The Bridge World Official

Bridge Dictionary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z NUMBERS

• A •

ABA: acronym for American Bridge Association, one of the governing bodies for organized bridge in America
ABTA: American Bridge Teachers Association
above the line: points that do not count toward game; points other than those scored for tricks bid and made
ACBL: acronym for American Contract Bridge League, the largest governing body for organized bridge in America
accept: (1) (of a game-try or a slam-try or an invitation to take a particular action) make the call suggested or invited, or a move in that direction; (2) (of a transfer) make the call suggested by the transfer
according to Hoyle: following correct procedure (whether legally, ethically, customarily or technically)
ace: the highest-ranking card
ace from ace-king: a conventional opening-lead agreement
aces and spaces: (adjective for hand) rich in high honors but weak in lower honors and intermediates, and not having an apparent source of tricks at notrump
aces over two-bids: immediately showing (or denying) possession of an ace or aces in response to a strong two-bid
ace-showing responses: bids that indicate possession or absence of specific aces after partner's strong, forcing opening
ace-value: a unit of hand valuation that describes strength roughly equivalent to holding an ace
Acol: a popular British system based on simple, natural bidding, four-card majors, weak or split notrump openings
Acol two-bid: a strong (forcing) opening bid suggesting distributional strength
action: (adjective for double) showing extra values (or, if by a limited hand, maximum values) of no particular orientation regarding offense vs. defense
active: (1) (of a player) aggressive; (2) (of a defensive play) risking tricks in the hope of establishing tricks quickly; (3) (adjective for player) during the play, any player except declarer's partner
adjusted score: in tournament bridge, a score artificially assigned to adjust for an irregular occurrence
advance: (1) (verb) bid, double or redouble after partner enters the auction by doubling or overcalling; (2) (noun) any such bid, double or redouble
advance control-bid: a control-bid in the absence of an explicitly agreed suit
advance sacrifice: a sacrifice bid before the opponents bid to their intended contract
advancer: the partner of a player who is the first for his side not to pass after the opponents have opened the bidding; intervenor's partner
adverse: (adjective for vulnerability) = unfavorable
aggregate: scoring a session by adding the raw (duplicate bridge) scores of individual deals; sometimes "total-point scoring."
agree: anoint as the agreed suit
agreed suit: a suit in which a partnership has located and announced a fit. or that has been or is being designed as the intended trump suit
agreement: knowledge about the meanings of calls or defensive card plays explicitly shared by partners
alarm-clock: (adjective) a call or (more commonly) a defensive play intended to alert partner to an unusual situation
alarm clock: (noun) a call or defensive play intended to alert partner to an unusual situation
Alcatraz coup: a deliberate, illegal failure to follow suit to gain information from the opponents
alert: a technique used by tournament players to draw opponents' attention to unusual agreements
amber: See: Vulnerability conditions
American Bridge Association: See: ABA
American Contract Bridge League: See: ACBL
American Whist Movement: a team-of-four movement
amorphous: admitting a wide variety of shapes; often used as an adjective for a one-diamond opening that might be based on a balanced hand with only two or three diamonds, or for one that might be based on shortness in diamonds (where the natural opening of one club is unavailable owing to artificial use of that bid)
anchor suit: the guaranteed suit when a player has shown a two-suiter with only one suit specified
antipodean squeeze: a position in which one opponent is squeezed after which the other is endplayed
antipositional: (adjective for call) placing or tending to place the less advantageously located partner as declarer
appeal: in tournament bridge, a requested review of a ruling (usually of a director's ruling)
appendix movement: a method of adding an additional table to a tournament without changing the number of deals played
approach forcing: a common bidding method in which responder's new-suit bids are forcing
apricot sundae: (slang) a weak heart-diamond two-suiter (from "a red, sticky, unappetizing mess")
arrow: a marker, usually a physical arrow, pointing to the location of the North player at each table
arrow switch: (during a session of duplicate bridge) a revising of the locations of the geographical compass points marking the players' designations
artificial: (1) not natural; (2) (of a call) (a) not indicating a desire to play in the named (or, if not a bid, in the last-named) strain; or (b) offering information relevant to a specific strain other than the one named (or, if not a bid, the last-named); or both; (3) (of a bidding system) consisting significantly or more of agreements that actions, or most early-in-the-auction actions, are artificial
asker: a player who uses an asking-bid (such as an ace-ask, a key-card-ask, a trump-ask, etc.) or an equivalent call
asking bid: a bid that requests information about a specific feature of partner's hand (e.g., number of aces, controls in spades, quality of heart support)
asking cue-bid: a bid in the enemy-shown suit that asks partner to bid notrump with a stopper in that suit; sometimes called California Cue-Bid or Western Cue-Bid
assist: raise
Aspro: a British variant of Astro in which two clubs shows a two-suiter including hearts and two diamonds shows spades and a minor
Astro: defensive bidding method over opponents' notrump openings that emphasizes showing two-suiters (two diamonds = spades and another suit; two clubs = hearts and a minor suit)
Astro cue-bid: a direct cue-bid over a suit opening bid to show four hearts (or four spades over a one-heart opening bid) and length in the lowest unbid minor
astronaut: intervenor who makes a bid using the Astro defense against one-notrump openings
attacking lead: an opening lead intended to institute active defense
attitude: whether a defender does or does not want a suit led, or does or does not want to show strength in it. [A defender's attitude toward a suit is usually described as "encouraging" or "discouraging."]
attitude lead (or signal): a lead (or signal) indicating a defender's attitude
auction: the bidding; portion of a deal in which the players bid for the right to name the final contract
auction bridge: a predecessor of contract bridge
automatic: (of a squeeze) maturing regardless of the opponent's position at the table
autosplinter: call that describes a short suit in a hand with one long suit (such as one that announces the singleton in a hand distributed 6-3-3-1)
average: the mean (arithmetic average) score on one deal, or over one session, in a duplicate bridge contest
average-minus: a moderately below-average matchpoint score, typically awarded as a result of the scorer's irregularity
average-plus: a moderately above-average matchpoint score, typically awarded as a result of an opponent's irregularity
avoidance: a play, usually by declarer, that makes it impossible, difficult or expensive for a particular opponent to gain the lead

• B •

baby: (1) (slang) (adjective) low. [Usage: "two baby hearts" = two hearts of insignificant rank]; (2) (adjective) occurring one level lower than usual (e.g., Baby Blackwood: three notrump as an ace-asking bid)
back: the side of a card that shows only the pack design
back in: bid or double after having previously passed
back preference: support for a suit first shown by partner after partner has shown support for a different suit. [Example: one club -- one spade -- two spades -- three clubs.]
back score: a tally sheet indicating the scores of the individual players over a series of rubbers or other units of play
backward finesse: a finesse taken in a manner opposite to what would ordinarily be standard procedure. [Dummy has ace-jack-nine, declarer has king-three-deuce. Standard procedure would be to finesse the jack, hoping to find the queen onside; it would be a backward finesse to lead the jack, hoping to find the queen over the jack and then the ten onside.]
backwash squeeze: a squeeze in which underruffing is one of the victim's fatal options
-bagger: (slang) indicative of the length held, as in "five-bagger" (a five-card suit)
bagel: (slang) a (duplicate-bridge) score of zero on a board. [possibly regional usage]
balance: (1) (verb) take a balancing action; (2) (noun) a balancing action
balanced distribution: 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, or 5-3-3-2 suit distribution
balanced hand: hand with relatively even suit distribution; hand with no void or singleton and at most one doubleton, thus: 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, or 5-3-3-2 suit distribution
balancing: entering or reentering the auction on the basis of values partner is presumed to hold from the relative weakness of the opponents' bidding
BAM: board-a-match
bar: action that (by partnership agreement) demands that partner pass
bare: (slang) unprotected; not accompanied by low cards. [bare king = singleton king; queen-jack bare = doubleton queen-jack]
barometer: a tournament arrangement in which players learn the scores of some of the deals prior to the end of play
Baron: (1) an early scientific British system; (2) a club response to a notrump opening that institutes up-the-line bidding of four-card suits by both partners; (3) a bid one step below five (or six) of the agreed suit, asking partner to bid six (or seven) with strong trumps; (4) a response of two notrump to an opening suit one-bid to show a balanced hand with (originally) 16-18 points, or (more modernly) 16-17 points; sometimes played as 16-plus points with no upper limit
Baron grand-slam-try: a bid that asks partner to bid a grand slam with a stronger trump holding than already indicated (sometimes applied six clubs when a different suit is agreed or, more generally, to the bid one step below six of the agreed trump suit)
Baron trump-ask: Baron grand-slam-try
barrage: (noun) preempt
barred: (1) required to pass by law (as after the imposition of a penalty); (2) constrained to pass by partnership agreement
Bart: an artificial two-diamond rebid in the partnership bidding sequence one spade--one notrump (forcing or semiforcing)--two clubs--two diamonds
bash: (slang) name a contract without conducting a full investigation during the bidding
bath: (slang) large penalty
Bath coup: a hold-up from ace-jack after LHO's lead from king-queen
beat: set; defeat (a contract)
beaver: (slang) redouble
Becker: (1) a defense against notrump openings in which two clubs shows minors and two diamonds show majors.; (2) suit-preference signal
bed: [see: Go to bed with]
beer card: the seven of diamonds
bell: (slang) echo; encouraging signal
belong to: specifying the partnership that can make the highest contract on the deal [Usage: The deal belongs to East-West for three spades. = Three spades declared by at least one of those players in the highest contract that can be made.]
below the line: points that count towards game; points scored for tricks bid and made
Benjamin: a scheme for opening two-bids: majors: weak; diamonds: artificial (near) game-force; clubs: artificial--an Acol two-bid with long suit(s) as yet unspecified
Bergen raises: a scheme of responses to major-suit openings (single raise = 6-9 points with three trumps; three clubs = 6-9 points with four trumps; three diamonds = 10-11 points with four trumps; double raise = 0-5 points with four trumps)
Bermuda Bowl: the trophy for the major world team championship; the most coveted trophy in international tournament bridge, comparable to the World Cup in soccer
better minor: an agreement to open the stronger minor with 4=3=3=3 or 3=4=3=3 distribution
-best: having the indicated rank, as fourth-best (fourth highest in rank among the cards held)
bid: a bet to take the specified number of tricks above six, in the specified strain; a number of tricks from one to seven combined with a strain (notrump, spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs)
biddable suit: a suit long or strong enough to be indicated in a given bidding situation
bidder: (1) player who makes a bid; (2) (slang) someone who is usually aggressive during the auction
bidding: auction; the phase of bridge in which the players bid for the right to name the final contract
bidding boxes: physical devices that enable silent auctions
bidding space: the number of steps available in an auction
bidding system: a collection of partnership understandings about the meanings of calls
biff: (slang) (verb) trump
big: (slang) strength-showing
big cassino (also big casino): the ten of diamonds
big club: a strength-showing artificial one-club opening
Birthright: a rebid of two hearts by opener after two clubs (artificial; strong) -- two diamonds (artificial; weak or possibly weak) -- ? to show either (a) a balanced hand too strong for a two-notrump rebid, usually 25-26 points; or (b) hearts. After responder's two-spade relay, opener shows (a) with a third bid of two notrump, (b) with any other third bid
black suits: spades and clubs
Blackwood convention: a conventional method through which one partner can ask about the number of partner's aces by bidding four notrump
blank: (1) void; a holding of no cards in a suit; (2) (slang) (noun) bare; unaccompanied by protecting cards; (3) (slang) (verb) leave unaccompanied by low cards through discarding
blind lead: (1) the opening lead; a lead made without benefit of seeing the dummy; (2) an opening lead made with only weak clues from the bidding
blitz: (slang) (verb) defeat severely; (slang) (noun) a big win; (slang) (noun) a win that obtains the maximum possible score
blizzard: a very weak hand; a hand with no useful cards whatever
block: (verb) prevent the running of a suit by denying the hand long in the suit an entry therein
blockbuster: (slang) a very powerful hand; powerhouse
blocked: (adjective) (of a suit) unable to be run without use of an entry in another suit. [In a particular suit, dummy has queen-jack-ten-nine; declarer has ace-king. The suit is blocked.]
blocking: causing a suit to be blocked
blue club: Blue Team club
Blue Team club: a big-club system made popular by the highly successful Italian Blue Team
Blue Team two diamonds: a two-diamond opening to show a 4-4-4-1 hand with 17-24 HCP
bluhmer: a call, often a jump bid, that encourages high-level action (usually a slam-try) by denying values opposite partner's short suit
board: (1) (slang) the dummy; dummy's cards, as spread on the table; (2) in duplicate bridge: a holder, usually of metal or plastic, used to preserve the cards as originally dealt; (3) (slang) a deal
board-a-match: a scoring system for team play in which each deal accounts for one point (a team scores 1 point if it gets a higher score, 1/2 point if it gets an equal score, 0 if it gets a lower score)
body: strong intermediate cards (such as 10's and 9's)
bolster: partial stopper
book: (1) (noun) the first six tricks taken by declarer; (2) (noun) tricks (possibly zero) taken by the defense leaving it one short of defeating the contract; (3) (adjective) in accordance with the common wisdom or the usual procedure
book player: (slang) someone who seldom departs from established procedures or requirements; a straightforward player
boost: (1) (slang) raise; (2) (slang) bid in the bope of pushing the opponents to a higher contract
BOSTON: (acronym) Bottom Of Something, Top Of Nothing
bottom: in matchpoint scoring, the lowest score on one deal
bracket: a grouping of entries in a knockout tournament that will (eventually) produce one survivor
bracketed: (adjective for a knockout event) broken up, usually by the entrants' rating categories, such that each segment will produce its own winner
break: (1) (noun) the division of the adversely held cards in a suit; [A three-two break = finding one opponent with three of the missing five cards and the other with two.]; (2) (verb) defeat (a contract); (3) (verb) make the first lead in (a suit)
Briar-Patch Coup: illegally transmitting unauthorized information suggesting the opposite of what one hopes will happen (such as by doubling hesitantly with a clear-cut penalty double), in the hope that partner will be influenced to do the opposite of what is suggested
bridge: a card game for four players, acting in two partnerships, in which bets are made on the number of tricks each side will win during the play of the cards; contract bridge
Bridge-O-Rama: an early method of displaying bridge to an audience, now generally replaced by vu-graph
Bridge World Standard: a consensus bidding system based on the preferences of North American experts
bring in: (slang) fulfill (a contract); play (a suit) without loss, or without adverse circumstance, or to win a particular number of tricks
broken sequence: an interrupted run of cards, such as K-J-10
broken suit: a suit lacking cards in sequence, especially honor cards
Brozel: a defense against one-notrump openings: double = a one-suiter, suit unspecified; two of a minor = that suit and hearts; two hearts = majors; two spades = spades and a minor
bull: (1) (slang) ace; (2) blunder
bullet: (slang) ace
bump: (slang) fall together (usually said of honors); cause to fall together
Burn's Law: Have more trumps than the opponents
business double: penalty double
bust: (slang) a very poor hand; a hand weak in honor cards; a hand weak for the holder's earlier bidding
busy: (of a card) needed to prevent an opponent's winner or for some other specific purpose
butt-in: (slang) overcall
buy: (1) (slang) obtain (the contract); make the highest bid in; (2) (slang) find in dummy. [Usage: I hoped to buy a spade honor (i.e., find dummy with a spade honor)
BWS: Bridge World Standard
by me: (slang) improper form of "pass."
bye: (noun) a round without an opponent; (adjective) in a duplicate bridge movement, referring to a table (sometimes "bye stand") where boards are placed but not played
Byzantine: a complex form of key-card Blackwood

