Play Some BishStrategy · Chapter 2
Calling when forced
Everyone passed. You're the dealer and you have to name trump. You can't pass. You can still pick the suit.
Count all four suits. Name the highest.
Use the count from When to call: 5 for every trump card, +10 the Jack, +6 the 9, +3 the Ace, +6 King and Queen together, +4 for every Ace in the other suits.
If two suits tie, or are close, it doesn't matter. Pick either. Expect to make it about 70 times in 100.
Picking blind makes 52%. That is 18 points of make rate you throw away.
Pick your six cards
Tap the six cards you were dealt. It counts every suit and tells you which to name.
The suit is the whole decision
We dealt forced hands and named the suit five different ways. Any sensible rule lands close together. Naming blind does not.
| How you pick the suit | Call is made | Net pts |
|---|---|---|
| Highest count | 70% | −10 |
| Longest suit | 69% | −12 |
| The suit with the Jack | 69% | −12 |
| A suit picked blind | 52% | −58 |
| Lowest count | 38% | −93 |
Highest count, longest suit and the suit with the Jack all make about the same. The mistake is not looking. A blind pick makes 52%. The worst suit in the hand makes 38%.
Ties and near-ties don't matter
In 11% of forced hands two suits tie for the top count. Picking the longer suit, the suit with the Jack, or one at random all make about 56%. When the top two suits are within 2 points (24% of hands), the higher count makes 59% and the other makes 58%. Don't spend long on it.
About seven in ten
Name the highest-count suit and the call is made 69.8% of the time. On average the dealer's team loses about −10 points on the hand.
- Your countCall is madeNet ptsHow often
- 14 or less47%−716%
- 15–1957%−4719%
- 20–2264%−2823%
- 23–2471%−915%
- 25–2675%+412%
- 27–2980%+1911%
- 30–3286%+408%
- 33 or more94%+727%
About 26% of forced hands count 27 or more. You would have called those anyway. About 25% count 19 or less. Those still make 54%, and cost the most when they fail.
Net points is the average result of the hand for the caller, against the other team. How often is the share of your forced hands at that count.
Three passes don't change your odds
You might think a table full of passes means the opponents are weak, so your hand has a better shot. The numbers say no. The same count makes the same, whether you were forced or dealt it any other way.
| Your count | When forced | Any seat |
|---|---|---|
| 20–22 | 64.1% | 63.7% |
| 23–24 | 71.3% | 71.0% |
| 25–26 | 75.3% | 74.9% |
| 27–29 | 80.4% | 80.4% |
| 30–32 | 86.5% | 86.0% |
Counts that appear in both tables. Forced hands are the simulated ones where the three seats before the dealer passed.
What the log shows
On this site, 1,050 forced calls were logged in solo and online play, about 37% of all hands. They were made 65.6% of the time. People made 69.5% (318 hands). The AI made 63.9% (732 hands).
That is lower than the 69.8% in the simulation. Nearly all of those hands were played before the Oct 14 AI fix, and real tables play differently from a simulated one. We will check again once there are more hands after the fix.
The score. It doesn't change your odds. Forced calls made 61–70% whether the dealer's team was far ahead or far behind (135–280 hands in each group). It changes what a bait costs you, not how likely one is.
Under 20
About one forced hand in four is here. It still makes 54% of the time. There is no suit that rescues it. What helps is how you play it, and we don't have tested play advice yet. A leading and defending chapter will follow.
Three forced hands
Gold outline is the suit to name. Every suit is counted.
The 9 and two Aces
Hearts 12 · Diamonds 18 · Clubs 12 · Spades 24
No Jack, no long suit. Spades has the 9, and the Aces count wherever you name trump.
Don't chase the Jack
Hearts 19 · Diamonds 8 · Clubs 25 · Spades 9
The Jack is alone in hearts. Clubs has length and the 9. Name clubs.
Nothing there
Hearts 10 · Diamonds 10 · Clubs 11 · Spades 5
No good suit. Name the best of a poor lot and play it out.
How we know
We dealt hands and kept the ones where the three seats before the dealer would have passed under the Hard AI's rules. That left 80,000 forced hands. About a third of deals reach the dealer this way, and 37% of real hands on this site did. Each forced hand was then played out four times, once with each suit as trump, so every suit choice could be compared on the same cards.
Two caveats. The simulation plays like a consistent, careful table, and people are messier. And the count is the one from the first chapter, fitted on the same simulation.
Updated 2026-10-14. We will rerun this as more real hands are logged.