When you use this method, you mentally put your actual 13 cards opposite 13 hypothetical cards for partner, and you evaluate how many tricks the two hands combined are likely to take. The usual way to use 26-Card Visualization is to envision typical hands for partner. As an example, partner opens a weak two hearts, and you have a promising hand: Q983 A Q9653 AK9. A typical medium-to-good hand for partner would be six pretty good hearts and one useful high card outside hearts. You might think “OK, give partner six hearts to the King-Jack-ten and the diamond King”, and then you would mentally continue “In four hearts, partner would lose two spades and a diamond for sure, probably would lose a trick to the Queen of trumps, and there might be more work to do”. Probably it’s easier to evaluate that combination when it appears like this:
Partner Hand 1: 42 KJ10765 K2 432
Your Hand: Q983 A Q9653 AK9
Two spade losers and a diamond loser for sure, probably losing a trick to the Queen of hearts, and it wouldn’t be shocking to lose a club also. And that’s a pretty good hand for partner, so this one example would be enough for us to decide against even inviting game.
Another frequent way to use 26-Card Visualization is to envision perfect minimum hands for partner. Here is a useful guideline: if, opposite a perfect minimum hand for partner, game (or slam) is cold or almost cold, you have enough to invite. Here’s what we mean by “perfect minimum”: minimum in high cards, no singleton or void, but with good spot cards and a well-located doubleton. Here is a sample perfect minimum for partner’s weak two heart opening, in a partnership with a 6-10 HCP range for a weak two bid:
Partner Hand 2: 42 KQJ1076 742 32
Your Hand: Q983 A Q9653 AK9
Playing in hearts, partner will lose two spades and two diamonds, down one in four hearts. Here, the guideline suggests that you are not strong enough to invite game. That’s the same conclusion we reached by envisioning a typical medium-to-good hand for partner. You will find additional examples of 26-Card Visualization in several of the Real World Bridge books.