• C •

CAB: a British system built around an artificial two-club opening with ace-showing responses and Blackwood
caddy: a tournament director's assistant, typically responsible for distributing to and picking up from the tables in play
Calcutta: a tournament in which a portion of bets on the outcome are used as prizes
California Cue-Bid: a bid of the opponents' suit asking partner to bid notrump with a stopper there
call: a bid, pass, double or redouble
canapé: bidding a shorter suit before a longer one
Cappelletti: a defensive method against opposing one-notrump openings (double = penalty; two clubs = one-suiter with suit unspecified; two diamonds = majors; two of a major = that major and an unspecified minor); sometimes called Hamilton
captain: partner with the responsibility of making the final decision (in bidding) for his side
capture: (1) (verb) (of a trick) win; (2) (verb) (of a card) prevent an opponent's card from taking a trick by winning the trick with a higher card of the same suit
card: (1) (noun) one of the fifty-two elements of a deck; (2) (slang) (verb) overpower, especially at rubber bridge, by being dealt superior hands [Usage: "They carded us to death." (held much superior values)]; (3) (verb) employ defensive-carding agreements (see Carding)
card combination: suit combination
card pusher: (slang) a weak player
card reading: analysis of the lie of the unseen cards from the bidding and play
carding: (1) the set of agreements between partners relating to the meanings of cards played on defense; (2) the choice or order of cards to play as a defender; signaling
cardrack: a player alleged to hold significantly-stronger-than-average hands
cards: (1) (slang) high cards; honor cards; (2) (slang) extra high-card values (for the previous calls made)
carryover: the score from early sessions that applies to an overall tournament score
case: (adjective) sole remaining [Usage: North led the case spade.]
cash: (slang) take a trick with (a winning card)
cash out: (slang) cash all available immediate winners
casher: (slang) A card that will win a trick if led or led to. (Usually used in the sense that an opponent will not trump.)
casino count: (also cassino count): a hand-valuation quantity equal to a player's high-card points ("cards") plus his spade length ("spades"); typically used in connection with guidelines for when to open the bidding in fourth position
cat: (slang) dummy
caught speeding: (slang) heavily penalized after taking a dangerous aggressive action
Cavendish variation: a later version of four-deal bridge, with dealer's side nonvulnerable on the second and third deals
CCCC points: = Four C's points
chair: (slang) position; seat
Challenge the Champs: a long-running monthly bidding-match feature in The Bridge World
change of suit: a bid of a previously unbid suit
charity game: a tournament whose net receipts are donated to charity
cheapest bid: the lowest legal bid. [Over one club, one diamond is the cheapest bid.]
check: (slang) improper form of "pass."; (slang) (noun) stopper (mainly Antipodean usage)
Checkback Stayman: the Stayman convention applied after opener's rebid of one notrump (or, less commonly, two notrump)
Chicago: the original version of four-deal bridge, with dealer's side vulnerable on the second and third deals
chicane: void
children: (slang) low trumps [Usage: "Let's get the children off the street." = lead or draw trumps]
Chinese finesse: declarer's deceptive lead of a significant card not supported by touching cards, whether blunder or brilliancy. [Example: With ace-deuce in dummy and queen-three in declarer's hand, leading and passing the queen would be a Chinese finesse.]
CHO: acronym for Center Hand Opponent (usually, a denigrating reference to one's partner or to partners in general)
choice-of-games cue-bid: a cue-bid asking partner to suggest a strain for game (as opposed to inviting slam)
chuck: (slang) throw away (as a number of points or a contract) through error
chukker: a unit of four deals at four-deal bridge, roughly corresponding to a rubber at rubber bridge
chunky: (of a suit) containing sufficient honors and/or intermediate cards to provide playing strength without regard to position or help from partner. (Usually applied to suits of roughly four cards in length; e.g., QJ109 or QJ108 is a chunky suit while QJ75 is not.)
claim: statement of intention to win or concede a certain number of tricks, suggesting that further play is unnecessary
claimer: (slang) laydown (contract)
clash squeeze: a squeeze in which at least one of the threats is a card that, if guarded, would fall under a winner in the opposite hand. [A typical "clash menace" is singleton queen opposite the ace with at least one low card. The queen can be cashed for a trick only if the king is discarded.]
clear a suit: remove obstacles to a suit's being run
closed hand: declarer's hand
closed room: in tournament play, a room from which spectators are barred
club: a group of players who get together to play bridge, or the place where such a group meets
clubs: the lowest-ranking suit; symbol: ♣
coded nines and tens: the lead of a nine or ten to show zero or two higher honors in the suit
coffeehousing: (slang) making gratuitous statements, often (and highly improperly) with the intention of misleading or confusing the opponents
cold: (slang) easily makable; laydown
Cole: an artificial two-club rebid by opener after a one-level suit response, used to show a variety of hand-types, including a minimum raise of responder's suit with only three-card support
color: (1) red or black; sometime method of referring to suits: spades and clubs are the black suits, hearts and diamonds are the red suits; (2) (slang) any one of the four suits
colorful cue-bid: a direct cue-bid over a major-suit opening (e.g., one spade--two spades) to show a two-suiter in the other color (in the example, two spades to show the red suits)
colors: vulnerability conditions
combination: suit holding
combination finesse: (1) a finesse against more than one card; (2) a simple finesse preliminary to another finesse in the same suit
combination shot: (slang) a line of play or defense that offers more than one possible way to succeed
come-on (signal): a defensive card-play signal encouraging partner to lead or continue leading a particular suit
come down to: keep as last remaining cards
comic notrump: a one-notrump overcall that may be either a strong, balanced hand or a weak hand with a long suit
commit to: (1) drive or force to (a given bidding level); (2) decide on (an overall course of action in the bidding)
comparative scoring: duplicate-bridge-event scoring based on whether one pair's score beats that of another pair holding the same cards, independent of the amount of difference
compass direction (or point): direction (meaning 1)
competitive auction: (1) an auction in which both sides are attempting to name the contract; (2) bidding from the point of view of the opening side when the other side enters the auction
competitive bidding: See: Competitive auction
competitive double: a double showing general values rather than directly suggesting either takeout or penalty
compound squeeze: (1) any of certain squeeze forms in which one opponent is squeezed among three suits and the other between two; (2) more loosely used, any squeeze position of the complexity of compound squeeze (meaning 1) or greater; a squeeze with a large number of points (meaning 3); hedgehog
concede: give some or all of the remaining tricks to the opponents without contest
condone: act after an irregularity without requiring any penalty, thus forfeiting the right to penalize
congratulatory jack: a defender's unnecessary play of a jack after a deal's outcome has been decided, to acknowledge partner's superior defense
constructive: (of a bid) indicating definite values
constructive raise: the single raise of a major-suit opening to show more than normal strength (or, sometimes, maximum values for a normal single raise)
content: a highly improper form of "pass."
contested auction: competitive bidding (meaning 1)
contract: (1) (noun) a bet that a certain number of tricks will be taken; (2) (verb) to make such a bet
contract bridge: bridge in which only tricks bid for and made count towards game, as opposed to auction bridge (an earlier form), in which all tricks made, bid for or not, count towards game; bridge as usually played since the 1930's, when auction bridge began to die out (contract bridge was invented in 1925)
control: (1) ability to prevent the opponents from winning immediate tricks in a side suit at a trump contract [first-round control = ace or void, second-round control = king or singleton, and so on]; (2) command of the play at a trump contract; in particular, being able to use trumps to prevent the opponents from cashing winners; (3) a call that provides a mechanism for partner to show a specific type of unusual hand (as in "psychic control," a response that asks an opening psychist to make a certain type of rebid); (4) [The Bridge World suggests avoiding this usage.] a unit of evaluation in which aces count two and kings count one; (5) [The Bridge World suggests avoiding this usage.] stopper
control-bid: (1) (noun) a bid that indicates a control in a specific suit (usually as a slam-try); (2) (verb) to make a bid satisfying (1)
controlled psychic: a psychic (meaning 2) supported by an agreement about how it can be revealed later
convention: an understanding between partners that would not ordinarily be understood by the opponents in the absence of an explanation
convention card: a listing of a partnership's understandings, used in duplicate bridge
convert: (1) (verb) enable (a call) to function in a different capacity. [Example: To pass a double intended by partner as takeout is to convert it to penalty.]; (2) (verb) change the normal meaning or status of (a call or a bidding sequence) that has not yet occurred. [Example: To convert a force to a given level means that the partnership may not (systemically)defend an undoubled opposing bid no higher than that level. If an action "converts forces to two spades," the partnership may not let the opponents play undoubled at two spades or below; this is a weaker restriction than "forcing to two spades," which both converts forces to two spades and requires the partnerhsip itself to bid at least that high.]
cooperative double: a double that asks partner to judge whether it is better to pass or bid
cooperative-penalty double: A double that suggests that partner pass with normal distribution for the earlier auction, take out only with strong offensive orientation
cooperative-takeout double: A double that suggsts that partner take out with normal distribution for the earlier auction, pass only with strong defensive orientation
correct: adjust the contract to a different strain, having been offered a choice by partner. [Example: "Correcting" is often equivalent to "taking a preference" between two indicated suits, as in the partnership sequence one spade -- one notrump -- two diamonds. "Correct" is often used instead of "prefer" when the choice is offered implicitly rather than explicitly; for example, if opener bids two diamonds, showing a weak two-bid in either spade or hearts, a response of two hearts asks opener to pass with hearts or to correct to spades.]
count: (1) (noun) the number of cards held in each suit by an opponent; (2) (verb) to determine such numbers; (3) (verb) to add the number of possible or probable tricks, of winners, or losers
-count: a holding having the specified number of high-card points [Examples: "a 6-count" is a hand with 6 high-card points; "a combined 23-count" means a partnership total of 23 high-card points]
count signal: (1) a defensive signal to show whether a defender holds an even or odd number of cards in a suit; (2) a defensive signal to show exactly how many cards a defender holds in a suit
counter: reduce the opponents' entry-creating possibilities by playing low on a high card or high on a low card (e.g., If North, dummy, holds ace-jack, and South, declarer, holds queen-ten, West, with king-deuce, can counter South's plays by playing the king on the ten or the deuce on the queen, in each case denying a second entry to dummy in the suit)
counterplay: see Counter
coup: (1) any master stroke; (2) [sometimes Trump coup] the shortening of one's trumps to enable the eventual lead of a plain-suit card to substitute for the lead of a trump to take a finesse; (3) more generally, any trump-shortening process aimed at creating a particular end-position; (4) (verb) to capture without loss or to reduce the trick-taking power of an opponent's trump holding by any combination of trump reduction and/or arranging effectively to lead a plain-suit card through that opponent in an ending
couped: having suffered from the effects of a (trump) coup
coup-en-passant: a form of elopement; leading a plain-suit card in order to make a trick with a trump that is not the highest but is favorably situated behind a higher trump in an opponent's hand
coup without a name: Scissors coup
court cards: kings, queens, and jacks
courtesy bid: a bid made with a relatively weak holding to keep the auction open for partner
cover: to play a higher card than one previously played to the same trick (usually applied when a higher card is played directly over an opponent's play)
cover an honor with an honor: a guideline of play stemming from whist (an earlier game similar to bridge) that is sometimes, but by no means always, sound, meaning that if possible one should play a higher honor than one played by right-hand opponent
cover cards: values (usually honors) that are likely or certain to correspond to losers partner has counted in the losing trick count
crack: (slang) double (for penalty)
crash: (1) (slang) bump; (2) (all upper case) acronym for Color, Rank And SHape, an artificial defense to show two-suited hands against big-club openings (double = black or red suits; one diamond = major or minor suits; one notrump = round or pointed suits)
Crawling Stayman: Garbage Stayman
criss-cross: (1) (in bidding) an interchange of meanings between bids in two suits; (2) (in bidding) bidding the weaker of the two suits under consideration; (3) (in bidding) using bids in more than one suit artificially
crisscross: (adjective) a form of squeeze in which the entry to each hand is unaccompanied by low cards
crocodile coup: the play of an apparently unnecessary high card (such as ace from ace-queen) to avoid partner's being forced on lead (with, in the example, his singleton king)
cross: enter the opposite hand (more commonly applied to the declarer than the defenders)
cross-attitude signal: a message about attitude in one suit through the play of a card in a different suit.
crossruff: a line of play through which ruffing tricks are made in both partner's hands
Crowhurst: a two-club bid following partner's wide-range one-notrump bid asking for clarification of both range and distribution
cue: cue-bid
cue-bid: (1) (noun) a bid in a strain that an opponent has bid; [Example: a two-spade overcall of a one-spade opening bid.]; (2) (noun) a bid in a suit that an opponent has suggested artificially (a "virtual cue-bid"); [Example: a three-spade overcall of a three-heart opening that indicates spades.]; (3) (verb) to make a bid satisfying (1) or (2)
cue-bid double: a double that sends the same message a cue-bid would have sent had the intervening opponent not bid. [Example: (one club) -- one spade -- (two clubs) -- double used with the same fundamental meaning as (one club) -- one spade -- (pass) -- two clubs.]
Culbertson Four-Five Notrump: a slam convention in which four notrump shows certain values and asks partner about others; a cooperative method compared to Blackwood, a captain-private four-notrump slam method
Culbertson system: one of the early contract bridge bidding systems, the basis of standard bidding in America (and elsewhere)
Curse of Scotland: the nine of diamonds
curtain card: written record of a deal or a player's hand, used to avoid errors in duplicate bridge (e.g., allowing each player to check that he is holding the correct hand)
cut: (1) place a packet of cards from the bottom ot the deck on top; (2) choose partners (by picking, often called cutting, cards fom a deck); (3) (slang) ruff; (4) in tournament bridge, the score required to qualify for the next round
cut-around: rubber bridge (or an equivalent) in which the players choose new partnerships after each rubber (or equiivalent unit of play)
cut in: (slang) enter a game already in progress at the end of a rubber or chukker
cutthroat bridge: a three-handed form of bridge

• D •

danger hand: the one opponent who may profitably gain the lead for his side
dangerous hand: danger hand
danger suit: a suit that the opponents may profitably lead; a suit in which tricks may be lost with jeopardy to the contract
datum: the average (or trimmed average, with one or more scores removed from each end) of scores achieved on a deal, used as an artificial standard for scoring purposes
dead: (1) (slang) having no entry; (2) (slang) (adjective for "seat") reopening [dead seat = reopening position, i.e., after two passes]
deal: (1) (verb) distribute the cards; (2) (noun) the 52 cards as distributed; (3) (noun) the entire course of bidding and play; one unit of a bridge game
dealer: (1) the player who deals the cards; (2) the player first to call
death holding: cards in a suit that suggest poor prospects (such as three low cards in partner's announced side suit when another suit is agreed as trumps)
deck: the collection of fifty-two cards, four suits of thirteen cards each, used in bridge
declaration: contract
Declarative-Interrogative: (See D-I.)
declare: act as declarer
declarer: the player who first named the strain of the final contract for his or her side and who manipulates both his own cards and partner's during the play
decompression: a situation in which one side is able to score ruffing tricks because an opponent is unable to rid himself of a sufficient number of cards in a side suit
deep finesse: a finesse against more than one missing card
defeat (the contract): prevent declarer from taking the number of tricks required by his contract; set
defend: act as opponent of the declarer
defender: (1) an opponent of the declarer; (2) an opponent of the side that made the first bid in the auction
defense: (1) declarer's opponents; (2) the approach taken by declarer's opponents; (3) countermeasure against an opponent's call or systemic agreement
defensive bid: (1) a bid made to prevent the opponents from naming the final contract of their choice; sacrifice; (2) a bid made by a defender (meaning 2)
defensive bidding: (1) the use of defensive bids; sacrificing; (2) bidding from the point of view of the side not making the opening bid
defensive trick: 1. a holding likely to take a trick on defense against an opposing contract; 2. (occasionally used as a substitute for) honor-trick
delayed: not done immediately in bidding or play. [Examples: Delayed support is support given on a later round of bidding. A delayed duck is the deliberate or necessary loss of a trick after some other activity, such as a squeeze, is performed.]
delayed Stayman: use of Stayman after a one-notrump rebid by opener
demand bid: forcing bid, especially a strong opening two-bid
denial bid: a bid that shows weakness or lack of fit
denomination: strain; one of the four suits or notrump
Dentist's Coup: the extraction of a safe exit card from an opponent's hand; (by extension) the removal of a card that allows an opponent a safe play
DEPO: acronym for Double Even Pass Odd, a method for showing aces (or key cards) after interference over Blackwood (or key-card Blackwood)
Deschapelles coup: the sacrifice of a high card to create an entry to partner's hand
deuce: two-spot; the lowest-ranking card of a suit
develop: establish
devil's bedposts: the four of clubs
devil's coup: (1) an elopement that denies the opponents a trump trick they would get if trumps were led; (2) (as commonly used) such an elopement when the opposing trump holding is exactly five cards including the queen and jack
D.I.: (for declarative-interrogative) describing a four-notrump bid used as a general slam try
diagram: a chart showing position of the players and the cards they hold
diamonds: the third-highest-ranking suit; symbol: ♦
dink: (slang) force (definition 2)
direction: (1) the location of a player at a bridge table: North, East, South or West;; (2) one of the partnerships, North-South or East-West
directional asking-bid: a bid, usually a cue-bid, that attempts to make partner the declarer at notrump
direct position: immediately following in clockwise rotation
director: the supervisor of a duplicate bridge event
discard: (1) (verb) play a plain-suit card of a suit other than the one led; (2) (noun) a card thus played
discouraging card: a card played by a defender as a signal to partner not to lead, or to discontinue leading, a particular suit, or to suggest weakness in the suit
discovery play: a play designed to gain information about the unseen cards
distribution: (1) the number of cards in each suit held by one player; [5=4=3=1 distribution = five spades, four hearts, one diamond and three clubs]; (2) the number of cards of a particular suit held by each player; (3) (slang) the lie of the adversely held cards
distribution points: valuation points awarded because of the trick-taking potential of long or short suits at trump contracts
distributional values: playing strength held by virtue of long and short suits
ditch: (slang) discard (usually a loser)
dive: (slang) (noun) sacrifice
dog: (1) (slang) (noun) a very weak hand, or one that is very weak for the previous bidding; (2) (verb) [usually with "it"] bid conservatively
DONT: a defense against one-notrump openings: double = one-suiter; two spades = natural; two of another suit = that suit and some higher-ranking suit
DOPE: acronym for Double 0dd Pass Even, a method for showing aces (or key cards) after interference over Blackwood (or key-card Blackwood)
DOPI: acronym for Double 0 Pass 1, a method for showing aces (or key cards) after interference over Blackwood (or key-card Blackwood)
double: See also: Cooperative-Penalty Double, Cooperative-Takeout Double, Penalty Double, Takeout; (1) (noun) a call that increases scoring values; (2) (verb) to make the call described in (1)
Double-Barreled Stayman: two-way Stayman
double-dummy: (1) (adjective) with all four hands exposed; (2) (slang) (adjective) action taken as if in sight of all four hands, i.e., perfect for the lie of the cards; (3) (slang) (verb) criticize for not acting as though having seen all four hands. [Example: "My partner double-dummied me for not starting clubs first."]
double finesse: a finesse against two missing cards
double into game: a double of a contract that is not a game undoubled but is when doubled
double jump: a bid one level above a minimum jump in the same strain. [Extends to Double Jump-overcall, Double Jump-preference, Double Jump-raise, Double Jump-rebid and Double Jump-shift.]
double key-card: key-card Blackwood in which the kings of two suits are counted as key cards
double knockout: a form of tournament in which a team is not eliminated until it has lost two matches
double negative: a further negative by a player who has already taken a negative action
double raise: bid two levels higher in the suit named by partner
double squeeze: a squeeze in which each opponent is squeezed between two suits
double stopper: a holding that will (or is likely to, or might) prevent the opponents from running a large number of tricks in a suit at notrump even after they lead that suit twice
doubler: one who doubles
doubleton: a holding of two cards in a suit
down: set; defeated
down the line: (1) describing bidding the higher of equivalent features; [Advancing one spade to a takeout double of a one-diamond opening with four cards in each major is bidding down the line.]; (2) describing playing the highest of available cards
draw: remove from the possession of the opponents. [As in "draw trumps" (take away the opposing trumps).]
drive out: force an opponent to part with (a certain card or cards)
drive to: (slang) reach the bidding level of. [Example: "drive to game" means ensure that the bidding reaches at least game.]
drop: fall on a trick; (slang) lose; give away through error
Drop-Dead Stayman: = garbage Stayman
Drury: (1) originally, a two-club response by a passed hand to show maximum values; (2) in its more modern form, often called Drury-Fit, a two-club response by a passed hand to show a fit for partner's major in a hand too strong for a single raise
Drury-Fit: See: Drury (meaning 2)
dry: (slang) without any other cards in the suit
dub: (slang) a poor player
duck: (1) play a low card when holding a higher one; (2) surrender (a trick)
duckling (also ugly duckling): (slang) hand with 5-3-3-2 distribution
duffer: (slang) a poor player
duke: (1) (slang) very strong hand

(2) See also Iron Duke
Duke of Cumberland deal: a swindler's deal from whist, in which the mark holds all top cards in all suits except one, in which he holds king-jack-nine (or, in one version where the whist dealer is expected to lead a trump, king-jack-nine-seven) but cannot take a trick with the weak suit as trumps
dumb bidder: a device, consisting of a board with listed calls placed in the middle of the table, to permit silent bidding
dummy: (1) partner of declarer; (2) that player's cards, exposed on the table after the opening lead
dummy hand: Dummy (2)
dummy play: play of the cards by declarer
dummy reversal: =reversal
dump: (1) (slang) discard; (2) (slang) lose deliberately
duplicate bridge: form of bridge in which two or more sets of participants have an opportunity to play the same deals
duplication of distribution: both partners having the same suit lengths
duplication of values: both partners having strong values in the same suit, generally to their side's disadvantage
dynamic notrump: a one-notrump opening showing a strong, unbalanced hand

