Bridge Hand Patterns

When you pick up 13 cards, the first thing you should notice isn’t just your high cards. It’s your pattern.

A hand pattern describes how your 13 cards are distributed across the four suits. Write it in descending order: if you have 5 spades, 4 hearts, 3 diamonds, and 1 club, that’s 5431. If you have 4 spades, 4 hearts, 3 clubs, and 2 diamonds, that’s 4432.

The specific suits don’t matter for the pattern itself. A 5-3-3-2 shape with five spades is the same pattern as five hearts, five diamonds, or five clubs. What matters is the distribution.

Why Patterns Matter

Your hand pattern drives almost every decision you make at the bridge table.

Got a 4333 pattern? You’re probably bidding notrump. Holding 6421? You’re thinking about suit contracts and possible ruffs. See 5440? That’s a two-suited hand that might belong in a game or slam.

Pattern tells you:

• Whether to bid notrump or a suit
• How many tricks you can generate through ruffs
• What your hand is worth (distributional points)
• Where the opponents’ cards likely sit
• How to play the hand as declarer

Balanced vs. Unbalanced Hands

Bridge players divide patterns into two categories: balanced and unbalanced.

Balanced hands are the smooth, symmetrical distributions:

• 4333 (flat as a pancake)
• 4432 (one doubleton)
• 5332 (one five-card suit)

That’s it. Those three patterns are balanced. Everything else is unbalanced.

Balanced hands are notrump territory. They don’t have enough shape to generate extra tricks through ruffs, but they’re perfect for notrump contracts where you need stoppers in every suit.

Unbalanced hands are everything else:

• 5422, 5431, 5440
• 6322, 6331, 6421, 6430
• 7222, 7321, 7330, 7420, 7411
• Wilder distributions with eight-card suits, voids, or extreme two-suiters

Unbalanced hands want to play in a suit. You’ve got shape, you can ruff, and you can generate extra tricks that notrump wouldn’t give you.

Some players treat 5422 as “semi-balanced” since it’s just barely over the line. But technically, it’s unbalanced.

Common Patterns and Their Frequencies

Not all patterns are created equal. Some show up constantly. Others you’ll see once a month.

Here are the most common patterns and how often you’ll hold them:

The math is simple: you’ll hold a balanced hand (4333, 4432, or 5332) about 48% of the time. Flip a coin. That’s how often you’re balanced.

The other 52% of hands are unbalanced, ranging from slightly shapely (5422) to wildly distributional (8-5 two-suiters or nine-card suits).

How Pattern Affects Bidding Choices

Opening the Bidding

Your pattern is half the decision.

Balanced hands: With 15-17 HCP, open 1NT. With 20-21, open 2NT. With 12-14, open your longest suit and rebid notrump (or open 1NT if that’s your system).

Unbalanced hands: Open your longest suit. With two five-card suits, open the higher-ranking (unless you play a system that says otherwise). With 6-4, almost always open the six-card suit.

Responding and Rebidding

Pattern tells you when to raise, when to bid a new suit, and when to jump.

Say partner opens 1♥ and you hold:

• ♠K743 ♥92 ♦AJ85 ♣Q64 (4333)

That’s 11 HCP, balanced, but only two hearts. Bid 1NT. Your flat pattern says notrump.

Now change it to:

• ♠K7 ♥Q92 ♦AJ853 ♣Q64 (5332)

Same points, but now you’ve got a five-card diamond suit. Bid 2♦. Your pattern improved your hand.

Competitive Bidding

Shapely hands compete. Flat hands pass.

When the opponents are bidding and you’re deciding whether to balance or compete to the three-level, look at your pattern first. A 5431 with 10 HCP is worth a bid. A 4333 with 12 HCP might be a pass.

Two-suited hands (5521, 6511, 6421 with shortness) are gold in competitive auctions. You can show both suits, find fits, and push opponents around.

Pattern Recognition During the Auction

Good players count patterns during the bidding.

Partner opens 1NT (showing a balanced hand). That means they have 4333, 4432, or 5332. When you continue the auction, you’re working with that information.

Say you use Stayman and partner denies a four-card major. Now you know they don’t have 4432 with a major. They’re either 4333, or 5332/4432 in the minors. If you bid 3♥ (showing five hearts and invitational), and partner accepts, they probably have 5332 with three hearts. You just found a 5-3 fit.

When opponents bid, count their patterns too.

Right-hand opponent opens 1♠, partner passes, 1♠ gets raised to 2♠. You know they have at least eight spades between them. Probably 5-3, maybe 6-2, unlikely to be 4-4 (responder would have raised immediately with four). That leaves 5 spades for your side. If you have two, partner has three.

This pattern-counting helps you:

• Place key cards
• Know when to compete
• Avoid phantom sacrifices
• Find the right strain

Playing for Specific Patterns as Declarer

Declarer play is often about reading and playing for specific patterns.

