There are nearly two dozen Rules in bridge to help you in the bidding and play. The Rule of 20, for instance: open the bidding (in any seat) when your points plus the number of cards in your two longest suits come to at least 20. Or the Rule of 15: open in 4th seat if your points plus your number of spades (the suit most likely to win a part-score) equals at least 15. Or the Rule of 7: if a suit is led v NT, and the ace is your only stopper, decide how many times to hold up by subtracting the total number of cards you and dummy hold in the suit from 7.
All the rules are based on maths and probability (far beyond my understanding). Yet while they may provide a useful guide, to obey them blindly would be absurd – you can’t play bridge by following formulas.
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