• E •

East: one of the compass points; one of the players (usually to the right of declarer) in the standard diagram
Eastern Scientific: a bidding style based on five-card majors, forcing notrump response, strong two-over-one responses, and strong notrumps with transfers
East-West: one of the two partnerships; the defending side in the standard diagram
echo: the play of a high card followed by a low card (in the same suit); [Commonly used to show attitude, encouragement or discouragement, or parity of count, even or odd, in the suit.]
EHAA: an acronym for Every Hand An Adventure, a system based on very weak (10-12 point) notrump openings, four-card majors, and flimsy weak two-bids in all four suits
eight clubs: (slang) four clubs doubled
eight diamonds: (slang) four diamonds doubled
eight ever, nine never: a general rule for deciding when to finesse for a missing queen, it advises to finesse with a combined holding of eight or fewer cards but not with nine or more
eight hearts: (slang) four hearts doubled
eight spades: (slang) four spades doubled
-eighth: within or heading an eight-card holding. [Usage: jack-eighth = eight cards headed by the jack = Jxxxxxxx.]
Eleven Rule: Rule of Eleven
-eleventh: within or heading an eleven-card holding. [Usage: ace-king-eleventh = eleven cards headed by the ace-king.]
elimination play: the removal of safe exit cards from an opponents hand (either by extraction or by making them unsafe or impossible to play), usually preliminary to an endplay
elope: (of a trump that is not high) win a trick with by ruffing
elopement: method of play based on scoring tricks by ruffing with trumps that are not high
Ely: Culbertson Four-Five Notrump [so-called after its inventor, Ely Culbertson]
emp: European Match Points
empty: without any significant cards other than those specified. [Example: Ace-empty-fifth means a five-card holding in which the only significant high card is the ace.]
encouraging: (1) a defensive card play signal asking partner to lead or continue a specified suit; (2) a bid suggesting that partner continue to a higher contract
encouraging card: a card played by a defender as a signal to partner to lead, or to continue leading, a particular suit, or to suggest strength in the suit
encrypted: carrying a meaning determined by a new, superseding, or additionally-clarified partnership agreement that (i) came into force later than the beginning of current deal and (ii) is based on information that may have become available to some players but not others. [For examples, see Encrypted call and Encrypted signal. Most common bidding and defensive card-play agreements are not encrypted, even though their interpretations may benefit from knowledge available to only some players, because the governing partnership agreement does not change. Suppose, for instance, that a defender makes a lead from equal cards that establishes a suit at notrump. It is often agreed that the card chosen is a suit-preference signal--high card suggests entry, strength or interest in a relatively high-ranking suit; low card refers to a low-ranking suit. Even though the partner of a player giving such a signal could sometimes better interpret it because on knowledge that the defense but not the declarer possesses, the signal is not encrypted because the agreement in force, high card means high suit etc., does not change during the deal.]
encrypted auction: see encrypted call
encrypted call (sometimes encrypted auction): a call that is encrypted by agreement. [Example: North-South agree that a two-notrump response to a major-suit opening is a game-forcing raise promising either the ace or king of trumps but not both, and that opener's new-suit rebid shows a short suit when responder has the ace of trumps or a long suit when repsonder has the king of trumps. Opener's new-suit rebid is encrypted, because it can be deciphered only by a player who holds or later discovers the location of the ace or king of spades. Note that, under this agreement, opener might well choose not to use a new-suit rebid when he lacked both top spades.]
encrypted signal: a defensive card-play signal that is encrypted by agreement. [Example: East-West agree that when declarer first shows out of a suit in which the defenders' distribution is not clear by the end of that trick, future East-West fundamental signal meanings will be determined by Plan A (high encourages, high even, high suit-preference for high suit) when West has the defenders' lowest remaining card in that suit, or by Plan B (low encourages, low even, low suit-preference for high suit) when East has that card. Should such a situation arise, East-West's later signals are encrypted, because they can be deciphered only by someone who knows or later discovers the location of that lowest card.]
ending: (1) a position of the cards with relatively few remaining in each hand; [in a three-card ending, each player has three cards remaining]; (2) a position of the cards with some special identifying characteristic, typically occurring towards the end of the play
endplay: (1) (verb) force an opponent to lead disadvantageously; (2) (noun) the position of the cards so resulting
end-signal: a call indicating that the next bid made by that player will be an attempt to name the final contract. [Example: An end-signal of four diamonds is sometimes used (in relay-oriented methods) as an end-signal. Partner is expected to bid four hearts, after which the end-signaler can pass, bid four spades expecting partner to pass, etc.]
en passant: (of a trump that is not high) by virtue of favorable location behind a higher trump. [Example: Spades are trumps, and the remaining spades are East's seven and South's (declarer's) five. By leading, prior to trick thirteen, a plain suit from North that South can ruff, declarer wins a trick with the spade five en passant.]
enter: (1) (in play) use an entry; transfer the lead to the opposite hand; (2) (in bidding) after the opponents have opened the bidding, for the first time for your side bid, or suggest with a takeout double that partner bid, after the opponents have bid; (3) (in a tournament) participate
entry: (1) a card that can win a trick and thereby gain the lead for its holder; (2) seating assignment given to a tournament participant, in effect a receipt for the entry fee
entry squeeze: a squeeze in which one of the victim's busy cards forestalls an entry
entry-shifting squeeze: a squeeze in which the operator takes advantage of the ability to win the current and/or some future trick in the squeeze-card suit in either hand after the squeezee has played to a squeeze trick
equal: (1) (of cards) having equivalent rank; (2) See: Vulnerability conditions
equal-level conversions: See: minimum equal-level conversions
equals: cards adjacent in rank (as king and queen), and thus equivalent in trick-taking power when held by the same player
escape: remove to a different contract (usually by changing strains)
escape suit: a (usually long) suit to which a player can turn if in trouble in the bidding
establish: make into winning cards by removing higher cards of the suit
established: (1) (of a suit) consisting of winning cards; (2) (of a revoke) no longer correctable
estimate: guess at the score achieved on a deal or over a session
etiquette: courteous table behavior
European Match Points: a forerunner of International Match Points (closer to an even balance between comparative and quantitative scoring)
even: (1) (of a suit split) exactly equal; [Example: a three-three split is an even split.]; (2) (of a card) with an even number of pips (the 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10); (3) (of a suit holding) of even parity
exclusion: (of a call) showing length in, or asking for information about, all suits other than the one named
Exclusion Blackwood/Key-Card Blackwood: a form of Blackwood in which partner is asked to show aces/key cards except in a particular suit
exhaust: deprive entirely of (cards in a given suit)
exit: get off lead
exit card: a card used to effect an exit
expert: a superior player
exposed card: (1) a card whose face becomes visible at an incorrect time under the laws; (2) a card that must be played in accordance with a penalty
exposed hand: dummy (meaning 2)
extended responsive double: an informatory double by overcaller's partner over a raise
extras: (slang) extra values
extra values: significantly more than the minimum strength or potential indicated by earlier bidding
extra trick: overtrick

• F •

face: (1) place upwards on the table; (2) the side of a card indicating its suit and rank; front
face card: king, queen or jack
face down: with the face not showing
face up: with the face showing
faced: (adjective for card) exposed with the face up
factoring: the adjusting of matchpoint scores to take into account unequal conditions
fall: drop; succumb to higher cards
falsecard: an unnecessarily high card (or, less often, a low card instead of a high one) played with deceptive intent
false preference: showing preference for a suit despite holding more cards in another suit shown by partner
fast: (of a trick or of high-card values) immediately cashable
fast arrival: a bidding method in which a jump to the level to which the bidding is already forced denies extra values. [e.g., one heart--two clubs--two spades--four spades shows spade support but a minimum two-club response; therefore, one heart--two clubs--two spades--three spades shows extra strength] See also: slow arrival
favorable: See: Vulnerability conditions
feature: (1) a high honor (usually ace or king; sometimes ace, king or queen); (2) anything of interest in a particular suit, such as a high honor or shortness
feel: = Table Feel
fence: = See "On the fence."
fert: (slang) an opening bid that shows a very weak hand
field: (1) (noun) the totality of entries to a tournament; (2) (noun) (slang) a presumed large proportion of the entrants who will face the same problem and find the same solution. [Usage: The field bids three notrump.]; (3) (adjective) (slang) describing a presumed action taken by the field [definition (2)]. [Usage: The field bid is three notrump.]; (4) (verb) come to understand an unusual action by partner [Usage: South fielded North's psychic opening bid.]
fielder's choice: (slang) a position in which one side can get a good result either by bidding to its own contract or by doubling the opponents
fielding a psych: guessing that partner's action was a psych before it is formally revealed
-fifth: within or heading a five-card holding. [Usage: jack-fifth = five cards headed by the jack = Jxxxx.]
filler: middle-ranking card; card required to solidify a suit
final contract: the last bid made
finesse: (1) (verb) attempt to take advantage of the location of one or more cards not held [usually by not playing the highest card held (or one equal to it in trick-taking power) or by discarding instead of ruffing]; (2) (noun) a call or (usually) a play that makes such an attempt
first hand: the dealer
first-round control: ace or void
fish: (slang) weak player. especially in a gambling context
Fishbein: a defense against preemptive openings: double for penalties, cheapest suit bid for takeout
Fisher double: a double of three notrump reached after a one-notrump opening, requesting a club lead if responder used Stayman or a diamond lead if responder raised directly to two or three notrump
fit: (1) degree of support for partner; (2) combined partnership holding in a suit. [In a four-four fit, each partner has four cards in the suit.]
fit-showing jump (also fit-jump): a jump to show both length in the suit bid plus support for partner's suit
five-ace Blackwood: key-card Blackwood
five-card majors: an understanding between partners that an opening bid in a major suit will be based on a suit at least five cards long
five-or-seven: (adjective for deal) likely to make either 11 or 13 tricks after the expected opening lead [Usage: As it was a five-or-seven deal, bidding six was a bad idea.]
fix: an unfortunate result caused by happenstance or undeservedly rewarded poor performance by the opponents
fixed: (1) (slang) placed in a difficult position; (2) (slang) in line for a poor result because of winning action taken by the opponents
Flannery: a two-level opening (usually two diamonds but sometimes two hearts) to show a minimum-range opening hand with four spades and five or more hearts
flat hand: (slang) a hand with 4-3-3-3 suit distribution
flat board: (1) in team play, a board with no swing; (2) in pairs play, a board on which all (in casual usage, almost all) of the participants achieved equivalent results
flight: (1) one of the subevents of a flighted (1) tournament; (2) one of the subgroups of players in a flighted (2) tournanent
flighted: (1) (adjective for tournament) having separate, usually simultaneous, events for players in different rating categories; (2) (adjective for tournanent) having all players compete together but with prizes awarded for the best performances by players in each of two or more rating categories
Flint: a three-diamond response to a two-notrump opening, preparatory to signoff in a major suit
flip-flop: See: Jordan
flitch: a tournament in which each pair must be a married couple
float: (1) (during the bidding) (slang) be followed by passes. [Example: Three notrump floated = three notrump was passed out. West's three spades floated around to South = North and East passed over three spades.]; (2) (during the play) (slang) lead and duck; let ride (usually by declarer's not putting up a higher card from his hand or dummy's) [Example: South floated the jack of hearts around to East's queen.]; (3) (during the play) (slang) not get covered. [Example: The ten of spades floated (i.e., was led and won the trick).]
floor: See "Put on the floor."
flower bid: Fit-showing jump. [possibly regional usage]
flower movement: a variant of the Howell movement that adds logistic uniformity at the expense of better-balanced comparisons."
fly: (slang) play (a card), as to take a winning card immediately on someone else's lead of its suit
follow: play a card of the same suit as the one led
four-or-six: (adjective for deal) likely to make either 10 or 12 tricks after the expected opening lead
force: (1) (verb) make a forcing bid; (2) (verb) require an opponent to use a trump; (3) (verb) diminish the number of trumps held by an opponent; (4) (noun) forcing call
force to: ensure that the bidding reaches at least (a certain level), as in "force to game," "force to the five-level," or "force to slam."
forcing: requiring under special understanding that partner not pass
forcing call: a call that requests that partner not pass
forcing club: (1) a strong, artificial one-club opening; (2) a system based on such an opening
forcing notrump: a one-notrump response to a major-suit opening as a forcing (but not necessarily strong) bid
forcing pass: a pass that requests that partner take some action and not allow the opponents to secure the contract (undoubled) at their present bid
forcing-pass system: a bidding system that uses a pass in first or second position to show the values associated with an opening bid in standard systems
forcing raise: a raise showing the values to bid at least game
Forcing Stayman: Stayman in which a rebid of two of a major by the two-club bidder is forcing
forcing to . . . [a stated level, such as game, slam, a particular bid]: a call that requests that partner not pass until the stated level has been reached or a penalty double has been made
fork: (1) tenace; (2) end-position; ending; (3) any position in which a player has a choice of losing plays
Foster Echo: the play of the second-highest card in the suit of partner's lead by a player not playing third hand high
fouled board: a board in which the cards have been disturbed from their original layout
fourchette: tenace
four by three (sometimes Four by triple three): 4-3-3-3 distribution
four C's points: valuation units (requiring a relatively complex calculation) that result from adding values for (a) high-card strength in controls and nonlosers, (b) distribution, and (c) suit quality [(a) Count 3-2-1 for ace, guarded king, twice-guarded queen; add 0.5 for each of these: singleton king, doubleton queen under a higher honor, jack under exactly two higher honors; subtract 0.25 for a queen-tripleton or longer with no higher honor; add 0.25 for each of these: queen-doubleton, jack with exactly one higher honor, ten with exactly two higher honors, ten-nine with exactly one higher honor. (b) Count 3-2-1 for void, singleton, doubleton; subtract 1; if 4-3-3-3, subtract an additional 0.5. (c) In each suit, multiply its 4-3-2-1 pointcount by its adjusted suit length and divide by 10 [adjust from actual length as follows: add 1-2-3 for a seven-card, eight-card, or longer suit missing either the queen or jack; for any ten, add 0.5 and an additional 0.5 if it is in a six-card or shorter suit with the jack or any two higher honors; for a nine in a suit at most six cards long, add 0.5 if accompanied by the ten, the eight, or any two higher honors. Most people who uses this count, typically in theoretical discussions, rely on a computer program to do the calculation.]
four-card majors: bidding methods that permit opening in a major suit of four-card length (very popular in the early decades of bridge, very unpopular in the electronic age)
four-deal bridge: a popular variant of rubber bridge in which each unit of play (chukker) consists of four deals, the vulnerability switching with each deal; Chicago
four-suit transfers: (1) a variation of Jacoby transfers in which, in response to a one-notrump opening, bids of two diamonds, two hearts, two spades and two notrump suggest, respectively, hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds; (2) any method of responding to notrump that includes a transfer to any suit
Fourteen Thirty (also 1430 or 14-30): variant of Key-Card Blackwood in which five clubs shows 1 or 4 key cards, five diamonds shows 0 or 3
fourth: (slang) a player who makes up or is needed to make up a foursome
-fourth: within or heading a four-card holding. [Usage: jack-fourth = four cards headed by the jack = Jxxx.]
fourth hand: (1) the player fourth to have the opportunity to bid (i.e., on the dealer's right); (2) the player fourth to play to a trick
fourth-suit forcing: (1) a bid of the only remaining unbid suit (thus the fourth suit to be bid) that does not necessarily show a desire to make that suit trump.; (2) as in (1), but additionally suggesting that partner not bid notrump without a stopper in the fourth suit
fragment bid: a raise that shows both a fit for partner's suit and shortness (void or singleton) in a particular suit other than the one bid. [Example: In the partnership sequence one club -- one spade -- three diamonds, three diamonds is a fragment bid if it shows a strong hand with spade support and at most one heart.]
freak: a hand or deal of unusual suit distribution(s)
free: made when it is not necessary to bid to allow partner another chance to call. [Example: South bids one club, West bids one diamond. If North bids one hearts, that is a free bid; if North bids two clubs, that is a free raise.]
free bid: a bid made when it is not necessary to bid to allow partner another chance to call
free double: a double that is not a double into game
free finesse: a finesse with possible gain that can be taken without risk
free position: directly after both opponents have bid. [Example: one club -- pass -- one spade -- ? is a free-position situation.]
free raise: a free bid in the form of a raise of partner's suit
frigid: (slang) guaranteed to make; cold
frivolous: [as an adjective for slam-try] mild (that is, not "serious")
front: the side of a card that shows its suit and rank
front of card: use of the same conventional responses to a one-notrump opening as advances of a one-notrump overcall
frozen: (of a suit) not playable by one side (perhaps both sides) without loss. [A typical suit that is frozen for East-West: North holds queen-ten, South holds ace-low, East holds the king and West the jack.]
fruit machine Swiss: in response to a major-suit one-bid, four clubs to show an extra-value game-raise with three key cards or an unspecified short suit, four diamonds to show a similar hand with minimum game-raising strength
fulfill: make enough tricks for the contract
Futile Willie: a character in S. J. Simon's books who creates disasters through being overimaginative; hence, any player who exhibits that characteristic

• G •

gadget: (slang) a convention designed to cover a specific bidding situation rather than an entire class of auctions
gambit: the taking a of risk (such as the deliberate sacrifice of a trick) in hope of gaining a large reward
gambling three notrump: a three-notrump opening based on a long, solid minor suit
game: a score of 100 or more points below the line; 100 or more in trick score
game all: both sides vulnerable
game bid: a bid that, if fulfilled, will score a game for the declaring side
game contract: game bid
game-force: a call that requests partner to continue bidding until game is reached
game-forcing bid: a bid that requests partner to continue bidding until game is reached
game in: vulnerable
game invitation: a call that requests partner to bid game with maximum values for earlier actions
game-try: game invitation
garbage: (slang) poor values; a poor hand; a poor hand for the previous bidding
Garbage Stayman: a partnership agreement that a two-club response to a one-notrump opening may be based on a weak hand (as opposed to the game-invitational-or-better requirement of traditional Stayman methods)
Gardener: a one-notrump overcall to show either a strong notrump or a weak hand with an escape suit
Gardener notrump overcall: a one-notrump overcall showing either a strong-notrump opening hand with a stopper in opener's suit or a hand with the values for a preemptive jump overcall
Gazzilli: a multi-use, artificial two-club rebid by opener
Gerber: a conventional four-club bid asking partner to show a count of aces
Ghestem: a jump-overcall in an unbid suit to show a two-suiter (often showing the other two unbid suits)
ghoulie: a form of bridge that does not play out non-game-going part-scores and uses goulash dealing methods after unplayed outcomes
gin: (1) (exclamation) (slang) "I claim the rest of the tricks."; (2) (adjective) (of a contract) certain to be made
giraffe: hand with 7-4-1-1 distribution
give: (1) (slang) hypothesize as a basis for planning the play or defense [Usage: "Give East the ace of hearts." = Assume that East holds the ace of hearts.]; (2) (slang) bid [Usage: "If partner bids five spades, I will give him six." = "If partner bids five spades, I will bid six spades."]
Gladiator: a method of responding to one notrump based on a two-club puppet to two diamonds
go for: (1) (slang) be set [Usage: Go for 1100 = concede a penalty of 1100 points.]; (2) (slang) be tricked by. [Usage: An inexperienced declarer might go for that defensive swindle.]; (3) (slang) attempt (usually a higher-level contract)
go in with: play (a high card); go up with; rise with
Gold Cup: the major British knockout team championship
Goldwater's Rule: "Always accept a lead out of turn." (Based on the theory that someone who doesn't know who is on lead is unlikely to play effectively.)
good: (1) established; (2) consisting of all winners
good-bad two notrump: an artificial two-notrump bid that allows indicating two levels of strength, one by bidding two notrump (followed by a natural call), the other by making a different bid immediately
Goren system: a derivative of the Culbertson system that described hand valuation in points (where Culbertson had used honor tricks) and replaced the older version as the standard American system, a position it held for several decades
go to bed with: (slang) fail to take a trick with [usually, of a card that could have won a trick in a straightforward manner]
goulash: (1) a deal in which the cards are distributed in large packets (5,5,3 or 5,4,4) instead of one at a time; (2) the same as (1), but using the unshuffled remains of a passed out or unplayed deal (thus tending to produce freak distributions)
grab: (slang) make a bid that names a strain that neither partner has bid, thus potentially becoming declarer at that strain. [Usage: "grab the notrump" = make a bid in notrump before partner; sometimes, just "grab" alone is taken to mean "grab the notrump"]
grab it: (slang) bid notrump (usually three notrump) and become the declarer at notrump
grand coup: a trump coup of the reduction type in which the side-suit cards ruffed are winners
Grand National: one of the major American national team championships, a qualifying -plus-knockout event in which teams represent geographical areas
grand slam: a bid of seven
grand-slam force: an artificial bid, usually five notrump, asking partner to bid a grand slam with two of the top three trump honors
green: See: Vulnerability conditions
Grosvenor Gambit (sometimes just "Grosvenor"): a play that cannot gain and might lose but is virtually certain to break even because an opponent will assume it would never have been made
guard: (1) (noun) a holding that will prevent the opponents from taking a large number of tricks in a given suit; stopper; (2) (verb) prevent the opponents from turning a particular card or cards into winners; (3) (noun) a card or cards held to prevent the opponents from turning a particular card or cards into winners; (4) (noun) a lower card or cards held to prevent the opponents from using high cards to drop a higher card (usually an honor) in the same suit. [Usage: In the holding king-deuce, the deuce is a guard for the king, preventing an opponent from dropping the king with the ace.]
guarded: (of a card, usually an honor) accompanied by sufficient guards (meaning 4)
guard squeeze: a squeeze in which the discard of one of the victim's busy cards exposes partner to a finesse
guide card: a set of instructions for a the movement of a pair from table to table in a duplicate bridge movement
Guggenheim: See: Mrs. Guggenheim
gulpic: (slang) a very weak opening bid

