:
“What is the disease which manifests itself in an inability to leave a party—any party at all—until it is all over and the lights are being put out?... I suppose that part of this mania for staying is due to a fear that, if I go, something good will happen and I’ll miss it. Somebody might do card tricks, or shoot somebody else.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“I loved reading, and had a great desire of attaining knowledge; but whenever I asked questions of any kind whatsoever, I was always told, “such things were not proper for girls of my age to know.”... For “Miss must not enquire too far into things, it would turn her brain; she had better mind her needlework, and such things as were useful for women; reading and poring on books would never get me a husband.””
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)