Example 1: Counting for the Drop or Finesse

You’re in 4♥ with this trump holding:

Dummy: ♥AQ854
You: ♥KJ1072

You’re missing the ♥9 and ♥6 and ♥3. Should you finesse or play for the drop?

If left-hand opponent opened the bidding and has shown a strong balanced hand (15-17), they’re 4333, 4432, or 5332. That’s only three or four hearts maximum. RHO has most of the missing hearts.

Play for the drop by cashing the ace and king. The missing hearts will likely fall together or split 2-1, and you can’t afford to lose a trick to the finesse if it’s wrong.

But if RHO opened 1♠ and has shown a 6331 or 5431 pattern with spades and clubs, they’re short in hearts. Take the finesse into LHO.

Example 2: Avoiding a Ruff

You’re in 3NT and LHO leads the ♠K. You have:

Dummy: ♠A65
You: ♠Q42

You win the ace, and when you knock out the ♥A for your ninth trick, you need to know: can LHO give partner a spade ruff?

Count the pattern. If LHO opened a weak 2♠, they have six spades. Partner has at most two. No ruff is coming. But if LHO overcalled 1♠ and hasn’t shown a sixth spade, they might be 5332. Partner could be out.

Win the ♠A and immediately duck a heart, losing to the ♥A while you still have a spade stopper. Now when LHO continues spades, you have the queen.

Example 3: Playing a Crossruff

You’re in 4♠ with a 5431 facing a 4333:

Dummy: ♠AJ83 ♥974 ♦A82 ♣Q73
You: ♠KQ1052 ♥6 ♦KQ104 ♣AK5

Your singleton heart and dummy’s three small hearts scream “crossruff!” You can ruff hearts in hand and diamonds in dummy.

Cash your side-suit winners first (♣AK, ♦KQ), then ruff hearts in your hand and diamonds in dummy. Your 5431 pattern produces extra tricks that a balanced hand couldn’t generate.

Example 4: Inferring Defenders’ Patterns

You’re in 6♦. You need to locate the ♣Q for your twelfth trick.

Dummy: ♠A64 ♥K52 ♦KJ1095 ♣AJ
You: ♠K3 ♥A4 ♦AQ8742 ♣K63

You draw trumps. LHO started with three, RHO with one. You cash spades: both follow twice, LHO shows out on the third. RHO started with five spades.

You cash hearts: both follow twice. RHO follows to the third, LHO discards a spade.

Count RHO’s pattern: 5 spades, 3 hearts, 1 diamond = 9 cards. They have four clubs. LHO has two clubs.

The ♣Q is more likely with RHO (4 cards vs 2). Finesse through RHO by leading the ♣J from dummy.

Pattern-counting made that decision for you.

Playing as a Defender

Defenders need patterns too.

Partner leads the ♠K against 3NT. You have ♠J42. Declarer wins the ace. Later, declarer plays a second spade toward dummy’s queen. Do you grab your ♠J?

Count declarer’s pattern from the bidding. If they opened 1NT and denied a major in response to Stayman, they don’t have five spades. They might have exactly ♠A103. Duck smoothly. Force them to guess. If you cover, you set up dummy’s ♠Q.

Or partner opens 1♥, RHO overcalls 1♠. You have ♥Q2. Dummy tables ♥J94. Declarer (who overcalled spades) plays a heart to the jack.

What’s declarer’s pattern? They overcalled 1♠, so at least five spades. They’re not bidding hearts, so probably one or two hearts. If they have a singleton heart, partner has ♥AK108xx. Cover with the queen. Partner’s king will drop declarer’s singleton and you’ll run hearts.

Quick Reference: Common Patterns

Balanced Patterns (notrump-oriented)

• 4333 - Flat, 10.5% frequency
• 4432 - Most common, 21.6% frequency
• 5332 - One five-card suit, 15.5% frequency

Unbalanced One-Suiters

• 5431 - Five-card suit, singleton, 12.9%
• 5422 - Five-card suit, two four-carders, 10.6%
• 6322 - Six-card suit, balanced side suits, 5.6%
• 7222 - Seven-card suit, flat sides, 0.5%

Two-Suiters

• 5521 - Two five-card suits, singleton, 3.2%
• 5530 - Two five-card suits, void, 0.9%
• 6511 - Six-five, singleton, 0.7%
• 6421 - Six-four, singleton, 4.7%

Freaky Shapes

• 4441 - Three suits, one singleton, 3.0%
• 5440 - Five-four-four, void, 1.2%
• 7-card+ suit - Collectively ~6%

The Practical Takeaway

Every hand has a pattern. Learn to see it immediately when you pick up your cards.

Count to 13. Note your longest suit, your shortest suit, and where the cards sit. Then let that pattern guide your bidding, your play, and your defense.

Balanced? Think notrump. Shapely? Think suits and ruffs. Two-suited? Think competition and showing both.

Once you start thinking in patterns, the game gets clearer. You’ll make better decisions, find more contracts, and avoid disasters. Because bridge isn’t just about high cards. It’s about shape.