• H •

half table: a table with only one pair
Hamilton: Cappelletti
Hamman's Rule: "When three notrump is one of the alternatives, choose it."
hand: (1) one of the players; (2) the cards held by a player; (3) deal (meaning 2); (4) deal (meaning 3)
-hand: indicating the position at the table in bidding order (thus, dealer is first hand, the player left of the dealer is second hand, and so forth)
hand hog: a player who attempts to become declarer as often as possible
hand pattern: suit distribution
hand record: a permanent record of the cards, bidding and play of a deal
handicap: score adjustment based on seeding
handle (noun): handling charge
handling (noun): handling charge
handling charge: the necessity for declarer to face multiple (often small) risks (usually from ruffs or overruffs) in order for the contract to succeed. [Usage: "Four spades is on a finesse and a handling charge." meaning that to succeed in four spades, declarer needs both to win a finesse and to be able safely to move from hand to hand or to take ruffs, so the contract requires a little more luck than just a successful finesse.]
hang: (1) fail to bid game [usage: hang at three spades]; (2) (slang) trying for a higher-level contract in a way that raises the stakes for someone who may have taken a dangerous, shaded action [usage: a game-try that will hang partner for what may have been a courageous entry into the auction]
hard values: aces and kings (as opposed to lower honors); honors capable of producing fast tricks
Hawaii: (slang) five-zero (suit split)
HCP: common abbreviation for high-card points (2); 4-3-2-1-points. [See Points.]
hearts: the second-highest-ranking suit; symbol: ♥
heavy: (slang) (of a hand) with more than the usual values
hedgehog: a squeeze with a large number of threats
help: raise
help suit: a suit in which high cards in partner's hand will be valuable
Herbert: a one-step bid to deny values
hesitation: a break in the usual tempo
hexagonal squeeze: a squeeze in which pressure is brought to bear against each opponent in each of three suits
Hideous Hog: a character of Victor Mollo's marked by extreme boorishness and spectacular effectiveness at the table
high: (1) of winning rank; (2) currently top-ranking of its suit; (3) (slang) high-card points
high card: honor card
high-card points: (1) valuation points awarded to specific honor cards; (2) specifically 4-3-2-1-points [See Points]
High Gerber: five clubs used to ask for aces
high-low signal: echo
highs: (slang) high, meaning (3)
hippogriffs: a fictional suit used by the devil; "the green suit"
hippopotamus: a squeeze that matures when a card in a suit without a menace is ruffed (a ruffing hippopotamus) or led and lost (a loser hippopotamus)
hit: (1) (slang) double; (2) (slang) ruff; (3) (slang) (relating to a dummy) come down; track
hit the table: (slang) pass
hog: See: Hand hog
hold: (1) (verb) (slang) prevent declarer from making undeserved tricks; (2) (verb) have a particular card or card combination; (3) (verb) retain (the lead); (4) (verb) win a trick although not the master card. [Example: The king held = it won the trick even though someone else still held the ace.]
holding: cards in one's hand
hold off: delay the taking of a winner
hold-up: act of holding off; hold off
honeymoon bridge: a form of bridge for two players
honor: ace, king, queen, jack or ten
honor bonus: a scoring bonus for holding four or five trump honors, or all four aces at notrump, in one hand
honors: a holding that will entitle its possessor to an honor bonus
honor-tricks: a hand valuation method in which honors and honor combinations are assigned point values (ace is 1, ace-king is 2, and so forth)
hook: (slang) finesse
hop: (slang) play high
horse and horse: See: Vulnerability conditions
hot: (slang) vulnerable
hot versus not: (slang) vulnerable against nonvulnerable opponents
house player: an employee of a rubber-bridge club who often plays to complete a foursome
Howell movement: a tournament arrangement in which most or all pairs do not remain seated at fixed compass directions (North-South or East-West) and may meet any of the other pairs
Hoyle, Edmund: an eighteenth-century authority, the first widely so recognized, on Whist (and other games)
huddle: think for a long time
HUM: acronym for Highly Unusual Method
hybrid scoring: duplicate-bridge scoring of an individual deal based partly on a comparative aspect and partly on a quantitative aspect

• I •

IBPA: International Bridge Press Association
icy: (slang) laydown; cold; easily makable
idiot coup: the creation of a situation in which an opponent is given an opportunity to do something foolish
idle: (of a card) suitable to be discarded or played without loss
illegal: not in accordance with the laws
imp: (1) (noun) International Match Points; a special unit of scoring used in tournament play; (2) (verb) calculate the imp score on a deal
imps: bridge scored by International Match Points
immaterial squeeze: a squeeze in which (at least) one of the plays by the victim loses a tactical or strategic asset but does not directly yield a trick to the other side
impossible negative: a negative one-diamond response to a strong one-club opening with the values for a positive response and three-suited distribution
impropriety: a violation of the proprieties
in back of: to the left of; behind; over
in-card: entry
in the pocket: (slang) onside; favorably located
incomplete rubber: unfinished rubber
individual: a form of duplicate bridge contest in which each player's score is kept separately from those of all the others
inferential problem: a puzzle form requiring deductions form unusual information
informatory: (1) takeout; (2) showing values
in front of: to the right of; under
instant matchpoints: matchpoint scoring from a predetermined scale (as opposed to results achieved in actual play)
insufficient bid: a bid that is illegal because it is not higher than the previous bid
insult: (slang) the 50-point (or 100-point) bonus for making a doubled (or redoubled) contract
insurance bid: a sacrifice against a very high-scoring contract
interference: a call that disrupts the flow of the opponents' bidding sequence
interior sequence: a sequence that does not include the highest card held in a suit. [King-jack-ten is an interior sequence; the jack-ten are in sequence, but are not in sequence with the king.]
intermediate: (1) (of a card) roughly of the rank of ten or nine; (2) (of a jump overcall) showing fair values, usually interpreted as a hand in the minimum opening-bid range with a strong six-card or longer suit; (3) (of an opening two-bid) just under the values for a forcing opening bid
International Bridge Press Association: the major organization of bridge writers
international match points: a form of duplicate-bridge scoring
intervene: after an opposing opening bid, to make the first non-pass call for one's side
intervening bid: overcall
intervenor: the player who intervenes; doubler, overcaller or cue-bidder; advancer's partner
intervention: a double, overcall or cue-bid after an opposing opening bid
in the money: qualifying for a prize
inverted: opposite in meaning to the natural, usual or traditional (such as inverted raises, where a single raise is stronger than s double raise); sometimes phrased as "upside-down"
inverted minors: a minor-suit single raise as strong with a minor-suit double raise as weak
invitation: request that partner continue to game (or slam) if with maximum values
invitational: offering an invitation
Iron Duke: (slang) a card of significant trick-taking rank. [Usage: (by the second to play to a trick putting up a high card) "Not through the Iron Duke."]
irregularity: an occurrence not in conformity with the Laws
isolate: (1) (of a hand) remove the last entry to the opposite hand; (2) (of a menace card) remove the guard of one opponent

• J •

jack: the fourth-highest-ranking card
jack denies: an opening lead convention in which a lead of the jack denies any higher honor
Jacoby transfers: responses to one notrump of two diamonds to show hearts and two hearts to show spades; responses to two notrump of three diamonds to show hearts and three hearts to show spades
Jacoby two notrump: a two-notrump response as a game-going raise of partner's major-suit opening plus a continuation structure that includes shortness-showing rebids by opener
jam: (slang) preempt
jettison: a discard, particularly the discard of a blocking card
Jordan: a response of two notrump over a takeout double to show a constructive hand in support of partner's suit; sometimes played with "flip-flop" when opener's suit is a minor, so that two notrump is a preemptive raise and three of opener's suit is constructive
Josephine: the Grand-Slam Force. [so-called after for Josephine Culbertson, but actually invented by Ely Culbertson]
Journalist leads: a method of opening leads based on attitude leads against notrump contracts, Rusinow and count leads against suit contracts
jump: (1) (verb) bid at a higher level than the minimum required to be legal; (2) (adjective) at a higher level than the minimum required to be legal
jump-overcall: (1) (noun) an overcall at higher than minimum level, as an overcall of two spades or three clubs over a one-heart opening; (2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1)
jump-preference: (1) (noun) preference at higher than minimum level, as in the partnership sequence one club -- one heart -- one spade -- three clubs; (2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1)
jump-raise: (1) (noun) a raise at higher than minimum level, as in the partnership sequence one club -- one heart -- three hearts; (2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1)
jump-rebid: (1) (noun) a same-suit rebid at higher than minimum level, as in the partnership sequence one club -- one heart -- three clubs; (2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1)
jump-shift: (1) (noun) a jump bid in a new suit; (2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1)
junior: a player under the age of 25
junk: (slang) poor cards; poor honor cards

• K •

Kaplan Inversion: use of a one-notrump response to a one-heart opening to show length in spades combined with a one-spade response to a one-heart opening as a relay (similar to a forcing one-notrump response)
Kaplan-Rubens points: = Four C's points
Kaplan-Sheinwold: a bidding system based on five-card majors and weak notrump openings
KCB: See: Key-Card Blackwood
keeping the bidding open: refusing to pass, to allow partner another turn to call
key card: An ace, or the king of the agreed suit (or suits)
key-card: (adjective) including all four aces and the king of the agreed suit
Key-Card Blackwood: a variant of the Blackwood convention in which the king of trumps is counted as if it were an ace
kibitzer: (1) spectator; (2) onlooker who offers gratuitous comments; busybody
kick: (1) (slang) double; (2) (slang) ruff; (3) (slang) blunder away
Kickback: a variant of Key-Card Blackwood in which the asking bid is one step above four of the agreed trump suit
Kickback Turbo: During a control-bidding sequence, using the cheapest or most convenient slam-try to show an even number of key cards, a higher non-signoff control-bid to show an odd number of key cards. (See also Turbo.)
Kickbo: Kickback Turbo
kill: (1) (slang) make (a hand, such as dummy) unusable through lack of an entry; (2) (slang) overtake (a card), so as to prevent from winning the trick); (3) (slang) defeat (a contract)

king; the second-highest-ranking card
KISS: acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid
kiss of death: a score of minus 200 at matchpoints when the maximum possible contract is at the part-score level
kitty: (slang) dummy
knave: jack
Kock-Werner redouble: a redouble of a penalty double of an overcall for takeout
Kokish: = Birthright
Kokish relay: the two-spade bid in a Birthright sequence (see Birthright)
knave: jack
knock: to tap the table (an improper way of passing)
knockout: (1) a form of tournament in which the winners of matches progress to the next round; (2) a three-suit squeeze in which one of the losing options is to part with a trump
knock out: force out so as to establish lower cards
K-S: Kaplan-Sheinwold

• L •

Landy: over an opponent's notrump opening, the cheapest club overcall to show length in both majors
last train: the only remaining slam-try below the security level, used to encourage a further slam-try but unrelated to the holding in the suit bid. [Example partnership sequence: one spade--three spades--four diamonds--four hearts]
late play: the contesting of a board after the usual time period for a tournament session (presumably caused by an irregularity or delay)
Lavinthal: suit-preference
law of total tricks: a property of bridge deals that, on average, the total number of tricks that can be taken, double-dummy, by both sides, equals the combined length of the two sides' trump suits
Lawful (capitalized): strategically conforming to the Law of Total Tricks (for example, bidding to the same level as a partnership's total trumps in a competitive or potentially competitive situation)
laydown: (slang) easily makable; cold; frigid; icy
lead: (1) (noun) the first card played to a trick; (2) (verb) to play such a card
lead back: return; play the same suit partner led previously (particularly when the earlier lead was the opening lead)
lead-directing bid (or double): a bid (or penalty double) that requests partner to make the opening lead in a particular suit
lead-directing raise: a raise that suggests a particular lead to partner
leader: (1) player who must lead (play the first card) to a trick; (2) the opening leader
lead through: play from the right of
lead through strength: a principle of defensive card play; to play a suit when honors lie to your left
lead up to: play from the left of
lead up to weakness: a principle of defensive card play; to play a suit when no honors lie to your right
leap: jump (bid), especially more than a minimum jump
Leaping Michaels: a jump to four of a minor over an opposing major-suit weak two-bid to show a two-suiter with the suit bid and the unbid major
leave in: pass partner's double; pass; fail to disturb the previous bid
lebensohl: (usually lower case initial letter, superseding all other capitalization rules, to imply its having been erroneously named) a two-notrump bid asking partner to bid three clubs, after which a suit bid is weak, in conjunction with direct three-level suit bids to show values; typical applications include responses to one notrump over an intervening overcall and advancing the takeout double of an opposing weak two-bid
ledger: back-score
lefty: (slang) left-hand opponent
legal: in accordance with the laws; permissible under the laws
leg: (slang) game ("having one leg" means being vulnerable)
length: the number of cards held in suit
length points: valuation points awarded to long suits
level: (1) the number of tricks contracted for (e.g.: the one level comprises bids that contract for seven tricks; thus, it includes the bids one club, one diamond one heart, one spade and one notrump); (2) in an auction, the distance between consecutive bids in the same strain (e.g.: two spades is one level above one spade); five steps; (3) the attribute of a bid (or contract) that describes whether it is a part-score, game or slam
LHO: abbreviation for left-hand opponent; the player to one's left
lift: (slang) raise
light: (1) lacking in values; minimum; (2) (slang) shy of the contract. [Two light = down two.]; (3) based on relatively low requirements. [Light openings require less strength than sound openings.]
Lightner double: a double, especially of a slam, to suggest an unusual opening lead
limit: (1) define (a hand) precisely (through a call); (2) (slang) maximum potential. [Our limit was four spades = the most was could make was four spades.]
limit bid: a bid that describes the nature of a hand fairly precisely
limited: (of a call) with specified lower and upper strength requirements, the latter below the maximum possible
limit raise: (1) a raise that invites game; (2) a raise from one to three that shows the range of strength just under that required to force to game
line: (1) the portion of a scorecard that separates points that do and do not count towards game; (2) general approach of the declarer or the defenders; [Usage: a line of play; a line of defense.]; (3) See also: Up the line. Down the line
link: in a squeeze position, an entry in a suit that includes a menace
little cassino (also little casino): the deuce of spades
little slam: small slam
live: (1) [rhymes with hive] (adjective) of an auction, one in which the opponents have not limited their values (hence typically more dangerous to enter than one where the opponents' strength ranges are known); (2) [rhymes with give] (verb) have the preponderance of high cards. [Usage: "Bid where I live" = name the suit with most of my hand's strength.]; (3) [rhymes with give] (verb) not be ruffed by an opponent. [Usage: "If three rounds of spades live, I will switch to hearts."]
local: the lowest tournament level
lock: (1) (slang) (usually said of a contract or a set of circumstances) certainty; (2) (slang) place the lead irrevocably in a particular opponent's hand
locked: (slang) restricted to or away from ["Locked in dummy" means unable to get the lead out of dummy; "locked out of dummy" means unable to get the lead to dummy.]
LOL: abbreviation for little old lady (innocent-appearing player)
long: having great length; having more cards of a suit than another hand (as in "long hand," the hand with more trumps than partner's)
long cards: cards remaining in a suit after all the other players have been exhausted
long hand: a hand with more trumps than in partner's hand
long suit: suit of unusually great length
loose: (slang) freewheeling; unfettered; tending to overbid or to bid dangerously
loser: (1) trick that must be lost; card that must be played to such a trick; card that cannot under present circumstances win a trick if played; (2) unit of (negative) hand valuation: see Losing trick count
loser-on-loser: a card-play technique (usually for declarer) that attempts to gain by playing two losing cards to the same trick
losing trick count: a hand valuation method in which, in each suit, one loser is counted for a missing ace, missing king in a suit of two or more cards, and missing queen in a suit of three or more cards
love: no score, as in "love all" (neither side vulnerable) or "love score" (no part-score for either side)
low: (1) (adjective for card) not of significant trick-taking ability; (2) (noun; singular and plural) card of insignificant trick-taking ability. [Example usages: ace-low, three low, ace-low-fifth.]
low-high signal: in defensive card play, to play a relatively higher card than one already played in the same suit. See: High-low signal
LTC: losing trick count
lurk: (verb) pass over right-hand opponent's opening bid
lurker: (1) (noun) player who passes over right-hand opponent's opening bid; (2) (slang) (noun) low trump held by the defenders

