New Losing Trick Count (NLTC)
Extending these thoughts, Klinger believes that the basic method undervalues an ace but overvalues a queen and undervalues short honor combinations such as Qx or a singleton king. Also it places no value on cards jack or lower. Recent insights on these issues have led to the New Losing Trick Count (The Bridge World, 2003). For more precision this count utilises the concept of half-losers and, more importantly, distinguishes between 'ace-losers', 'king-losers' and 'queen-losers':
- a missing Ace = three half losers.
- a missing King = two half losers.
- a missing queen = one half loser.
A typical opening bid is assumed to have 15 or fewer half losers (i.e. half a loser more than in the basic LTC method). NLTC differs from LTC also in the fact that it utilises a value of 25 (instead of 24) in determining the trick taking potential of two partnering hands. Hence, in NLTC the expected number of tricks equates to 25 minus the sum of the losers in the two hands (i.e. half the sum of the half losers of both hands). So, 15 half-losers opposite 15 half-losers leads to 25-(15+15)/2 = 10 tricks.
The NLTC solves the problem that the basic LTC method undervalues aces and overvalues queens.
Read more about this topic: Hand Evaluation, Methods To Help When A Fit Has Been Discovered
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