[Rossoneri]

I'm supposed to teach a bunch of new players this coming weekend. Okay they aren't that new, but it's fair enough to say they've only been in contact with contract bridge for 2 months.

I'm touching on leads and signals (Someone else is covering bidding) so I was also thinking of incorporating some counting basics.

My idea is to flash 3 numbers on the screen and ask them to take turns one-by-one to give the fourth number which will add up to 13 (e.g. I flash 5-3-4 and the girl/guy has to answer 1), with the aim of them being able to answer instantaneously of course.

Any criticism/other suggestions?

Thanks.

[inquiry]

Be sure to tell them to memorize the common shapes

Help them to realize that all the four number shapes have either three even numbers and one odd, or three odds and one even.

Teach them to focus on just one of the unseen hands at first, the one that did the most bidding, as it is easier to build a picture then

As they play, don't forget the original shape of the hands they could see

You may want to give them some free software to help them. There is a webpage with an introduction to counting Counting introduction and then two quizes, the simplier like your example with flash cards count quiz 1 and one that requires counting hand patterns (same math) Count quiz 2

You may find more info in some of these threads
counting
counting hands and remembering cards
counting the pips

And you might want to lighten up the subject with the VERY OLD bridge joke that goes.... "There are three types of bridge players....."

Spoiler

Those that can count and those that can't

...

[TimG]

I would think you'd scare people away with this kind of drilling if they have only been exposed to contract bridge for a couple of months. I would think things like making sure declarer always counts their tricks and creates a plan would be more important than being able to instantly recognize hand patterns.

I think the most important counting lesson I ever learned was to count only the opponent's cards when declaring. If you start with eight trumps, just count the opponents' five trumps when they are played rather than the total trumps played by both sides. Not only does it make things simpler, it makes declarer think in terms of outstanding cards and how suits are distributed. Which, I think, is what you are trying to do with your drill.

[kenrexford]

FWIW -- I see two common "counting" problems early on (and sometimes lingering) for people.

The one that is always addressed is the "get to 13" problem. I'll defer to others on good approaches there.

The one that is often missed, and never seems to be discussed, it the "Is my 8 high?" problem. This comes up a LOT of times. Some pointers that I have suggested:

1. When declaring, decide who you want confused. If you feel comfortable, win your tricks from the top down (Ace, the King, the Queen) or in random order. The opponents will often forget what is high. If you often get confused by this, protect yourself by winning tricks from the bottom up (Queen, then King, then Ace). That way, you won't forget that your card is high. Same for finesses -- if you could lead the Jack or 10, and you are afraid of forgetting stuff, lead the 10. You will never forget the Jack if you are looking at it.

2. Often times, you have to decide what is important in a suit -- how many are played or what is stiff left outstanding. A lot of times, even I do not trust my ability to count to 13. However, if I know that I have all of the high cards above the Jack-10, and I have the 9, I just watch to see if and when those cards drop. That tells me that the others are gone OR that the others are smaller. I don't care, either way.

3. If it does not matter, play the high cards from the short side first, even if you think that the high cards are not winners and that it "does not matter." Sometimes, you missed something and it does.

Stuff like that. Get people to watch this. Just the other day, my partner missed the 9 and missed the 13th card in a side suit. So, she ended up blocking the established suit and losing a trick at the end. This happens a lot for newer players. Oops moments. How many times have you seen the opponents abandon winners in dummy? But, no one seems to have suggestions on how to avoid this problem. I'd address this at least somewhat.

[Rossoneri]

Thanks.

I have a two hour slot tomorrow, of which I am also supposed to go through 9 of the 18 boards they played today....(Spent 1 hour duplicating those boards manually, with help from another guy)

My original plan was to cover counting + basic leads/signals, but think I will just concentrate on counting.

Inquiry's recommended website seems good, will point them there.

Ken hit the problem right on, I lost count of how many stranded winners I saw today, and how many times declarer realised they were winners only after the 13th trick.