• M •

m (lower case): often used in bidding discussions to indicate some minor suit
M (upper case): often used in bidding discussions to indicate some major suit
MacGuffin: a card that if played exposes its discarder's side to one danger but if kept exposes it to another
main suit: a bidder's or a declarer's longest suit, especially one that will be used as a primary source of tricks
major penalty card: a card prematurely exposed deliberately, or any honor prematurely exposed
major suit: spades or hearts
major tenace: a holding of the first- and third-highest then outstanding cards of a suit. [Example: The ace-queen of a suit before that suit has been played.]
make: (1) (verb) fulfill (a contract); (2) (verb) capture a trick, or a number of tricks; (3) (slang) (noun) successful contract
make up: join a game so as to complete a foursome
mama-papa: (slang) (usually an adjective for bridge) simple; straightforward
marionette: (1) (noun) a transfer (meaning 2), after which partner will usually make the cheapest bid but is permitted to bid higher with special hands. (Compare with puppet.); (2) (verb) to use a marionette (meaning 1)
marked: of known location
marked finesse: a finesse against a marked card
master: (1) (adjective) the highest outstanding card of a suit; (2) (noun) an expert player
master bid: (1) an imaginative, perhaps brilliant, bid, typically with lesser values than usually associated with similar actions; (2) (said sarcastically) an unusual bid that leads to disaster
master hand: the hand having (or eventually having) the predominant trump length
Master Solvers' Club: a very-long-running monthly contest in The Bridge World, emphasizing expert discussing of bidding problems
masterpoint: a unit of measurement of achievement in tournament play
mastermind: (verb) (slang)During the bidding, take an extreme or unusual action based on a set of highly-detailed assumptions.
match: (1) a unit of play in knockout and related forms of team competition; (2) a sizable number of deals played against the same team (occasionally, against the same pair) with the results combined into one scoring unit
matchpoint: (verb) calculate the score on a deal in matchpoints
matchpoints: (1) a common form of scoring in duplicate bridge in which a pair scores one unit for every other pair whose score they best and one-half unit for every other pair whose score they tie; (2) the scoring units in (1)
Mathe: (1) a defense against big-club openings in which a double shows the major suits and one notrump shows the minor suits; (2) an asking-bid to locate a short suit in the hand of a responder who offered a direct limit major-suit raise
matrix: a generic layout of the cards (usually describing some form of ending, especially a squeeze)
maximal overcall: a bid that leaves the opponents no room below the next level of the suit they have already bid (e.g., one-spade opening, two-heart overcall)
maximal overcall double: the double of a maximal overcall, or of the raise of a maximal overcall, as a game invitation
maximum: a relatively strong holding for the previous calls made
McCabe Adjunct: a two-notrump response to a weak two-bid as a puppet to three clubs, usually preliminary to signing off at three of a suit underranking opener's
McKenney: suit-preference signal
member (of a table): player
menace: a card that an opponent must guard lest it become a winner
Merrimac coup (also Merrimack coup): the sacrifice of a high card to deny an opponent a timely entry
Michaels cue-bid: a direct cue-bid over an opening bid (e.g., North one club, East two clubs) to show distributional strength. In its modern form, a minor-suit cue-bid shows length in both majors, a major-suit cue-bid shows length in the other major and one of the minors (second suit unspecified)
middle honors: kings, queens and jacks
mini-: (prefix) of lesser strength; weaker than the usual kind (e.g., Mini-Roman two diamonds: a two-diamond opening showing the same hand-type but less strength than a Roman two diamonds.)
minimum: a relatively weak holding for the previous calls made
minimum equal-level conversions: an agreement between partners that doubler's new-suit bid that does not raise the bidding level of a new-suit advance does not show extra strength. [Example auction where such an agreement might apply: one heart -- double -- pass -- two clubs -- pass -- two diamonds.]
mini notrump: a one-notrump opening showing less than usual opening bid strength (typically 9-12 or 10-12 points)
mini-splinter: a splinter raise describing the values to invite game
Minnie: (slang) minimum
minor penalty card: a card below honor rank inadvertently exposed prematurely
minor suit: diamonds or clubs
minor-suit Stayman: a bid asking partner (usually opening notrtump bidder) to show length (usually four-plus cards), if any, in a minor suit
minor-suit Swiss: a double-jump in a higher ranking suit in response to a one-of-a-minor opening to show a strong raise of opener's suit
minor honor: lower honor; (usually, but not necessarily) queen, jack or ten
minor tenace: the second-highest outstanding card of a suit and at least one other card where the other card (or cards) is at best the fourth highest of the suit then outstanding (such as king-jack or king-deuce of a suit before any cards of that suit have been played)
Minorwood: a variant of key-card Blackwood in which the asking bid is four of the agreed minor suit [same as Trumpwood]
mirror: (1) (of distributions) identical; (2) (of tournament movements) simultaneously held in parallel (as in a Mirror Mitchell, a team-of-four movement in which the pairs are organized into two Mitchell arrangements).
misbid: (1) (noun) a bid that is inappropriate because it is of the wrong kind, or is misdescriptive to partner (as opposed to an underbid or an overbid); (2) (verb) to err by making a misbid (1)
misfit: a pair of partnership hands, each having poor support for the long suits of the other; no combined eight-card or greater trump holding despite skewed distributions
Mississippi Heart deal: a swindler's deal, dating from whist, on which the mark holds six solid hearts and seven top cards in the black suits but cannot make more than six tricks with hearts trumps, because left-hand opponent holds the other hearts and solid diamonds, with no black cards
Mitchell movement: a tournament arrangement in which all pairs remain seated at fixed compass directions (North-South or East-West) and meet only pairs seated in the opposite direction
mixed: (1) (of a partnership) composed of one player of each sex; (2) (of a tournament) one in which every competing pair is mixed; (3) (of a call, usually a raise) having both preemptive and constructive aspects; (4) having varying (especially conflicting) properties or objectives; (5) (of a duplicate-bridge scoring method) hybrid
mole squeeze: squeeze in which one losing option is exposing partner to an endplay
monster: (slang) a strong hand
Montreal relay: an artificial one-diamond response to leave room for opener to show a four-card major at the one-level, usually used in conjunction with major-suit responses to one-club openings that imply at least five-card length
moose: (slang) an extremely strong hand in context
Morton's Fork coup: the forcing of an opponent to choose between establishing one or more extra tricks in the suit led and losing the opportunity to win a trick in the suit led
Mosher over notrump: natural bidding in defense
mountain: (slang) very strong hand in context
movement: the arrangement and rearrangement of players and boards to achieve appropriate replays and comparisons in duplicate bridge. [Related entries include: American Whist Movement, Flower, Howell, Mirror Mitchell, Mitchell, New England Relay, Relay Boards, Relay Table, Scrambled Mitchell, Rainbow, Shomate, Stagger, Stanza, Three-Quarter, Web.]
Moysian fit: a partnership trump holding of four cards in one hand and three in the other
Mr. Smug: (1) a character of S. J. Simon's marked by moderate skills, extreme overconfidence, and practical behavior at the table; (2) The Bridge World's computer
Mrs. Guggenheim: a character of S. J. Simon's who cannot achieve anything beyond the obvious or routine; hence, any such player
MUD: acronym for Middle-Up-Down; the lead of the middle card from three low cards
Multi: a two-diamond opening showing one of several hand-types, usually including some weak and some strong. [One popular variation: two diamonds shows a weak two-bid with long hearts, a weak two-bid with long spades, or a balanced hand with 21-22 points]
multi-Landy: over an opposing one-notrump opening, two clubs to show majors, two diamonds to show a one-suiter, and two of a major to show the bid suit and length in an unspecified minor suit

• N •

Namyats: an opening bid of four clubs or four diamonds to show, respectively, a strong four-heart or four-spade opening
national: the highest tournament level within one country or geographical unit
National Laws Commission: a committee that administers the laws in North America
natural: (1) (of a call) indicating a desire to play in the named (or, if not a bid, in the last-named) strain without offering information relevant to a specific different strain; (2) (of a bidding system) consisting largely or entirely of agreements that most actions, or most early-in-the-auction actions, are natural
Neapolitan system: the parent system of the Blue Team club system
negative: denying strength or interest in a higher-level contract
negative double: a takeout or informatory double of an overcall
negative free bid: a nonforcing suit bid by responder over an intervening overcall
negative inference: a deduction made from the absence of an occurrence
negative response: a bid denying certain values
negative slam double: in a competitive auction, the double of a slam to deny defensive tricks
neither side vulnerable: neither side having scored a game
neutral lead: a lead that neither threatens to develop tricks nor risks the loss of tricks
New England relay: a variant of the Howell movement. [also called Three-Quarter movement]
new minor forcing: a form of Checkback Stayman
new suit: a suit not previously bid
-ninth: within or heading a nine-card holding. [Usage: jack-ninth = nine cards headed by the jack = Jxxxxxxxx.]
no bid: an improper form of "pass."
no call: an improper form of "pass" and a misnomer as well, for each player must call at his or her turn, even if that call is a pass
nonforcing: allowing partner to pass under the partnership understanding
Nonforcing Stayman: Stayman in which a rebid of two of a major by the two-club bidder is not forcing (originally defined as invitational, now sometimes played as weak)
nonmaterial squeeze: a squeeze in which at least one threat is against a straegic or informational value
nonserious: (usually as an adjective for slam-try) mild
nonvulnerable: not vulnerable
North: one of the compass points; one of the four players (usually the dummy) in the standard diagram
North-South: one of the competing partnerships; the declaring side in the standard diagram
not through the Iron Duke: a verbal expression, dating from whist, meaning a player is covering one card with a higher one, the implication being that an opponent cannot get his card through without a higher one being played (usually applied to finessing positions)
not vulnerable: not having scored one game
notrump: the highest-ranking strain in the bidding, in which the play proceeds with no trump suit
notrump distribution: balanced distribution
novice: inexperienced player
nuisance bid: action aimed at disrupting the opponents' auction
number: (1) (slang) telephone number; (2) (slang) any penalty representing a very poor result
number one: (slang) the ace

• O •

OBAR

opponents bid and raise

obligatory

(1) (adjective for finesse) in the form of a duck in the hope that an opposing high card will drop [For example, if declarer, with king=fourth opposite queen-fourth, leads to an honor that holds the trick, the usual play is to play low from both hands on the next round of the suit.]

(2) (adjective for falsecard) required to preserve best chances. [For example, if declarer, South, leads a low card toward dummy's king-jack-low and wins the trick, West has an obligatory falsecard of the queen when the king is cashed (bexause declarer presumably already knws that he holds that card. Other such falsecards are more subtle.]

obvious-shift principle

defensive-carding agreement that a discouraging card at trick one suggests or guarantees support for the obvious shift

-odd

(1) of a level, as "one-odd" (at the one-level)

(2) of tricks, six more than the number specified, as "two odd tricks" (eight tricks altogether)

odd-even discards

a defensive signaling method in which odd-numbered cards (the three, the five, etc.) are encouraging, the even-numbered ones are discouraging and may have suit-preference implications

odd trick

a trick taken by declarer in excess of six

off

(1) (slang) down; set

(2) (slang) offside

off the top

(adjective) describing tricks that can be taken without gaining the lead or lost before gaining the lead [Usage: Four spades was down off the top = the defenders could take at least four tricks before declarer gained the lead.]

offender

a player in violation of the laws or regulations

off-shape

not having one of the usual or expected distributions

offside

unfavorably located

Ogust

the use of artificial step rebids by an opening weak two-bidder after a two-notrump response. [The most popular version: three clubs = weak hand, weak suit; three diamonds = weak hand, strong suit; three hearts = strong hand, weak suit; three spades = strong hand, strong suit; three notrump = six-card suit headed by ace-king-queen.]

on

(1) (slang) makable

(2) (slang) onside; favorably located

-on

indicating the amount of a part-score, as "60-on" (having a partscore of 60)

on score

having a part-score. ["60 on score" = having a part-score of 60.]

one-bid

a bid of one; a bid at the one-level (usually refers to the opening bid)

one-club system

a bidding method based on an artificial one-club opening

one hundred honors

the honor cards (four of the five trump honors in one hand) entitling their holder's side to a bonus of 100 points

one hundred fifty aces

all four aces in one hand at notrump, entitling the holder's side to an honor bonus of 150

one hundred fifty honors

all five trump honors in one hand, entitling the holders side to an honor bonus of 150

one-over-one response

the bid of a higher-ranking suit at the one-level after partner's opening bid in a different suit

one-round force

a call that requests that partner not pass on the current round of bidding, without sending any message about later in the auction

one-spot

ace

one-suit squeeze

a position in which a player holding cards in only one suit cannot part with any of them without losing a trick. Example:

	NORTH ♠ A ♥ A 7 3
WEST ♠ — ♥ K J 10 2		EAST ♠ Q J ♥ 9 4
	SOUTH ♠ K ♥ Q 8 5

Needing three tricks at notrump, South leads a spade to North's ace. If West discards the deuce of hearts, a throw-in becomes possible; if West pitches a heart honor, North-South can take two heart tricks by force. (See also pincer play.)

one-suiter

a hand including only one suit of four or more cards, but generally not applied to 4-3-3-3 distribution, and often not to 5-3-3-2 distribution

one-way finesse

a situation in which it is possible to hope that one particular opponent holds a missing card. Compare with two-way finesse.

onside

favorably located

on the fence

(slang) without any other cards in the suit

open

(1) (verb) make the first bid

(2) (verb) be the first to play (a suit)

(3) (adjective for event) in tournament play, unrestricted as to who may enter

(4) (adjective for hand) dummy's; visible

(5) (adjective for room) permitting spectators

opener

the player making the first bid

opener's rebid

the second bid (if any) made by the opener

open hand

dummy's hand

opening (or opening bid)

the first bid made in an auction

opening bidder

the player making the first bid

opening lead

the lead to the first trick, made by the player to the left of the declarer before dummy's cards are exposed

opening leader

the player, to declarer's left, who leads to the first trick

open room

in tournament play, a room in which spectators are permitted

opponent

adversary; member of the other partnership

optional double

a double that, by partnership agreement, allows partner the option of passing (for penalties) or bidding on

our deal

our hand

our hand

(slang) a deal on which "our side" can make a higher contract than the opponents

out

(1) having no cards in (a suit); having no more cards in (a suit)

(2) not currently an active player. [Usage: sitting out = not one of the four players at the table.]

(3)(slang) with no other significant values [Usage: ace-jack-sixth of spades and out = the given spade holding along with no relevant high cards outside of spades]

outside

not in the main suit

out-of-the-blue control-bid

advance control-bid

over

(applies to players during the auction and to cards) to the left of; behind

overbid

(1) (verb) bid more than one's partnership can make

(2) (verb) bid unwarrantedly high (result aside)

(3) (verb) overcall

(4) (noun) the bid made in (meaning 1), (meaning 2) or (meaning 3)

overbidder

(1) one who overbids

(2) overcaller

overboard

(slang) having bid above a makable contract

overcall

(1) (noun) a bid following an opposing bid

(2) (verb) to make the call described in (1)

overcaller

a player who overcalls

overruff

ruff with a higher trump after another player ruffs

overtake

play a higher card of the suit led as the highest such card already played to the trick. [Usually refers to playing a higher card than partners.]

overtrick

trick made in excess of those required to fulfill the contract

overtrump

overruff

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• P •

pack

deck

packet

(1) part of as pack

(2) (slang) large penalty

pair

one partnership; two players acting as partners; North-South or East-West

pairs

a duplicate-bridge tournament among partnerships

pajama game

(slang) a duplicate-bridge session in which relatively many scores are top or bottom

palooka

(slang) poor player

pancake

(slang) Hand with 4-3-3-3 distribution (similar to Flat)

par

the result on a deal on which both sides do as well as possible

par contest

an event based on pre-set deals with scores awarded for superior technique in bidding and play

pard

(slang) partner

parity

(1) evenness or oddness (usually of a suit length)

(2) equal length (as another player's)

partial

part-score

partial elimination

an imperfect elimination that will succeed only against certain distributions of the opponents' cards

partial score

part-score

partial stopper

a suit holding that will provide a stopper if and only if partner has a holding in the same category (thus singleton queen, doubleton queen, tripleton jack, four to the ten, five to the nine, or six to the eight)

partner

(1) (noun) the other member of one's partnership

(2) (verb) act as the other member of a partnership with

partnership

(1) one of the two competing teams of two players

(2) the totality of understandings between two players

partnership agreement

see agreement

partnership bidding

said of an auction in which the opponents do nothing except pass

partnership desk

location or service that arranges tournament partners for unpaired players

part-score

a trick score of less than 100; less than game; fewer than 100 points scored below the line

pass

(1) (noun) a call indicating no desire to bid, double, or redouble at that turn

(2) (verb) to make such a call

(3) (verb) (after leading from declarer's hand or dummy) to play a lower card from the opposite hand when a higher card was available

passed hand

a player who passed when given the opportunity to open the bidding (thus, one who has denied having the values required to open)

pass and pull

make a forcing pass and then bid over partner's double

passed out

(1) (of a contract) allowed to stand

(2) (of a deal) thrown in because no player bid

passive

(of a defensive play) not risking tricks but not tending to promote any immediately

pass-or-correct

(adjective) of a call, requesting partner either to pass or to make an alternative call, depending on the (as yet unspecified) hand-type held. [Example: After an opening bid of two diamonds to show a weak two-bid in spades or hearts, a two-heart response is pass-or-correct: opener passes with hearts or bids two spades (i.e., corrects) with spades.]

pass out

(1) (verb) make the fourth consecutive pass, so that the cards are thrown in and dealt again

(2) (verb) make the third consecutive pass, so that the last bid becomes the final contract

(3) (adjective for seat) position in which a pass will end the auction

pasteboards

cards

pattern

hand distribution; distribution (meaning 1)

pattern out

(verb) determine a player's (usually partner's) most likely suit distribution

Patton

a form of hybrid scoring

Pearson points

high-card points plus spade length. [Sometimes used in a guideline for whether or not to open the bidding in fourth position, especially at matchpoints: Open when you have at least 14 Pearson points (some writers prefer 15).]

penalty

(1) points awarded to the defenders when declarer fails to fulfill his contract

(2) a remedy for an infraction provided by the laws

penalty card

an exposed card subjecting its holder's side to restrictions. (See also Major penalty card, Minor penalty card.)

penalty double

a double intended as an attempt to obtain a penalty against the opposing contract (suggesting that partner pass, as opposed to a "takeout double" suggesting that partner bid).

penalty pass

the pass of a double not intended as a penalty double

percentage play

the play most likely to achieve a specific goal

perfecto

(slang) (noun) a hand consistent with the previous bidding that has exactly the values needed to make some contract (usually a game or slam) desirable

peter

(slang) echo; high-low signal

phantom

(1) (noun) an imaginary pair deemed present to complete a tournament movement

(2) (noun) a sacrifice against a contract that would have failed. [Also phantom sacrifice or phantom save.]

(3) (adjective) describing a sacrifice against a contract that would have failed

phone number

(1) (slang) a penalty in four digits

(2) (slang) any large penalty

phoney club

short club

pianola

(slang) contract easy to make

pick-a-slam

(adjective) of a call [which is most commonly five notrump], requesting partner to make a six-level bid that expresses a preference for a strain for the final contract (or, if made in an "impossible" strain, suggests a further choice)

pick up

(1) (of a card) capture during the play

(2) (of a suit) play without loss, or with minimal loss

(3) (of a partner or team) recently met; not through prearrangement

(4) (adjective; usually hyphenated) collected from a table in a tournament. [Usage: pick-up slip = paper on which the result of each deal in a tournanent is recorded.]

picture

picture card

picture bid

bid that shows specific values or types of values, rather than general strength or overall hand-type. [Example: A jump in a suit to show values concentrated there is a picture bid.]

picture card

king, queen, or jack

picture jump

picture bid that is a jump

piece

(1) (slang) part-score

(2) (slang) a high honor [A piece in spades means a spade honor.]

(3) (slang) any card. [In general card-playing lingo, "a piece in spades" sometimes means any spade.]

pin

(verb) lead a card to cause a lower-ranking card to drop underneath (especially when there are yet higher cards of the suit outstanding)

pincer play

a defense against a one-suit squeeze in which one player maintains cards with trick-taking strength both above and below such a card held by partner. Example:

	NORTH ♠ A ♥ A 7 3
WEST ♠ — ♥ K J 9 2		EAST ♠ Q J ♥ 10 4
	SOUTH ♠ K ♥ Q 8 5

When South, needing three tricks at notrump, leads a spade, West can successfully discard the deuce of hearts, maintaining a pincer around East's ten of hearts. (See also one-suit squeeze.)

pip

(1) (noun) spot card; spot (marking on a card)

(2) (slang) outrank (on a trick) or defeat by the narrowest possible margin

(3) suit symbol (see suit pip)

pitch

(1) (noun) (slang) discard

(2) (verb) (slang) to discard

(3) (verb) (slang) to lose through error, especially through a clear error

pivot

(1) (noun) in a sequence of rubbers or chukkers, the player who remains in the same physical position at the table

(2) (noun) in a Howell movement, the player (if any) who remains stationary

(3) (verb) change partners

(4) (adjective for suit) guarded or potentially guarded by both opponents (in a double-suqeeze matrix)

(5) = chukker [especially in Great Britain]

plafond

French predecessor of bridge

plain suit

a suit other than the trump suit

play

(1) (noun) the phase of bridge in which the players try to take tricks to determine the outcome of bets made during the bidding

(2) (verb) act as declarer

(3) (verb) place (a card) in the center of the table

playable

(1) (of a contract) at least reasonable, even if not necessarily best

(2) (of an agreement or system) not in itself necessarily leading to inferior results

player

(1) one of the four participants

(2) (slang) hand with promising offensive prospects in context

play for

(verb) assume a holding of (as the basis for declarer play or defense) [Usage: South had to play for diamonds to break three-three. = South assumed that diamonds would break three-three as the basis of further planning or reasoning.]

playing trick

a combination of cards likely to take a trick during the play, hence a measure of offensive strength

PLOB

acronym for petty, little odious bid; an artificial, investigatory rebid by responder after opener's one-notrump rebid

pocket

(1) the receptacle for a hand in a duplicate board

(2) see "in the pocket."

PODI

Pass 0, Double 1 (method of showing aces or key cards after interference following an asking-bid)

point

(1) a unit of scoring

(2) a unit of hand valuation

(3) in describing a squeeze position, a unit of complexity (one point = one two-suit squeeze against one opponent)

(4) a unit of player rating (sometimes masterpoint; sometimes designated by a color or other description to indicate special significance)

points

Plural of point. Also, sometimes when used in meaning (2), expressing the number of valuation units assigned to each individual high card. For example, 2-1-points assigns two points to each ace, one to each king; 3-2-1-points assigns three points to each ace, two to each king, one to each queen; 4-3-2-1-points [also sometimes HCP and high-card points] assigns four to each ace, three to each king, two to each queen, and one to each jack. Similar formations describe other point-counting schemes.]

point a board

board-a-match

point count

a method of hand valuation in which numerical values (points) are assigned to various features of a hand

pointed (suit)

spades or diamonds

Polish club

a system based on a multi-way one-club opening, most commonly indicating a weak notrump, any strength of opening bid with length in clubs, or any very strong hand

pop-up squeeze

= show-up squeeze

Portland Club

a London bridge club that first published bridge laws, still part of the law-making process

position

(1) location at the table

(2) order of speaking relative to the dealer; [The dealer is in first position, the player to dealer's left is in second position, and so on.]

