The trick taking power of a bridge hand is estimated with Milton Work point count, of which we shall implement a version that is simple enough for beginners of either Python or the game of bridge!

Looking at a bridge hand that consists of thirteen cards as tuples [rank, suit]:

• give it 4 points for each ace, 3 points for each king, 2 points for each queen, and 1 point for each jack. This raw point count is then adjusted with the following rules.
• if the hand contains one 4-cards suit and three 3-cards suits, subtract one point for being flat. (Flat hands rarely play as well as non-flat hands of equal point count.)
• add 1 point for every suit that has 5 cards, 2 points for every suit that has 6 cards, and 3 points for every suit with 7 cards or longer. (Shape is power for the declarer.)
• if the trump is anything other than "notrump", add 5 points for every void (that is, suit without any cards in it) and 3 points for every singleton (that is, a suit with exactly one card), both of these for any other suit than the trump suit. (Voids and singletons are great when you are playing a suit contract, but very bad in a notrump contract. Being void or a singleton in the trump suit is, of course, extremely bad!)

Hands are often given in abbreviated form that makes their relevant aspects easier to visualize at a glance. In this abbreviated shorthand form, suits are always listed in the exact order of spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs...