Sacrifices:

It's great when auctions go smoothly and everyone knows what he must do to make or set a contract, but sometimes things aren't so clear. Let's consider a situation in duplicate in which you and your partner are non-vulnerable and have established that you have a club fit. Furthermore, you know that you lack the strength to pursue it beyond the two level. Meanwhile, your opponents have found a heart fit and taken it to a vulnerable game. Their 4H contract is worth 620 points (four tricks at 30 points per trick plus a 500-point vulnerable game bonus). You really can't afford to give your opponents 620 points and a good result if there's any way to prevent it (remember, in duplicate your scores are compared to the scores of others holding your same hands). A score of -620 is not generally good, though sometimes it is unavoidable. However, in this case you and your partner appear to have a viable 2C contract.

Now, you may be wondering how your ability to win eight tricks if clubs is trump can possibly be of any use. Consider the scoring charts and assume that your opponents know that you cannot make eleven tricks in clubs. They will double you if you bid 5C, and rightly so. You will go down three tricks (taking only the eight tricks to which you are entitled), but how much do they score for that? Down three doubled non-vulnerable is only worth 500 points to them. Which would you rather have: -620 or -500? What's better is if they can only make ten tricks in hearts. If they then bid 5H, they go down one vulnerable, giving you a positive score of 100, which is a score beyond any you can arrange without your opponents' willing support.

It takes experience to know when you should sacrifice, though Larry Cohen's To Bid or Not to Bid is an excellent book that explains precisely when to take that gamble. However, there is a shortcut. Fairly early on, you will learn to recognize, through the auction, how well you and your partner should be able to do in a given hand, provided you can play in your suit. When considering a sacrifice, first look at vulnerability.

Vulnerability comes in three relative flavors: favorable (your opponents are vulnerable, but you are not), unfavorable (you are vulnerable, but your opponents are not), and equal (both partnerships have the same vulnerability). You can afford to go one down doubled at unfavorable vulnerability, two down doubled at equal vulnerability, and three down doubled at favorable vulnerability, always assuming that your opponents are playing for a game contract. Part scores and slams alter those calculations, but if you check the scoring charts (again, always assuming that you will be doubled if you attempt a sacrifice), you can derive the other safe levels of loss by yourself.

Now, if you want a short cut to the short cut, try this one on for size; Cohen describes it as "the most important adjunct of the LAW" (you can do the leg work that proves this if you like, but it's been done countless times already). In a competitive auction, you are safe to bid to a level that requires your partnership to take as many tricks as you have trumps in your best fit. In other words, you and your partner can get a good result in 3H with a 9-card heart fit and 14 HCP. Why? Because you have 9 trumps and need to take 9 tricks. OK, so that isn't really an explanation, but if you want the real explanation, read Cohen's book.

Learn these calculations; they will pay great dividends over time. You may be loath to bid unmakable contracts at first, but when you see how the numbers work, you'll find that not every bid has to be about winning. Sometimes the key to winning is losing.