(3) seat; [First position means first seat, and so forth.]

(4) chair. [First chair means first position, and so forth.]

positional

(1) (adjective for squeeze) maturing only against the opponent in one particular table location

(2) (adjective for honors or for high cards in general) gaining in trick-taking strength because of the relative location (usually on the right) of a particular opponent

(3) (adjective for call) placing or tending to place the more advantageously located partner as declarer

positive response

a bid affirming certain values

post mortem

discussion of deals following play

powerhouse

(slang) a very strong hand

practice finesse

a risky, unnecessary finesse

prebalance

to act in direct position as one would in reopening (i.e., balance) position. [Example: To bid three clubs after one spade -- pass -- two spades -- ? with the values usually associated with one spade -- pass -- two spades -- pass -- pass -- three clubs would be a prebalance.]

Precision

a bidding system based on a big-club opening and five-card majors

Precision two diamonds

a two-diamond opening to show a minimum-range opening hand with no long suit and shortness in diamonds

preempt

preemptive

preemptive

(1) (adjective) intended to hinder the enemy through the removal of bidding space from the auction

(2) (noun) a preemptive bid, or a bid that acts preemptively no matter how intended

prefer

offer a preference

preference

indication of choice of strain from among those suggested by partner

premium

bonus

prepared bid

a bid made with a mind to the possibilities on later rounds of bidding

preparedness

principle of choosing the suit for the opening bid to facilitate a rebid

present count

a defensive card-play method in which a count signal relates to the number of cards presently held in a suit

pressure

(adjective for call or, more commonly, bid) made with options restricted by the opponents' bidding

primary

(1) (describing strength or high-card values) of the most useful or highest kind

(2) (describing a control) first-round

(3) (describing support) enough to guarantee at least an eight-card fit

professional

(1) person who makes a living from bridge

(2) paid partner or teammate

progression

in a tournament, the movement of players and deals

progressive squeeze

a squeeze position in which a newly created winner produces another squeeze

promote

(1) (of a card) move to or closer to winning rank

(2) (of a hand's value) add to the number of valuation points counted for

proprieties

the section of bridge laws that deals with personal or partnership behavior

protect

(1) (slang) (verb) balance

(2) (slang) (verb) reopen

(3) (verb) accompany (a higher card) so as to protect from capture

(4) (verb) guard (a suit)

protected

(of a card) accompanied by sufficient lower cards of the same suit to make it immune from capture by higher cards in the same suit

protected suit

a suit including a stopper

protest

appeal

proven finesse

a finesse that is guaranteed to win because of the previous play

pseudo finesse

an attempt to gain through a defender's failure to cover a card that cannot be led for an actual finesse, such as leading the queen from queen-low-doubleton in dummy up to ace-low-doubleton in declarer's hand

pseudo squeeze

a position in which a player is not squeezed but may lose one or more tricks through misreading the position

psych

(1) (slang) (noun) psychic

(2) (slang) (verb) to make a psychic call

psychic

(noun) a call made without the values normally associated with it, to deceive the opposition

psychic control

a call that indicates that an earlier call by the same player was a psychic

pudding raise

(slang) a raise based on high-card strength rather than distributional advantage

pull

(1) draw (trumps)

(2) remove partner's double

pump

(slang) force out a trump; = force (2)

punch

(1) (slang) force out a trump

(2) (slang) (often with "out") remove

punt

(1) (verb) make a call that is (or is intended to be) noncommittal or nondescriptive; avoid making any definitive statement

(2) (noun) a noncommittal or nondescriptive call

puppet

(1) (noun) transfer (meaning 2) [= a call that asks partner to make a certain call regardless of his holding]

(2) (verb) to use a puppet (meaning 1)

Puppet Stayman

a form of the Stayman convention in which a (one- or two-) notrump opener is asked to make the cheapest bid over a club takeout unless holding a five-card major suit

pure

(1) (of playing values) having only one type of orientation

(2) likely to be useful on offense

(3) (of a hand) lacking any values that are not pure

[Usage: A hand with no honors below the ace in any suit other than one in which partner has shown length is pure for the purpose of supporting one of partner's suits.]

purple cow

a deal or ending in which a trump coup and a squeeze both operate

push

(1) (slang) (verb) bid more than justified by the values held

(2) (slang) (verb) force the opponents to a higher level

(3) (slang) (noun) in team-of-four contests, a no-score result on a deal; wash; washout

(4) (slang) (verb) in team-of-four contests, to create or to achieve a no-score result on a deal

(5) (slang) (verb) lead

(6) (slang) (adjective) having no net score

pushed

(slang) having no net score

pusher

(1) (slang) overbidder

(2) (slang) intermediate card that can be led through an opponent's honor for a finesse

put on the floor

fail (usually as declarer) because of a mistake

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• Q •

quack: queen or jack
qualifying: (1) (of a tournament session) from which the highest scorers proceed to the next round; (2) (of a tournament) including one or more qualifying sessions or stages
quantitative: (of a bid) asking partner to determine the strength of his band by the total values (usually high-card values) held rather than by the presence or absence of any specific cards
queen: the third-highest-ranking card
queen-ask: in key-card Blackwood, Blackwood bidder's cheapest bid outside the agreed suit to ask partner about possession of the queen of trumps
quick trick: a high-card holding likely to take a trick on an early round of a suit. [Typical quick-trick values: ace-king = 2; ace-queen = 1.5; ace or king-queen = 1; king = 0.5.]
quitted trick: a trick that has been gathered and turned face down
quotient: the ratio of points won to the sum of points won and lost, sometimes used as part of a tie-breaking procedure

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• R •

rabbi's rule

"when the king is singleton, play the ace."

rabbit

new player

rack

see cardrack

rags

(slang) low cards; low spot cards

rainbow

a duplicate-bridge movement for individual events in which, traditionally, the players sitting in different compass directions follow guide cards of different colors

rainbow principle

the use of suit-preference signals when playing a card from a large number of possibilities

raise

(1) (verb) make a further bid in a suit bid by partner

(2) (noun) a strain-suggesting bid in a suit bid by partner

(3) (noun) a hand that meets the requirements for supporting a suit bid by partner

raiser

a player who raises

rank

(1) the relative position of suits or cards as applied to play or bidding

(2) level achieved by a tournament player

Raptor

A one-notrump overcall that indicates a four-card major and a five-plus-card minor.

rattle off

(slang) run (meaning 1)

rattlesnake

(slang) Hand with 4-4-4-1 distribution

RCO Two-Bids [RCO = Rank/Color/Oddment]

opening two-bids to show less than an opening bid and at least five-five in two suits: for two hearts, majors or minors (sorted by rank); for two spades, reds or blacks (sorted by color); for two notrump, pointed suits or rounded suits (sorted by oddment)

rebid

(1) (noun) a player's second bid

(2) (verb) to bid again a suit already bid by the same player

rebiddable suit

a suit long and/or strong enough to be bid again in a given bidding situation

recap (or recapitulation)

summary of results in a tournament

recorder

a tournament or organization official who keeps track of reports of non-standard behavior

rectify the count

lose one or more tricks to adjust the difference between the number of tricks to be played and the number of winners available to the appropriate quantity (most often one) for a planned squeeze

red

See: Vulnerability conditions

red against red

See: Vulnerability conditions

red against white

See: Vulnerability conditions

red suits

hearts and diamonds

redeal

replacement for a cancelled deal

redouble

a call that raises the scoring of a contract already doubled

Redwood

a variant of key-card Blackwood in which the asking bid is four hearts when diamonds is the agreed suit or four diamonds when clubs is the agreed suit; see also Kickback

re-enter

use a re-entry

re-entry

a card that will provide the lead at a later time, after a different entry bas been used

refuse

duck

regional

a tournament level above sectional and below national

Reisinger

one of the major American national team championships, scored at board-a-match

reject

(1) (of a game-try or a slam-try or an invitation to take a particular action) fail either to make the call suggested or invited, or to move in that direction; state or imply unwillingness to cooperate with partner's suggestion

(2) (of a transfer) fail to make the call suggested by the transfer

relay

(1) (noun) an artificial call, very often the cheapest bid, possibly nondescriptive or at most partially descriptive, that asks or allows partner to offer a description

(2) (verb) to use a relay (meaning 1)

(3) (adjective for system) a bidding method in which a high proportion of constructive auctions make use of relays

Examples of meaning (1) (the lettered calls are relays):

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 NT	Pass	2 ♣(a)

(a) Stayman; asks opener for information without directly describing responder's hand. Some relays are more descriptive than others; for example, a two-diamond response to one-notrump might be game-forcing Stayman.

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 NT	Pass	2 ♦*	Pass
2 ♥(b)

*transfer to hearts (Jacoby transfer)
(b) completion of transfer; says little (in some contexts nothing) about the South hand

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 NT	Pass	4 ♦*	Pass
4 ♥(c)

*puppet to four hearts (Texas transfer)
(c) completion of transfer; says nothing about the South hand
Similarly, the expected reply to any puppet acts as a relay.

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦	Pass
2 ♥*	Pass	2 ♠(d)

*Birthright: either hearts or a game-going balanced hand
(d) relay enabling opener to clarify hand-type (by bidding either two notrump if balanced or higher with hearts)

relay boards

the boards used at a relay table (hence shared with another table)

relay system

a method based on extensive use of relays

relay table

in a tournament movement, a table that shares boards with another table

remove

take out to a new bid, especially a double

renege

fail to follow suit (when able to do so); revoke

renounce

renege

reopen

take an action other than pass after a bid, a double, or a redouble has been followed by two passes

reopening

(1) (adjective) in a position to end the auction by passing. [e.g., one spade--pass--pass--?]

(2) (noun) a non-pass action taken by a player in reopening position

repeating

(adjective for squeeze) leading to the establishment of a new winner as a squeeze card (typically resulting in a multi-trick gain)

repechage

a tournament form in which entrants temporarily eliminated from the main event reenter after outstanding performance in a secondary event

replier

a player who makes a call based on partner's request for specific information

rerebid

(1) (noun) a player's third bid

(2) (verb) to bid again a suit already bid twice by the same player

rescue

remove the current bid to a different one. [Usage: Usually refers to changing the contract after partner's bid either has been doubled for penalty or is expected to be set heavily even if undoubled.]

rescue redouble

S.O.S. redouble

respond

make a bid after an opening bid by partner

responder

partner of the opener

response

bid by opener's partner at first opportunity after the opening bid

responsive double

after partner's informatory double, an informatory double over an opponent's raise. [Example sequence: one spade--double--two spades--double.]

restricted choice

a mathematically based guideline for analyzing suit combinations; oversimplified somewhat, it says that a player is more likely to have a holding from which there was no choice of plays than one from which there was

result merchant

result player

result player

one who determines the soundness of bids and plays by the way they turned out; Monday-morning quarterback

retain the lead

lead a winning card, thus keep the right to lead to the next trick

retransfer

transfer into a suit previously transfered into

return

lead back

revalue

adjust hand valuation based on the progress of the auction

reversal

ruffing with the partnership's longer trump holding until the opposite hand has more trumps

reverse

(1) (noun) a non-jump bid in a new suit that bypasses a bid in a lower-ranking suit already bid by the same player. [North one club, South one spade, North two hearts is a reverse (bypasses two clubs). But North one club, South one heart, North one spade is not (no bypass).]

(2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1)

Reverse Drury (or Reverse Drury-Fit)

Drury (or Drury-fit) where opener's rebid of two of the major opened shows a minimum (in the original, a two-diamond rebid showed a minimum)

reverse dummy

=reversal

reverse signals

See: Upside-down

review the bidding

repeat the calls made

revolving discard

a discard of a card in one suit to send a message relating to another suit

revoke

fail to follow suit when able to do so (an infraction of the laws)

rewind

(slang) redouble

RHO

an abbreviation for right-hand opponent; the player to one's right

rhythm double

a penalty double based on earlier penalty doubles' having been made rather than on an appropriate holding

ride

(1) (noun) (slang) large penalty; phone number

(2) (verb) lead and follow low from the opposite so as to take a finesse

riffle

a form of shuffling in which the cards from two halves of the pack are interleaved

right side

(noun) more favorable placement of declarer (compared to the opposite side of the table)

rightside

(verb) (slang) to place the declarer on the more favorable side (usually to put a particular opponent on lead)

righty

(slang) right-hand opponent

Ripstra

a two-of-a-minor overcall of one notrump to show length in both majors and simultaneously indicate the longer minor

rise

play a high card as opposed to a low card; go up

RKCB

acronym for Roman Key-Card Blackwood

Robert coup

the lead (possibly including a trump reduction to be able to lead) of a plain-suit card in order to create a later split tenace in trumps. [Typical ending: West holds KQ10 of trumps, North J2 of trumps and a plain-suit card, South A3 of trumps and a plain-suit card of a different suit. By leading South's plain-suit card, North-South can take two tricks.]

rock

(noun) (slang) a very strong

rockcrusher

powerful hand

rock of eye

hand valuation through an overall inspection (as opposed to a consideration of individual characteristics)

rolling

(1) (adjective for Blackwood and Gerber) in which the cheapest rebid outside the agreed suit asks for kings wholesale

(2) (adjective for four notrump) encouraging partner to bid slam without making explicit reference to any specific control

Roman

(1) (adjective for two-club or two-diamond opening) indicating a three-suiter

(2) (adjective for Blackwood, Gerber or Key-Card Blackwood) using step replies as follows: one step = zero or three aces or key cards; two steps = one or four aces or key cards; three steps = two or five aces or key cards without the queen of the agreed suit*; four steps = two or five aces or key cards plus the queen of the agreed suit* [* indicates the modern form; originally, the three-, four- and five-step replies narrowed the description of which two aces were held]

(3) (adjective for jump overcall) indicating length in the bid suit and the next highest unbid suit

(4) (adjective for asking-bid) calling for step responses to announce controls in the asking suit (one step = no control; two steps = king or singleton; three steps = ace or void; four steps = ace-king, perhaps ace-queen)

(5) (adjective for discard or signal) odd-even

(6) (adjective for lead) Rusinow

Roman club system

an approach characterized by a multi-way one-club opening that is very often a weak notrump

RONF

acronym for Raise Only NonForce. [Usage: Usually applied as a summary of methods for responding to a weak two-bid.]

ROPE

a position in which one player needs to play an otherwise-unnecessarily high card to prevent an endplay against partner (see also mole squeeze)

Rosenblum Cup

the world open knockout team championship

Rosenkranz double

a double by advancer to show a high honor in overcaller's suit

rotation

the order of calls and plays (clockwise)

Roth-Stone

a bidding system based on sound opening bids, five-card majors, forcing one-notrump responses, preemptive jump overcalls and responses, and negative doubles

round

(1) (slang) (of a hand) having 4-3-3-3 distribution

(2) (of the auction) one turn to call for each player

(3) (of the play of a suit) which time it is led; [The first round of a suit means the first time it is led.]

(4) (of a control, with a number) which time the suit is played the value will prevent the opponents from winning the trick; [Example: an ace, or a void when there is a trump suit, is a first-round control.]

(5) (in tournament play) a period of time during which players remain at the same table

(6) (in tournament play) a unit of simultaneous activities with a common goal (e.g., the quarterfinal round)

rounded (suit)

hearts or clubs

rounding off

scoring to the nearest full hundred (as on the back score)

round-robin

tournament form in which each entrant, or each entrant within a group, opposes every other

rover

in certain tournament movements, a pair that replaces a different pair in each round

royal

(1) king or queen

(2) (archaic) a card in a suit featured in some decks with more than four suits.

R-S

Roth-Stone

rubber

best two of three games; the traditional unit of play in bridge

rubber bonus

bonus awarded to the first side scoring two games (700 if the opponents have not scored one game; 500 if they have)

rubber game

both sides vulnerable

Rubens advances

transfer advances of overcalls

Rubensohl

transfer responses over overcalls

Rueful Rabbit

a character of Victor Mollo's marked by lack of comprehension, constant fretting, and incredible good fortune at the table

ruff

(verb) trump

(noun) the play a trump on the lead of another suit

ruffers

cards that can be trumped in the opposite hand to produce a source of tricks

ruff and discard

the ability to trump in one hand and discard (usually a loser) from the other

ruff and sluff

See: Ruff and discard

ruff out

establish by ruffing

ruffing finesse

a finesse that takes advantage of the ability to trump a high card in a plain suit. [Dummy has king-queen of a side suit in which declarer is void. Declarer can lead dummy's king, ruff RHO's ace, and later make a trick with the queen.]

ruffing value

shortness that may lead to ruffing tricks

rule

See Goldwater's Rule; Hamman's Rule; Rabbi's Rule

Rule of Eleven

a rule (from whist) that says: if partner has led fourth best, the number of cards outstanding above the card led is the spot on the card, subtracted from 11

Rule of Three Queens

A holding of three or four queens suggests playing in notrump

Rule of Twenty

a guideline that suggests opening the bidding when the sum of highcard points and the two longest suit lengths is at least 20

Rule of Two and Three

a rule propounded by Ely Culbertson as a guide for preemptive bids: you should be within two tricks of your contract when vulnerable and within three tricks when not vulnerable

ruling

decision by a tournament director or committee

run

(1) play off winners in a suit

(2) (slang) escape to a new strain (particularly after being doubled in a different one)

(3) lead (a card that is not a winner) and play low from the opposite hand when a higher card was available. [= pass (3)]

runner

(slang) a card that will win a trick as soon as the side holding it gains the lead. (Usage: With only one stopper in the opponents' suit, we will need nine runners to make three notrump.)

running

(of a suit) solid

runout

bid made to escape from an undesirable contract, especially from a doubled contract

