[real_goose]

It is well known that kings and aces are worth more, and queens and jacks worth less, than the standard 4-3-2-1 point system suggests.

I read about a simple formula to adjust for this (can't remember where). It said to add up all your aces and kings, and then all your queens and jacks. If the difference between these two groups is more than two, you either add or subtract one hcp.

For example, if you have a hand with four aces and one queen, it is worth 19 hcp, not 18. While a hand with four jacks and nothing else is worth 3 hcp, not four.

Does anyone know if this is a common or sensible rule to use as a guideline?

Obviously it won't give you a complete picture of the value of your hcp, as supported honors are worth more than unsupported, singleton honors are worth less etc.

[Stephen Tu]

Yes it's reasonable, for suit contracts (not so much for notrump; normal point count with some bonus for tens works better there). I think it was Bergen's suggestion to use (aces + tens) - (queens + jacks) and add/subtract a point if the difference was > 2. Kings are neutral.

Another suggested formula is to add 0.5 * (aces - queens) and 0.25 * (tens - jacks).

The "supported honors" effect isn't that big, more important is that you want high cards in your longer suits.

[blackshoe]

It's part of the evaluation methods Bergen suggested in his book on slam bidding, and later in his pamphlet on hand evaluation. In the later, he says that one thing that caused him to develop the method was a balanced hand with 14 HCP. Nearly all of his students wanted to open it 1♣. According to Bergen, and now, according to his methods here, the correct opening bid is 1NT.

[nige1]

 real_goose, on 2020-August-15, 17:42, said:

It is well known that kings and aces are worth more, and queens and jacks worth less, than the standard 4-3-2-1 point system suggests.I read about a simple formula to adjust for this (can't remember where). It said to add up all your aces and kings, and then all your queens and jacks. If the difference between these two groups is more than two, you either add or subtract one hcp. For example, if you have a hand with four aces and one queen, it is worth 19 hcp, not 18. While a hand with four jacks and nothing else is worth 3 hcp, not four.Does anyone know if this is a common or sensible rule to use as a guideline? Obviously it won't give you a complete picture of the value of your hcp, as supported honors are worth more than unsupported, singleton honors are worth less etc.

Good players reach different conclusions about hand evaluation and the difference between trump and notrump contracts.
Thomas Andrews makes interesting "points" based on DD analysis.
and he provides an on-line hand evaluator