Most important information in this section are statistical hand distributions for different types of hands and different number of trumps as used in the Law of Total Tricks. I am in the process of running double dummy analysis of the different situations and will publish some results in the near future.
I was playing in all 3 Nationals and about 20 regionals in 1995 when the Law of Total Tricks was extremely hot at the time. I was attracted to it for 3 reasons. Larry Cohen and David Berkowitz was considered to be the best pair players in the world. The strategy involved in the Law as "chart logic" or formula. The amazing accuracy to within .4 tricks as the average application of the Law (by the inventor of the Law Jean-Rene Vernes).
In 1995 I used spread sheets to create almost all the combinations of trumps and different vulnerability and including doubles on both side. It was interesting to see the difference especially with doubles. The combination is interesting as an academic or theoretical study but just too complicated to remember for actual playing bridge except playing bridge on the internet. (I lost all those spread sheets with my old computer, but may recreate them in the future)
Recently I was updating my bridge simulation program and added the number of trumps for each side to the data output. According to Larry's book Dr. Edward Schwan at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania has given him a formula and a statistical chart using 1000 hands (Chapter 18 - Statistical Law). This leads me to study the problem in detail and some of my results as listed in this section. I hope the new data will inspired others to study the "Law" and come up with new applications and new bidding methods or conventions as I was inspired by those individuals highlighted in this page whom I would like to give credit to.
The general section has the general statistical data. It also has sub-sections describing some interesting applications on how to use the data. Other sections is specific for some interesting bidding situations. The trump distribution is slightly different for each specific bidding situation.
Here is the summary results base on double dummy analysis and Okbridge player results.
| total # of trumps | double dummy result | Adjustment from Okbridge data | Best estimate for LOTT |
| 16 | 16.16 | 0.24 | 16.4 |
| 17 | 17.03 | 0.2 | 17.23 |
| 18 | 17.8 | 0.16 | 17.96 |
| 19 | 18.6 | 0.11 | 18.71 |
| 20 | 19.4 | 0.05 | 19.45 |
| 21 | 19.85 | 0.08 | 19.93 |
The one new finding is the result for 16 trumps. When adjusted based on Okbridge player results, the total number of tricks taken is 16.4, which is significantly higher then 16.
This suggested more aggressive bidding if you have 8 trumps. In most cases it is appropriate to bid to the 3 level if your suit is below your opponent. This is especially true for imp and mp if you are not vulnerable. Even if you are vulnerable in mp you should bid to 3 level and force your opponent to take a guess.