Rusinow lead

the conventional lead of the second highest of equal honors

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• S •

sack: (slang) sacrifice
sacrifice: deliberately bid above one's trick-taking potential in the hope of losing fewer points than if the opponents were allowed to play and make their contract
safety level: security level
safety play: the sacrifice or potential sacrifice of one or more tricks to increase the chance of attaining a particular result (often the making of the contract by declarer)
sandbag: (slang) pass with strong values, hoping to trap the opponents or come into the bidding later on
sandwich: (adjective for position) following an opening bid on the left, a pass by partner, and a response on the right
sandwich overcall: a bid made after both opponents have bid
saturated: (adjective for squeeze) with menaces in all four suits
save: (slang) (noun and verb) sacrifice
SAYC: acronym for Standard American Yellow Card, the system defined by the current set of listings on a form of convention card identified by its color
scan: see spiral scan
Schenken system: the first big-club system to be widely used in America
scientific: a style of bidding in which the partners attempt to clarify their hands as accurately as possible
Scissors coup: a loser-on-loser play intended to deny an entry to a particular opponent
score: (1) a numerical result of a deal, match, session or event; (2) (slang) take a trick with; [Usage: Score the queen of spades = take a trick with the queen of spades.]; (3) (slang) win. [Usage: Score three spades and two hearts = take three spade tricks and two heart tricks.]
score slip: (1) traveler; (2) pick-up slip
scramble: (1) run to a new contract; (2) take tricks without attempting to retain control of trumps
Scrambled Mitchell: a Mitchell movement adjusted with direction changes to balance the groups against which each pair is compared
screen: a divider that prevents a player from seeing his partner
screenmate: the opponent on the same side of a screen used to shield partners from each other's sight
seat: (1) place at a table; (2) (slang) position (meaning 2)
secondary: (1) (describing a call) made at a player's second turn to call or second opportunity to act; (2) (describing honors or high-card strength) lower than the strongest values but still potentially useful; (3) (describing a control) second-round; (4) (describing support) less than primary; sometimes, the length just below primary; (5) (describing a squeeze) in which a trick is lost after the squeeze matures
second guesser: result player
second hand: (1) the player second to have the opportunity to bid (i.e., at the dealer's left); (2) the player second to play to a trick
second hand low: a principle of card play from whist
second-round control: king or singleton
section: grouping of entrants at a tournament
sectional: a tournament level above local and below regional
security level: the bidding height to which it is presumed that the partnership can bid without significant risk, even with no additional values beond those already promised by the earlier bidding. (Example: If South opens one spade and North offers a game-forcing raise, the North-South security level at that point is four spades.)
seed: (1) an entrant given a rank in a seeding (meaning 1) procedure; [Usage: first seed = top seed = highest-ranked entrant.]; (2) an entrant selected as seeded (highly rated) as opposed to unseeded (low rated)
seeded: (1) selected in a seeding (meaning 2) procedure; (2) rated higher than the current opponent
seeding: (1) arranging entrants, through objective or subjective criteria, approximately in order of strength; (2) selecting a small number of entrants believed to be stronger than the rest
see-saw squeeze: = entry-shifting squeeze
semi-balanced hand: hand with suit distribution 5-4-2-2 or 6-3-2-2
semi-forcing: (as an adjective for one-notrump response) wide-range, including hands of game-invitational strength, over which opener will rebid as over a forcing one-notrump response, but not including game-going hands (so that opener is permitted to pass)
semi-solid: (of a suit) with roughly one additional loser compared to a solid suit; likely to have one loser without any contribution from partner
send back [send it back]: (slang) redouble
senior: player over 55 years of age
sequence: (1) all calls made in an auction; (2) an auction; (3) two or more cards of adjacent ranks
serious: strongly suggestive or invitational, as a serious slam-try as opposed to a mild slam-try or mere indication of willingness to cooperate in an investigation
session: (1) a group of deals played consecutively without a break; (2) a group of deals whose scores are added together; (3) one morning, afternoon or evening of play, usually of 24 to 36 deals
set: (1) defeat; prevent from fulfilling the contract; (2) playing in fixed partnerships
set game: rubber bridge or four-deal bridge with fixed partnerships
set up: (1) (noun) established; (2) (verb) establish
-seventh: within or heading a seven-card holding. [Usage: jack-seventh = seven cards headed by the jack = Jxxxxxx.]
shaded: (of a call) made on slightly fewer values than usual
shake: (slang) discard (usually a loser)
shape: (1) (slang) distribution; (2) (of a suit) pointed or rounded. [Spades and diamonds are pointed suits; hearts and clubs are rounded suits.]
shark: hustler; expert
shift: (1) lead a different suit; (2) bid a new suit
shoot: take a desperate chance in an effort to achieve a very high score; = swing (3)
short club: opening one club on a suit of only three cards (usually because of a systemic prohibition against opening a four-card major suit)
short diamond: opening one diamond on a suit of only three cards (usually because of a systemic prohibition against opening a four-card major suit)
short hand: a hand with fewer trumps than in partner's hand
shortness: void or singleton
short-suit game try: game-invitational action that specifies a singleton or void suit
short-suit points: valuation points awarded to short suits because of their trick taking ability (or the trick-taking ability of the long suits whose possession they imply)
shot: (1) (slang) risky chance in the bidding [Usage: "I took a shot at six hearts."]; (2) (slang) penalty double
show out: fail to follow suit
show-up squeeze: a squeeze position in which declarer refuses a finesse in the ending, because if the missing card were onside it would have already been played
shuffle: mix the cards in an attempt to obtain a random distribution
shut-out: preemptive
Shomate: an individual movement
side: 1. (noun) partnership; 2. (adjective) outside [= not in the main suit]
side game: at a tournament, a lesser event run simultaneously with a major championship
side suit: (1) a suit other than the trump suit; (2) a suit of four or more cards other than the trump suit in declarer's or dummy's hand; (3) a suit of significant length but secondary to the main suit in a player's hand (such as the four-card suit in a 7-4-1-1 distribution)
signals: conventional plays made by the defenders to give each other information
signoff: (1) (noun) a call that requests partner to pass; bar; (2) (noun) a call that denies additional values; (3) (adjective) having the meaning of a signoff
sign off: (verb) to make a signoff call
silent bidder: dumb bidder
simple: (1) (of a bid) not a jump; (2) (of a finesse) against only one missing card; (3) (of an overcall) a minimum defensive bid in a new suit; (4) (of a raise) a bid in partner's suit one level higher (also single raise); (5) (of a squeeze) against one opponent in two suits
simultaneous pairs: an event played at the same time in different locations, using the same deals
single-dummy: based on the sight of only the dummy and one's own cards. [Compare with "double-dummy," which means with sight of all four hands.]
singleton: a holding of one card in a suit
sit (or sit for): (slang) allow to stand (usually a double)
sitout: round in a duplicate bridge movement for which a pair has no opponents (because of a half-table)
-sixth: within or heading a six-card holding. [Usage: jack-sixth = six cards headed by the jack = Jxxxxx.]
skip: a round in a tournament movement where players bypass the table they would reach according to their regular pattern
skip-bid warning: in tournament play, a warning to an opponent to be prepared to pause before taking his next action (to avoid giving illegal information to partner)
slam: any bid of six (small slam) or seven (grand slam)
slam-force: a call that by agreement requires that partner not pass until slam is reached (or an opposing contract is doubled)
slam-try: a call that invites partner to bid a slam
slot: (slang) favorable position [in the slot = onside]
slow: (of a trick or of high-card values) needing to be established before it can be cashed
slow arrival: a bidding method in which a jump to the level to which the bidding is already forced shows specific values. [e.g., one heart--two clubs--two spades--four spades shows unusually strong spades but limited overall strength; therefore, one heart--two clubs--two spades--three spades might or might not include extra strength] See also: fast arrival; picture bid
sluff: discard
slush: (slang) honor strength mostly or entirely in queens and jacks
small slam: a bid of six
Smith (or Smith echo): on defense against a notrump contract, using the play of an encouraging or discouraging card in the suit declarer attacks to show encouragement or discouragement for the suit of the opening lead
Smolen: after notrump opener's denial, a bid of three of a major by Stayman responder to show four cards in the bid major and five in the other
smother play: an endplay to enable the capture of an onside trump when a higher card behind it has insufficient supporting cards for a finesse. [Example: Spades trump. North has spade ace, heart ace. West has spade king-ten. South has spade queen-jack. East has club ace-king. If East is on lead, West's king of spades is smothered.]
smug: familiar form of address or reference for Mr. Smug, which is (1) a character of S. J. Simon's marked by moderate skills, extreme overconfidence, and practical behavior at the table; (2) The Bridge World's computer
SNAP: strong notrump after passing; a one-notrump response by a passed hand to show 9-12 points
snapdragon: overcaller's partner's double of a new-suit response to show length in the remaining unbid suit and at least a mild fit for overcaller's suit. [Example: one diamond--one heart--one spade--double to show club length plus at least two hearts.]
snatch: (1) (slang) (verb) win or cash immediately, or at the earliest opportunity, or before some particular event of importance; (2) (slang) (noun) ace
sneak: (slang) singleton
sock: (slang) double (for penalties)
soft values: lower honors, usually queens and jack, as compared with aces and kings
solid: (of a suit) with no gaps, or with no gaps after the specified card. [Usage: five solid = AKQJ10 (sometimes AKQJx). jack-ten-solid-fifth = J10987.]
solid suit: a suit strong enough to name as trumps without support from partner; a suit with no losers
Sominex coup: (slang) to take so long over an action that, whether by accident or design, another player loses concentration
sort: arrange one's cards by rank within suit
S.O.S. redouble: a redouble asking partner to bid
sound: (1) full-valued; (2) based on relatively high requirements; [Example: sound opening bids have higher minimum requirements than light opening bids.]; (3) (of a player) talented; reliable; (4) (of a contract) worthwhile; likely enough to make to be worth the risk.
South: one of the compass points; one of the four players (usually the declarer) in the standard diagram
South African Texas: four-level two-step transfer response to notrump openings (four clubs = hearts; four diamonds = spades)
space: See: Bidding space
spades: the highest-ranking suit, symbol: ♠
specific kings: a five-notrump follow-up by the Blackwood bidder to ask partner to cue-bid kings at the six-level (as opposed to showing them wholesale with a step response, as in traditional methods)
speedball: tournament organized with less time per deal than usual
speeding: (slang) dangerously or aggressively overbidding or preemtping
speeding ticket: (slang) penalty incurred as a result of aggressive or overaggressive bidding
Spingold Cup: one of the major American national team championships, a knockout event
spiral scan: after an asking-bid and reply, the continuing use of nonsignoff bids to ask for specific cards depending on the number of such bids skipped
splinter: (1) (noun) a raise (or, less commonly, a bid showing a one-suiter) that shows shortness (singleton or void) in a particular suit; (2) (verb) to make a call indicating a splinter (1)
split: (1) (verb) play one of a group of cards equivalent in rank (usually applied to honor cards); (2) (noun) the distribution of missing cards (e.g., a two-two split of four missing cards); (3) (adjective for menace or tenace) based on values in both partners' hands
split menace: a threat that depends on values in both hands of the side executing a squeeze
split notrump(s): weak notrump nonvulnerable, strong notrump vulnerable
split tenace: a tenace composed of values in both partnership hands (such as ace in one hand and queen in the other)
sponsor: (1) organizing organization of a tournament; (2) one who hires a partner and/or teammates
spot: (1) (noun) spot card; (2) (slang) (noun) contract
spots: (slang) (noun) strong intermediatre cards
spot card: any card from deuce through nine
spread: (1) (verb) put down the dummy; (2) (slang) (noun) laydown; (3) (verb) reveal one's cards (as during a claim or concession)
Sputnik: negative double
square hand: hand of 4-3-3-3 distribution
squeeze: a play that forces a hand to part with a needed card
squeeze-endplay: strip-squeeze
squeeze card: a card that, when led, effects a squeeze
stack: (1) (slang) (noun) unfortunate distribution of the cards

(2) (verb) prearrange (the cards); fix (the deal)
stacked: (1) (slang) (of some or all of the cards) unfortunately distributed (usually for declarer)

(2) prearranged
stagger: a form of stanza movement for teams of four
stand: (slang) pass (usually over a double)
Standard American: standard bidding in America
Standard American Yellow Card (also SAYC): the system defined by the current set of listings on a form of convention card identified by its color
standard bidding: bidding methods used by most players
stand off: no net score (on a deal or a session)
stand up: (slang) take a trick, perhaps surprisingly; in particular, survive without being ruffed by an opponent
stanza: (1) in a match, a set of boards played as a unit, after which scores are commpared
(2) in a duplicate-bridge movement, a set of rounds played and scored independently from other rounds
stationary: remaining in the same seat or seats throughout the tournmaent movement in use
Stayman: (1) an agreement between partners under which a response of two clubs to an opening bid of one notrump asks opener to bid a four-card major suit if he holds one; (2) any call that asks a notrump bidder to show length in a major suit; (3) any call that asks a notrump bidder to reveal length in a specific suit or suits (e.g.: minor-suit Stayman)
steal: (1) (of a trick) win with an unusually low card; (2) (of a trick) win without losing the lead; (3) (of a tempo) gain time needed to perform some other function or deprive the oppponents of such time; (4) (of a contract) make through deception when there was a way to defend successfully. (Also refers to a successful deceptive defense but not usually so applied.); (5) (of an auction) become declarer at a (perhaps surprisingly) low contract when the opponents could profitably have bid higher
step: in an anction, the distance from one bid to the next highest bid. [Example: One diamond is one step above one club.]
step bid (or response): a bid (or response) whose meaning derives from the number of steps it is above the previous bid
stepping-stone: a squeeze in which an opponent is either forced on lead to provide a missing entry or threatened with the use of a blocked winner as an entry
stiff: (1) (slang) (adjective) unsupported by low cards. [stiff king = singleton king; queen-jack stiff = queen-jack doubleton]; (2) (slang) (noun) singleton; (3) (slang) (verb) discard protection from or all other cards in a suit except. [stiff the ace of clubs = discard all clubs other than the ace]
stop: (1) an exclamation to inform the opponents of a special occurrence (such as a skip-bid warning); (2) stopper
stop card: a card in a bidding box used to request that an opponent pause before making the next call
stopper: a holding that will (or is likely to, or might) prevent the opponents from immediately running a large number of tricks in a suit at notrump. (See also Double stopper and Triple stopper.)
stopper-ask: a call that asks partner to bid notrump with a stopper in the opponents' suit
stopper-bid: a bid that indicates a stopper (for notrump purposes) in the suit bid
strain: one of the four suits or notrump; the non-numerical element of a bid; denomination
stratified: form of tournament in which entrants of different rank compete in different events, held simultaneously
strength: valuation of a hand; honor cards
strip: (1) remove an opponent's exit cards; (2) remove all cards of a suit in one's partnership's hands so that an opponent cannot lead that suit without conceding a ruff-and-discard
strip-squeeze: a squeeze in which one of the threats is against an exit card needed to avoid a throw-in. [Example: At notrump, if South cashes a winner to leave himself with ace-queen of spades and king of hearts, and West must discard from king-jack of spades and ace-queen of hearts, West is strip-squeezed.]
Striped-Tail Ape double: a double of a laydown contract intended to prevent the opponents from bidding higher
strong: 1. (of a call) indicating considerable values; 2. (of the system description of as call) showing a higher valuation range than similar agreements about the same call [e.g.: a strong jump-overcall shows more than minimum-range opening-bid values as well as a powerful suit]
strong club: big club
strong notrump: a one-notrump opening to show a balanced hand above the minimum opening strength range (often 15-17 or 16-18 points)
strong pass: a pass prior to any bid to show the strength usually associated with an opening bid
strong two-bid: an opening of two of a suit to show a very powerful hand
stub: (slang) part-score
submarine: (slang) duck; underplay one or more winners (usually used when the purpose is an attempt to rectify the count for a squeeze)
substitute: (1) (of a board) played to replace a board that cannot be completed or scored in the usual way; (2) (of a player) replacement; (3) (of a call) one replacing an illegal call
sucker double: a foolish penalty double based on inappropriate values (such as overall high-card strength when the opponents may have great ruffing power)
sucker play: a card-play tactic that depends for its success on a blunder by weak opposition
suction: a suit overcall of one notrump to show length in either the next higher suit (where clubs is deemed to be above spades) or the other two unbid suits. (Sometimes used in conjunction with a two-noturmp overcall to show non-touching suits.) [Example: a Suction two-club overcall shows either diamonds or both majors.]
suicide squeeze: a squeeze in which the partner of the squeezee leads the squeeze card or its equivalent. [Not an entirely appropriate term.]
suit: (1) one of the four divisions of the pack; spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs; (2) with a trump suit, as opposed to notrump (as in "suit contract")
suit combination: a partnership's combined holding in one suit
suit distribution: number of cards in each suit
suit pip: the pictorial representation of a suit. (♣ is the symbol for clubs. ♦ is the symbol for diamonds. ♥ is the symbol for hearts. ♠ is the symbol for spades.)
suit-preference signal: a defensive signaling method in which encouragement, discouragement or preference is shown for a suit other than the one of the card played
suit symbol: see suit pip
superaccept: (of a transfer) act at a higher level than the transfer suggested, in an encouraging way [such as one notrump -- two hearts (transfer to spades) -- three spades]
superblitz: a win by such a large amount or extent that the winner gets maximum score and the loser a negative score that makes the total scores less than zero
Supergerber: a five-club bid to ask partner to show the number of aces held
supernegative card: an honor played to deny holding the next higher honor
support: (1) (noun) cards in a suit bid by partner; (2) (verb) raise
support double: (1) opener's double of an overcall to show three-card support for the suit of partner's response; (2) any double that shows a fit for partner's suit
support points: a valuation technique that combines high-card values with potential ruffing strength
support redouble: (1) opener's redouble of the double of a response to show three-card support for responder's suit; (2) any redouble that shows a fit for partner's suit
swan: (slang) hand with 7-4-1-1 distribution
swindle: deceptive move
swing: (1) (noun) the difference between the scores of two teams; (2) (noun) the difference between a score actually made and one that might have been made; (3) (verb) take chances in an attempt to create unusual or especially good results in an effort to make up lost ground; (4) (slang) (verb) play a round of (a suit); (5) (slang) (noun) a round (of a suit). [Usage: Declarer pulled trumps in one swing.]
swing deal: a deal that provides a swing
swish: (slang) followed by all passes. [Usage: four spades swish = four spades, pass, pass, pass.]
Swiss: (1) a tournament movement in which teams with similar scores oppose one another; (2) a four-of-a-minor response to a major opening to show a strong supporting hand (has many variations)
switch: (1) lead a different suit; (2) (as in "arrow switch," referring to the directional arrows used to show directions on table cards at tournaments) interchanging the directions of the pairs
Symmetric system: a relay system that emphasizes ease of recollection
system: a collection of interlocking partnership agreements about bidding, sometimes also incorporating agreements about defensive card play

