Short Suit Distribution Points (SSDP)  

Finding a Fit

In Lesson 4 we counted your HCP .  This lesson is about when you and partner have both been bidding and you find that between you you hold at least 8 card in a suit, this is called a 'fit'. After you and your partner have found that you have a fit in a suit which is a very strong situation as your side have the majority of the points, you once again look at your own hand  and revalue it to see if you can find any extra values and points that result of this situation.

Disregard Long Suit Distributional Points

Firstly, you must now ignore the long suit distributional points that you previously calculated (pre-fit finding) and start again (remember you can only use one method of distributional points evaluation at a time).
After establishing i that you and partner have at least 8 (or more) cards in the same suit , suit shortages in other suits can add extra power to your hand. These shortages enable you to ruff the side suits gaining extra tricks:

• voids = 0 cards in a suit are worth 5 extra points
• singletons=1 card in a suit are worth 3 extra ponts
• doubletons=2 cards in a suit are worth 1 extra points

How to count your Short Suit distribution points.

The following system is commonly used for Short Suit Points:
1. Short suit distribution points: 5 points for a void in a suit; 3 points for a singleton in a suit and 1 point for a doubleton with no honor cards, these are added to your HCP after your partnership has reached a fit. This is the way you re-evaluate the strength of your hand after you partner has supported (bid) your trump suit .

Definition of Terms · a 'void' is where your hand contains no cards in a suit; · a 'singleton' is where your hand holds only 1 card in a suit; · a 'doubleton' is when your hand holds two cards in a suit; · a 'fit' in a suit is when you and your partner have 8 or more cards in one suit;