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To evaluate the value of your hand there are three factors to consider: the high card points (HCP); the distributional points (DP) and the total points (TP's).
When you are playing bridge you must count up the value of the top (honor or picture cards) cards in each suit.
The purpose of bidding is
These are called high card points (HCP or HCP's)
Ace = 4 HCP
King = 3 HCP
Queen = 2 HCP
Jack = 1 HCP
This is how bridge hands are written. The hand below on the left is the same hand as the one above.
In bridge, the points total of your hand is calculated by two different methods. Firstly we count HCP's and then you can add more points for the length (distribution) of cards in each suit in your hand. The longer your suit the more value it has. For this process you need add an additional 1 point for each 5-card suit and an extra 1 point for each additional card in the same suit.
Total points are the most important consideration when deciding whether to open the bidding or not. Add your high-card points to your distributional points (long suit) strength and you will have a total point count (TP ).
The hand below has 16 TP, as you can add 1 extra point for both 5-card suits.
Bridge Instruction Online - Acol Lesson1