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• T •

table: (1) (noun) a bridge game; the four players in such a game; (2) (noun) board; dummy (meaning 2); (3) (noun) one of the units of activity in a tournament; (4) (verb) put down (dummy's cards); (5) (verb) play (a card)
table card: a marker showing the players' geographical designations and the table's section and number (usually placed on each table of a duplicate bridge event)
table feel (also table presence): drawing inferences from the behavior of the opponents (which is legal) or of partner (which is illegal), other than their calls and plays
table presence: awareness of opponents' behavior
takeout: (1) (noun) removal of the contract to a new strain; (2) (adjective) suggesting that partner bid
takeout double: a double that encourages a partner to bid (as opposed to a penalty double, which suggests that he pass)
tank: (1) (slang) (verb) huddle; not act for a long time; (2) (slang) (noun) a state of intense concentration. [Usage: South went into the tank.]
tap: (slang) force to ruff; pump; force
Tartan Two-Bids: multiple-meaning two-bids with these possibilities: two notrump, weak minor two-suiter; two spades, Acol-two with spades or weak with spades and another suit; two hearts, Acol-two with hearts or balanced 21-22 or weak with hearts and a minor
team: four players (occasionally more, as in team-of-six) competing as a unit; See: Team-of-four
team-of-four: a form of duplicate bridge in which players compete as a unit of four, one playing each of the four compass positions on each deal
teammate: player on the same team; sometimes, one of the players on one's team at the other table
telephone number: four-figure penalty
teller: a player who replies to an asking-bid; asker's partner
tempo: (1) the time (in terms of tricks during the play) needed to take an action or to execute a plan; (2) the opportunity to lead at any point during the play; (3) the speed at which a player executes a call or play
temporize: delay taking definitive action; wait
tenace: a non-sequential holding, such as ace-queen or king-jack
ten implies: an opening lead convention in which the lead of a ten shows an interior sequence including the ace, king or queen
-tenth: within or heading a ten-card holding. [Usage: ace-king-tenth = ten cards headed by the ace-king.]
Texas: four-level transfer responses to a notrump opening (four hearts = spades, four diamonds = hearts)
their deal: their hand
their hand: (slang) a deal on which "their side" can make a higher contract than ours
thin: (1) (slang) (of a contract) bid on not quite adequate values; (2) (slang) (of a bid) made on slightly less than the normally required strength
-third: within or heading a three-card holding. [Usage: jack-third = three cards headed by the jack = jack-tripleton = Jxx.]
third and fifth: an opening-lead method in which the third highest card is led from three or four cards, the fifth highest card from a longer suit
third from even, low from odd: an opening-lead method in which the third highest card is led from even length, the lowest card from odd length; part of (and the most distinctive feature of) Journalist leads against suit contracts
third hand: (1) the player third to have the opportunity to bid; (2) the player third to play to a trick
third hand high: a principle of card play from whist
third opponent: (slang) partner
third-round control: queen or doubleton
thirteener: (slang) a card held when all other players have been exhausted of cards in its suit
threat: menace
three-quarter movement: a variant of the Howell movement. [also called New England Relay]
three-suiter: a hand with three suits of four or more cards, thus distributed 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0
through: from the right
throw (or throw away): discard
throw-in play: endplay
thrump: (1) (slang) (noun) three notrump; (2) (slang) (verb) to contract for three notrump, especially with flimsy values
ticket: (1) (noun) card led to make use of an entry in the opposite hand; (2) see also speeding ticket
tickets: (1) (slang) high cards; (2) pick-up slips [see pick up (4)]
tight: (1) (slang) conservative; (2) (slang) (of an honor or honor holding) not protected by low cards. [Usage: tight king = singleton king; queen-jack tight = doubleton queen-jack.]; (3) (slang) and nothing else [Usage: trump tight = having only trumps remaining.]
time out: (slang) (of an auction) following a particular timing (meaning 2)
timing: (1) the order of play, or of planned activities during the play; (2) (slang) (of an auction) the following a particular order of activities
tine: ten or nine
to (followed by a number): in a suit of the specified length. [Usage: king to four = K x x x.]
TONTO: a method for advancing three-notrump overcalls that relies on transfers
top: in matchpoint scoring, the highest possible score on one deal
top and bottom: (1) (adjective for bridge) relating to a style of strategy and/or tactics that usually results in a very good or very bad result on each deal; (2) (adjective for cue-bid) showing length in the highest and lowest unbid suits [Usage: East: one heart; South: two hearts. If North-South are using Top and Bottom Cue-Bids, two hearts shows spades and clubs.]
top of nothing: method of leading a relatively high spot card, often the highest, to show no honor in the suit
top trick: card that can win a trick immediately
total points: scoring a session by adding the raw (duplicate bridge) scores of individual deals; sometimes "aggregate scoring."
total tricks: the sum of the numbers of tricks that each side can take, double-dummy, in its longest trump fit
total trumps: the sum of the numbers of trumps of each side in its best combined fit
touching: adjacent (usually in rank, as "touching cards," "touching honors" or "touching suits")
tournament: an organized competitive event; usually, a duplicate bridge event
tournament director: director
track: (slang) put down on the table. [Usage: Dummy tracked with six strong spades.]
tram tickets: (slang) poor cards
trance: (slang) huddle
transfer: (1) (noun) a bid that shows length in a different suit; (2) (noun) a call that asks partner to make a certain call regardless of his holding; [In this usage, also called Puppet.]; (3) (verb) to use a transfer (meaning 1); (4) (verb) to remove protection in a suit from one opponent and give it to the other; (5) (adjective) a squeeze involving a transfer (meaning 4)
transferable values: strength that is likely to be useful on either offense or defense, thus high cards in suits where the partnership is not known to have great combined length
trap pass: pass made with enough values to take other action
traveler: a score sheet that accompanies the board in a tournament
traveling: not occupying the same seat or seats throughout the current tournament movement
traveling score: traveler
tray: board (definition 2)
treatment: a partnership's interpretaton of an action
trey: three-spot
trebleton: tripleton
trial: a tournament that qualifies the successful contestants for a future event (usually, one of higher importance)
trial bid: game-try (occasionally used also for slam-try)
trick: a collection of four cards, one contributed by each player at the table
trick score: the score awarded for tricks bid and made; points counting towards game
triple: (1) of a squeeze: against (only) one opponent and extending over three suits; (2) of a jump bid, two levels above the cheapest jump in the same strain (e.g., one heart -- four spades)
triple four by one: 4-4-4-1 distribution
triple raise: double-jump raise. [Example: one spade-four spades.]
triple squeeze: a squeeze against one opponent among three suits
triple stopper: a holding that will (or is likely to, or might) prevent the opponents from running a large number of tricks in a suit at notrump even after they lead that suit three times
tripleton: a holding of three cards in a suit
trump: (1) (noun) a card that ranks above all cards of all other suits; (2) (verb) to play such a card after the lead of another suit
trump-ask (or trump asking-bid): a call (usually a bid) that asks partner to raise the bidding level with stronger trumps than already promised or that asks partner to delineate the trumps held with a step reply
trump control: enough trumps to prevent the opponents from cashing side-suit winners
trump coup: coup (meaning 2)
trump echo: high-low in trumps, traditionally used indicate interest in a ruff, now often used merely to give count (usually an odd number)
trump promotion: an increase in the number of trump tricks available to one side through overruff or uppercut
trump squeeze: a squeeze in which the ability to ruff in a menace suit after the squeeze is consummated is essential
trump suit: a suit, determined in the bidding, whose cards rank above all cards of all other suits
Trumpwood: a variant of key-card Blackwood in which the asking bid is four of the agreed minor suit [same as Minorwood]
Truscott: a defense against big-club openings based on low-level suit bids showing the suit bid and the next highest suit
Turbo: During a control-bidding sequence, using four notrump to show an even number of key cards, a higher non-signoff control-bid to show an odd number of key cards. (See also Kickback Turbo.)
turkey: (slang) weak player
turn: place in the rotation during the bidding phase or the play to a trick
-twelfth: within or heading a twelve-card holding. [Usage: ace-queen-twelfth = AQJ1098765432]
twist: (slang) secondary suit, usually of only four cards
two-club system: a bidding method based on a strong, artificial two-club opening
Two-notrump-family opening: A bid of two notrump by opener, either as a first or, if preceded by artificial or possibly-artificial bids, a subsequent bid, that announces a balanced (or, perhaps, near-balanced) hand with a certain strength range. [For example, in Bridge World Standard, the two-notrump-family openings are (1) a two-notrump opening bid, (2) a two-notrump rebid by a two-club opener following a two-diamond response, and (3) a two-notrump rerebid by a two-club opener in the sequence two clubs -- two diamonds -- two hearts (Birthright) -- two spades (relay) -- two notrump.]
two-over-one response: a response in a lower-ranking suit than that bid by opener, which must therefore be made at the two-level to be legal
two-suiter: a hand with two suits of four or more cards, but usually not applied to 4-4-3-2 distribution
two-way: (describing a call) having more than one fundamental meaning
two-way finesse: a situation in which it is possible to hope that either opponent holds a missing card. [If dummy has ace-jack-deuce and declarer has king-ten-three, declarer has a two-way finesse against the missing queen.]
two-way Stayman: two clubs as nonforcing Stayman combined with two diamonds as forcing (usually game-forcing) Stayman

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• U •

ugly duckling: See Duckling
UMJOODO (Unusual Major Jump Over One-Diamond Opening): Jump responses of two of a major suit after a one-diamond opening to indicate five spades, four (or perhaps five) hearts, and either minimum-response values (two hearts) or game-invitational strength (two spades)
UMJOOMO (Unusual Major Jump Over One-of-a-Minor Opening): Jump responses of two of a major suit after a minor-suit opening to indicate five spades, four (or perhaps five) hearts, and either minimum-response values (two hearts) or game-invitational strength (two spades)
unassuming cue-bid: advancer's cue-bid to show a strong raise of overcaller's suit, but not necessarily the values to force to game
unauthorized information: knowledge that a player is not entitled to use (as, for example, that obtained through partner's uneven tempo)
unbalanced diamond: one-diamond opening bid indicating an unbalanced hand
unbalanced distribution: a distribution that includes a void, a singleton, or two doubletons; any distribution other than 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 or 5-3-3-2
unbalanced hand: a hand with unbalanced distribution
unbalanced majors: one-of-a-major opening bid indicating an unbalanced hand
unbid suit: a suit that has not been named, or indicated, in the bidding
unbids: (slang) unbid suits
unblock: play or discard a high card that is preventing the run of a suit
under: (applies to players during the auction and to cards) to the right of; in front of
underbid: (1) bid less than one's cards warrant; (2) bid less than can be made
underbidder: one who often underbids
underlead: lead a card that does not rank equally with the highest card held in the suit
underruff: to ruff with a trump lower than one already played to the same trick
under the gun: (slang) in a position where action is dangerous because of an unknown quantity behind
understanding: partnership knowledge that does not qualify as an agreement (see agreement)
undertrick: trick that declarer fails to make, thus failing in his contract
undertrump: underruff
unfavorable: See: Vulnerability conditions
unfinished rubber: a rubber stopped before either side has scored two games
unguard: discard accompanying, protecting low cards
unguarded: not accompanied by another card in the same suit, or accompanied by insufficient cards in the suit to prevent its being captured by higher enemy cards
unlimited: (of a call) with no specified upper strength requirement below the maximum possible
Unlucky Expert: a character of S. J. Simon's marked by superb technical skill but an inability to consider the possibility of imperfections in others; hence, any player with those attributes
unmixed: (of a partnership) consisting of two players of the same sex
unpassed: not having passed before the first bid
unpenalty double: a slam double showing zero defensive tricks
unplayable: (1) (of a contract) noticeably inferior or worse; (2) (of an agreement or system) leading to inferior results in an obvious or dramatic way
unseeded: not seeded; seeded lower than the current opponent
unsupported: (1) (of a suit) not raised by partner; (2) (of an honor) not accompanied by the next lower-ranking card; (3) (of an honor) unguarded
unusual notrump: an artificial notrump bid to show distribution (often a minor two-suiter)
unusual over unusual: a countermeasure against unusual notrump overcalls. [Example: After a two-notrump overcall of one spade, a popular method is three clubs = heart length, strong hand; three diamonds = spade support, strong hand; three hearts = heart length, moderate hand; three spades = spade support, moderate hand.]
up: (1) ahead; (2) (as a verbal instruction to dummy) high
uppercut: ruff in an attempt to force out an opponent's higher trump (usually with a mind to promoting a trump trick for partner)
upside-down: opposite in meaning to the natural, usual or traditional (such as upside-down count signals, where a high card indicates odd parity instead of the traditional evewn parity); sometimes phrased as "inverted"
up the line: (1) describing bidding the cheapest of equivalent features; [Responding one heart to a one-diamond opening with four cards in each major is bidding up the line.]; (2) describing playing the lowest of available cards
up to: (1) (preposition with the object "hand") from the left of; (2) (preposition with the object a particular card or cards) from across the table toward
USBF: United States Bridge Federation
Useful space principle: a partnership's assigning meanings to actions so that the remaining bidding space matches the needs of the auction
Utility one-notrump response: a response of one notrump to a one-bid to show a weak hand, possibly including length in a suit that could have been bid at the one-level

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• V •

valet

jack

values

strength (as in "offensive values" or "defensive values")

Vanderbilt club system

an early big-club system

Vanderbilt Cup

one of the major American national team championships, a knockout event

variable notrump

split notrump

Venice Cup

the women's world team championship

verify

agree the score on a deal, session or match

vice

See "vise."

victory points

a scoring system for multiple team contests in which the actual score of each match is converted according to a standard scale

Vienna coup

the cashing of one or more winners to avoid blockage in a squeeze position

view

(slang) decision about what action to take or the layout of a deal

virtual cue-bid

a bid in a suit that an opponent has suggested artificially. [Example: one notrump -- pass -- two hearts, transfer to spades -- two spades, virtual cue-bid]

vise (also vice)

a squeeze in which the squeezer applies pressure against one opponent's suit holding of two or more cards that rank between two particular cards held by the squeezer's side, and the higher-ranking of those two particular cards is not the master card (or equivalent to the master card) of the suit. [Example: In a certain suit, West holds the guarded ace, South the king-ten, East the queen-jack. If East is squeezed out of one of his honors, the squeeze is a vise.]

void

a holding of zero cards in a suit

Voidwood

Exclusion Blackwood

Vondracek phenomenon

The occasional deal on which the weaker of two (or the weakest of three) identically distributed potential trump suits offers the superior contract. Named for Felix Vondracek (VON-druh-check), who wrote an article about the possibility. Example:

WEST
♠ A K Q J 10
♥ A K 7 6 5
♦ A K 5
♣ —

EAST
♠ 4 3 2
♥ 4 3 2
♦ 4 3 2
♣ 5 4 3 2

East-West can make six hearts if hearts break three-two, but except for weak defense there is no play for six spades.

VP

abbreviation for victory points

Vu-Graph

a method of displaying bridge to an audience

vulnerable

having scored one game

vulnerability

statement of which side, if any, is vulnerable

vulnerability conditions

(slang) amber (U.K.) = both sides vulnerable

(slang) equal = neither side vulnerable or both sides vulnerable

(slang) favorable = nonvulnerable against vulnerable opponents

(slang) green (U.K.) = nonvulnerable against vulnerable opponents

(slang) horse and horse = both sides vulnerable

(slang) hot = vulnerable

(slang) hot versus not = vulnerable against nonvulnerable opponents

(slang) red (U.K.) = vulnerable against nonvulnerable opponents

(slang) red (U.S.) = vulnerable

(slang) red against red (U.S.) = both sides vulnerable

(slang) red against white (U.S.) = vulnerable against nonvulnerable opponents

(slang) unfavorable = vulnerable against nonvulnerable opponents

(slang) white (U.S.) = nonvulnerable

(slang) white (U.K.) = neither side vulnerable

(slang) white against red (U.S.) = nonvulnerable against vulnerable opponents

(slang) white against white (U.S.) = neither side vulnerable

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• W •

Wagner two diamonds: a two-diamond opening to show the values for a weak two-bid in spades, or in hearts, or with at least five-five in the majors (but not with a four-card major)
waiting: nondescriptive; (of a call) made because any other action would be misdescriptive
waive: not enforce (a penalty)
walk: (verb) (slang) bid gradually or incrementally rather than all at once or with a jump
walk the dog: (slang) walk during the auction
wallet: type of board (2)
Walsh: a bidding system based on Eastern Scientific (sometimes called Western Scientific) that includes many limited actions and special methods (in particular, in response to a one-club opening, bypasssing diamonds to bid a major with less than game-force strength)
wash (or washout): (slang) in team-of-four play, a deal with no net score; push
wasted values: potentially-useful assets that is not helpful in the current context (such as a king or queen opposite a singleton for suit play)
WBF: World Bridge Federation
weak: (1) lacking strength; (2) preemptive
weak jump-overcall: a jump overcall used as a preemptive bid
weak jump-shift: a single jump response in a new suit used as a preemptive bid
weak notrump: a one-notrump opening to show a balanced hand with minimum-range opening strength
weak two-bid: an opening two-bid used to show a long suit and values below those for an opening one-bid
web: a pairs movement
Weiss: a defense against preempts: double with at least two cards in opener's suit in a balanced or near-balanced hand, cheapest minor-suit bid for takeout
West: one of the compass points; one of the four players (usually on declarer's left) in the standard diagram
Western cue-bid: California cue-bid
Western Scientific: See Walsh
whack: (slang) double (for penalties)
wheel: (noun) three (or, rarely, more) players arranging among themselves to field one pair (usually as one of the two pairs competing as a team).
where I live: See live (2)
where one lives: See live (2)
whist: one of the forerunners of bridge
white: See: Vulnerability conditions
white against red: See: Vulnerability conditions
white against white: See: Vulnerability conditions
wholesale: described through total number rather than specific identity. [Example: showing a total of two kings, rather than which ones they are, would be "showing kings wholesale."]
wide open: (1) lacking a stopper; (2) lacking a control
winkle: a squeeze or other endplay that takes advantage of the opponents' inability to overcome a blocked position
winner: high card; card that can or will take a trick
wire: (slang) illegal advance information about a deal
wish trick: a trick that includes the five, four, three and deuce of the same suit
Wolff signoff: after opener's jump to two notrump, a three-club rebid by responder asking opener to bid three diamonds (some allow support for responder's suit), after which a rebid of responder's original suit is weak
wombat: an antipodean squeeze in which the squeezed opponent is subject to either a required unblock or a secondary squeeze
wonder bid: a bid that shows either length in the suit bid or shortness in the suit bid and length in the other three
Woolsey: over an opposing one-notrump opening, double to show a four-card major and a longer minor, two clubs to show majors, two diamonds to show some major-suit one-suiter, two of a major to show the bid suit and length in an unspecified minor suit, two notrump toshow minors, and three of a suit as natural
work count: the 4-3-2-1 pointcount
working card: card of potental value to the partnership in its intended strain
World Bridge Federation: the organizing body for international bridge
wriggle: attempt to find an alternative contract (often after having been doubled)
wrong side: (noun) less favorable placement of declarer (compared to the opposite side of the table partner)
wrongside: (verb) (slang) to place the declarer on the unfavorable side (usually because it places a particular opponent on lead)
WTP: acronym for What's The Problem?

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• X •

X: (1) (usually lower case) low card; card lacking trick-taking potential or other importance; (2) (usually upper case) abbreviation for "double" in bidding diagrams or the naming of contracts. [Usage: 1 NT X = one notrump doubled.]; (3) (on a matchpoint recap sheet) one-half
XX: (usually upper case) abbreviation for "redouble" in bidding diagrams or the naming of contracts. [Usage: 1 NT XX = one notrump redoubled.]
XYZ: In a partnership auction, after three suit bids at the one-level: (a) a rebid of two clubs by responder as a marionette to two diamonds (opener temporarily acts as though responder would pass two diamonds), after which responder may pass or make a game-invitational bid in any strain; (b) a rebid of two diamonds by responder as an artificial game-force; (c) a rebid of three clubs by responder as weak

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• Y •

yarborough: (1) a hand containing no honor card; (2) (slang) a weak or relatively weak hand
Yellow Card: See: Standard American Yellow Card

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• Z •

zero: the lowest possible score on a deal in a matchpoint contest
zero or two higher: descriptive of a lead (usually the ten or nine) that shows either the top of a non-interior sequence or the third highest of an interior sequence
zilch: (slang) nothing, or nothing of value (in a particular suit or a hand)
zoom: a reply to an asking-bid that combines an answer to the explicit question with an answer to a potential follow-up question [For example, in the Bridge World Standard partnership sequence one spade -- four notrump (key-card-ask for spades) -- five diamonds (1 or 4 key cards) -- five hearts (spade-queen-ask) -- ?, if lacking the spade queen, opener bids five spades; holding the spade queen, opener can bid five notrump with no plain-suit king, six clubs with the king of clubs, and so forth, as if responder had made a specific-king-ask.]

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• NUMBERS •

Suit distributions in text: A group of four numbers separated by equal signs (=) denotes an exact suit distribution. For example: 5=4=3=1 denotes five spades, four hearts, three diamonds, and one club. A group of four numbers separated by hyphens (-) denotes any of the exact distributions matching that general pattern. For example: 4-3-3-3 represents: 4=3=3=3 or 3=4=3=3 or 3=3=4=3 or 3=3=3=4
Similarly, a break described as three=one (or 3=1) denotes three cards on the left and one on the right; one=three (or 1=3) denotes one card on the left and three on the right; three-one represents three=one or one=three
1430: a scheme of replying to a key-card-ask where the first step shows 1 or 4 keys, the second step 0 or 3
3014: a scheme of replying to a key-card-ask where the first step shows 0 or 3 keys, the second step 1 or 4
4 C's points: see Four C's points

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BRIDGE DICTIONARY

Our bridge dictionary includes definitions of both technical terms and "bridge slang"; the latter is designated as such

Material set off in brackets [...] forms an illustrative example; it is not part of the definition

Four numbers separated by equal signs (e.g., 5=4=3=1) denotes an exact suit distribution (in the example: five spades, four hearts, three diamonds and one club)

Four numbers separated by hyphens (e.g., 4-3-3-3) denotes any of the exact distributions conforming to that general pattern (thus 4-3-3-3 represents any hand with one four-card suit and three three-card suits, in other words these four exact distributions: 4=3=3=3, 3=4=3=3, 3=3=4=3, 3=3=3=4)

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