Opener's Hand's 'strength zones'

The strength zone for opening
   - Weak opening hands xith a maximum of 10HCP: Opening bids of 2 Diamonds,Hearts or Spade prempts with a long suit
   - 'First zone' hands with 12-14HCP :

Contract level selection and HCP (level initiation )
HCP in camp number of tricks
37-38-39-40 13
33-34-35-36 12
30-31-32 11
27-28-29 10
25-26 9
23-24 8
20-21-22 7

Number of tricks as a function of HCP count. (from level 1 on a 0 to 4 scale)
HCP count for camp : Target number of tricks
20-21 7 tricks
22-23 8 tricks
24-25 9 tricks Game level in NT
26-27 10 tricks Game level in Majorss
28-29 11 tricks Game level in minors
33 12 tricks Small slam in NT
37 13 tricks Grand slam in NT
In trump contracts , you can make slams with lower HCP counts but with a more favorable distribution.

Wasted values
with the same HCP count, two different hands can result in very different number of tricks

• a 4332 distribution : makes it difficult to trump or establish suits. therefore it will require more HCPs to achieve the same number of tricks .
• sparse HCPs in all suits will be less effective that concentrated HCPs in two suits
• Singleton honours : singleton King, Queen or Jack may well be worth nothing at all ...
• the lack of Aces is clearly a handicap.