How Many Tricks Do You Need to Make Your Contract? Use Our Calculator
Select your contract level and suit, count your sure winners, and see exactly how many more tricks you need to develop and how best to find them.
Bridge Trick Target Calculator Tool
Count tricks you can take right now without giving up the lead: aces, top sequences and long established suits.
For a full guide on planning your play, read our declarer play tips.
Tricks needed = contract level + 6 · declarer play guide · finesse guide
Key Takeaways
- Contract level + 6 = tricks needed. A 4♥ contract needs 10, a 6NT needs 12.
- Count sure tricks first. These are winners you can take without giving up the lead.
- Gap of 0: You have enough top winners already. Play them out and claim.
- Gap of 1 to 2: A single finesse or establishing a long suit should be enough.
- Gap of 3 to 4: Plan a full strategy: long suit, finesses and possibly ruffing losers.
- Gap of 5+: Review your count carefully. You may need every technique available.
How Do You Plan Declarer Play in Bridge?
The moment dummy goes down on the table, most experienced players pause. They do not reach for a card right away. Instead they look at both hands together and ask two questions: how many tricks do I need, and how many do I have? The gap between those two numbers tells you what work lies ahead and what techniques you will need to close it.
How do you count your sure tricks?
Sure tricks are winners you can take immediately without giving up the lead. An ace in any suit is always a sure trick. An ace-king combination gives you two. A solid sequence like A-K-Q in a suit gives you three. In a trump contract, you can also count certain ruffing tricks if you have a short side suit opposite a long trump holding. Go through each suit in both hands and add up the tricks you can collect without letting the opponents in. That total is your starting point.
Many beginners skip this step and just start playing. That is how good contracts get lost. If you need nine tricks for 3NT and you can count eight sure winners, you know you need exactly one more. That single fact shapes every decision you make for the rest of the hand.
How do you develop extra tricks in bridge?
When your sure trick count falls short of your target, you have several ways to develop the extras you need. Which method you choose depends on your hand and the contract.
Establishing a long suit is the most reliable method. If you hold six cards in a suit between the two hands and the opponents hold seven, you can usually drive out their top honours and eventually win the remaining tricks in the suit. This works well in notrump contracts where you have entries back to dummy.
Finesses give you a chance to win a trick with a lower honour by guessing or locating a missing higher card. Leading toward K-Q in a suit gives you two tricks half the time if the ace is with your left-hand opponent. Finesses add up: two independent finesses each with a 50 percent chance give you a 75 percent chance that at least one succeeds.
Ruffing losers works in suit contracts. If you have three small cards in a side suit and dummy has a void or singleton, you can ruff your losers in dummy rather than losing them. This requires careful management of your trumps.
Why should you plan before playing to trick one?
The first trick is often the most important. The opening lead may give you an early opportunity that disappears if you play carelessly. In 3NT, for instance, the opponents will almost certainly lead their longest suit and try to establish it before you make your nine tricks. You need to decide immediately whether to hold up the ace, win straight away, or create a communication block. All of that analysis needs to happen before you call a card from dummy. The declarer play tips guide on this site walks through the full approach hand by hand.
Bridge Trick Target FAQs
You need the contract level plus 6. A 1-level contract needs 7, a 2-level needs 8, a 3NT needs 9, a 4-level needs 10, a 5-level needs 11, a 6-level small slam needs 12, and a 7-level grand slam needs all 13 tricks.
Sure tricks are winners you can take immediately without giving up the lead. An ace is always a sure trick. Ace-king gives you two. A solid A-K-Q sequence gives you three. Count these from both hands combined before deciding how many extra tricks you need to develop.
A finesse is an attempt to win a trick with a lower honour by relying on where a missing higher card sits. For example, leading toward K-Q wins two tricks when your left-hand opponent holds the ace. Finesses succeed roughly half the time. Our finesse in bridge guide covers all the common positions.
Lead the suit repeatedly, driving out the opponents' top honours. Once their high cards are gone, the small cards in your long suit become winners. You need enough entries back to the hand with the long suit to collect those winners later in the play.
Hold up the ace when the opponents lead their long suit in notrump and you want to cut communications between them. By refusing to win the ace on the first or second round, you can exhaust one opponent's supply of the suit so that even if the other opponent gains the lead, they cannot receive the suit back. This is called the hold-up play.