Count on work history log - mysql

Question

I have a table request:
and a table requesthx:
A single Request can have many log updates by multiple techs. For example, tech1 can create a log for the initial phone contact and add notes in the log section. Then tech2 could take those notes and complete a portion of the job requirement. Tech 3 could also be working on the same job waiting for a scheduled appointment.
If tech3 is logged in, I'd like to display a count of every open ticket for tech3.
What is the best way to accomplish this?
I've completed several ugly queries that had queries running within foreach loops to add to a count variable, but this seems like the really long way to reach a simple count total.
I've tried...
SELECT requesthx.hxID, requesthx.requestID,
requesthx.datetime_gmt, requesthx.log, requesthx.techID, requesthx.status,
COUNT($requestTable.requestID) AS tickets, request.status, requesthx.techID
FROM requesthx
LEFT JOIN request
ON (requesthx.requestID = request.requestID)
WHERE (requesthx.status <> 'closed'
AND request.status = 'open'
AND requesthx.techID = '1')
GROUP BY requesthx.techID;
...on a query that had 5 open tickets with techID = 1. I only receive 1 as the count. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You are correct the database has a way of counting this kind of information.
Select count(*) as "TicketCount"
From requesthx
Where techid=3
And status = "open"
Group by techid

Answer 2

I assume my own value for status fields in both tables
SELECT
`requesthx`.`hxID`
, `requesthx`.`requestID`
, `requesthx`.`datetime_gmt`
, `requesthx`.`log`
, `requesthx`.`techID`
, `requesthx`.`status`
, COUNT(`request`.`requestID`) AS tickets
, `request`.`status`
, `requesthx`.`techID`
FROM
`requesthx`
LEFT JOIN `test`.`request`
ON (`requesthx`.`requestID` = `request`.`requestID`)
WHERE (`requesthx`.`status` ="logged"
AND `request`.`status` ="open"
AND `requesthx`.`techID` =3)
GROUP BY `requesthx`.`techID`;