There are 13 books per hand. Everybody bids what they think they can take. When the four bids don't add up to 13, that gap tells you where the loose books are — and whether the hand is going to be a fight or a walk.
Do the math
Add the four bids together. If the total is 13, everybody bid tight — every book is spoken for and somebody's going to get set. If the total is 10, there are 3 loose books floating around and multiple teams could pick them up.
Bag counts tell you where those loose books will land. A team with 8 bags will fight to avoid a 9th. A team with 2 bags is happy to grab extras.
Signals from the bid
A high individual bid (6+) tells you that player has multiple Guaranteed or Likely winners — probably Jokers, Power 2s, or a spade-heavy hand. Play defensively around them: don't lead into their strength.
A low individual bid (1 or 2) tells you they have a weak hand. Lead into them to force cuts. If they're paired with a strong bidder, they're likely holding low spades and hearts.
A Nil bid tells you nothing about high cards but everything about which suits are safe to lead — lead into the Nil player early to force awkward books onto their partner.
Reading order matters
The first bidder has no information. Their bid is the truest signal of what they actually have.
The last bidder has full information. Their bid is often shaded to hit the board or avoid a specific bag total. Trust the first two bids more than the last.
By the time you bid, you should know: how strong the table is (total bid), which team is desperate (bag count), and where the danger is (individual bid highs and lows).
