Learning bridge
A glossary of bridge terms
A glossary of the bridge terms new players meet at the table, each defined in a sentence or two and grouped by the part of the hand where it comes up.
The deal and the table
- Board
- One deal, together with its dealer and vulnerability. The same board can be played at several tables and the results compared, which is what duplicate bridge is.
- Dealer
- The player who bids first. Rotates from deal to deal.
- Vulnerable
- A condition that rotates from board to board. A vulnerable side scores more for making a contract and loses more for going down, so it often changes how a hand is bid.
- Partscore
- A contract below game level. Worth having, but worth far less than the game bonus.
- LHO and RHO
- Left-hand opponent and right-hand opponent. In the play it often matters which opponent plays before you and which plays after.
- Balanced hand
- No void, no singleton, at most one doubleton: 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 or 5-3-3-2. The shape notrump bids describe.
- Void, singleton, doubleton
- Zero, one and two cards in a suit. Collectively: shortage.
- HCP
- High card points. Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1.
The auction
- Contract
- The final bid: how many tricks over six the declaring side has promised, and in what strain.
- Strain
- What the contract is played in: one of the four suits, or notrump.
- Call
- Anything you say in the auction: a bid, a pass, a double or a redouble. A pass, double or redouble is a call but not a bid.
- Opening bid
- The first bid of the auction. Normally promises about 12 points.
- Overcall
- A bid made after an opponent has opened. Shows a suit worth competing in, over a wider strength range than an opening bid.
- Takeout double
- A double that asks partner to bid their best suit rather than to defend. Shows an opening hand, shortage in the opponents' suit, and support for the others. Partner must answer, however weak they are. See takeout doubles.
- Penalty double
- A double made because you expect the contract to fail. It increases what you score for each undertrick.
- Forcing
- A bid partner is not allowed to pass. A new suit by responder is forcing. Which bids are forcing is one of the first things a new partnership should agree.
- Preempt
- A high opening bid on a weak hand with a long suit, to take away bidding room the opponents need. See preempts.
- Convention
- An agreed meaning for a bid that is not its natural one. Stayman's 2♣ says nothing about clubs. See bridge conventions.
- Alert
- The announcement that partner's bid carries an agreed meaning the opponents would not expect. The opponents are entitled to know your agreements.
- Reverse
- Bidding a second suit higher-ranking than your first, forcing partner to the three level to return to it. Shows extra strength, around 17+. See reverses.
- Transfer
- A bid asking partner to bid the suit above it, so the stronger hand becomes declarer and the opening lead comes up to it rather than through it. See Jacoby transfers.
- Splinter
- A double jump in a new suit showing support for partner, game-going values and a singleton or void in the suit bid. See splinter bids.
- Cue bid
- Two different things, told apart by when they happen. Early in a competitive auction, a bid of the opponents' suit is artificial and asks partner to describe. Once a trump suit is agreed, it shows a control, an ace or void, on the way to a slam.
- Key card
- In Roman Key Card Blackwood, one of five cards rather than four: the four aces plus the king of the agreed trump suit.
- Law of Total Tricks
- The working rule that it is safe to compete to the level of your side's combined trump length: eight trumps means the two level, nine the three level, ten the four level. The reasoning behind preemptive raises.
- Fit
- Eight or more cards in one suit between the two hands. Finding one is the main purpose of most auctions.
- Limit bid
- A bid that describes a narrow point range and lets partner make the decision: a jump raise, or a notrump bid.
The play
- Declarer
- The player who plays both their own hand and dummy's. The member of the winning side who first named the final strain.
- Dummy
- Declarer's partner, and their hand, laid face up after the opening lead. Takes no further part.
- Trick
- Four cards, one from each player. Won by the highest trump, or if none was played, by the highest card of the suit led.
- Follow suit
- Play a card of the suit led. Compulsory if you have one.
- Revoke
- Failing to follow suit when you could have. Carries a penalty.
- Ruff
- To play a trump on a trick where a different suit was led. A ruff in the short trump hand generates a trick the side did not otherwise have.
- Trump
- The suit named by the contract. Any trump beats any card of any other suit.
- Draw trumps
- Lead trumps repeatedly to take them away from the opponents, so they cannot ruff your winners.
- Finesse
- An attempt to win a trick with a card that is not the highest outstanding, by leading towards it and hoping the missing honour lies on the correct side. Roughly a 50% chance, and much of declarer play is about finding better odds.
- Establish
- To make the small cards of a long suit into winners by driving out the honours above them.
- Entry
- A card that lets you win a trick in the hand you need to be in next. An established long suit only takes tricks if you have an entry to reach it.
- Hold up
- Refusing to win a trick, to cut the defenders' communication.
- Discard
- A card of another suit played when you cannot follow suit and do not trump.
- Signal
- A card played by a defender to tell partner something, usually whether they like the suit led. It's the defenders' only legal way to share information during the play.
- Squeeze
- An ending where an opponent holds guards in two suits and must give one up. An advanced technique.
- Endplay
- Deliberately giving an opponent the lead at a point where any card they play helps you.
- Claim
- Declarer stating the rest of the tricks and how they will be taken, ending the play early.
Scoring
- Game
- A contract worth 100 or more in trick score: 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, 5♣ or 5♦. Carries a large bonus.
- Slam
- Twelve tricks bid and made (small slam) or all thirteen (grand slam).
- Overtrick
- A trick taken beyond the contract. Worth little at IMPs and a great deal at matchpoints.
- Undertrick
- A trick short of the contract. What the defenders score.
- IMPs
- International Match Points. Converts the raw score difference on a board to a compressed scale, so a big swing on one board counts for less than it would in raw points. Used in team play.
- Matchpoints
- Scoring where you are ranked against everyone else who played the same board. Only the ranking matters, so beating the other tables by an overtrick earns as much as beating them by a slam bonus.
- Double dummy
- Analysis with all four hands visible. It shows what was possible with every card known, which a player at the table may not have been able to find. See four-handed bridge.
- Par
- The result both sides would reach with perfect bidding and play.