Contract bridge glossary
The following terms are used in Contract bridge, Duplicate bridge, and Auction bridge. Some of them are also used in Whist, Bid whist, and other trick-taking games.
Note: Except for ones indicated bold, all the links in this article are internal, i.e. lead to other list entries rather than external articles
| Contents: | Top - 0-9 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 |
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A
Autobridge, a help for learning
- ACBL
- American Contract Bridge League
- Agreement
- An understanding between partners as to the meaning of a particular bid or play. The set of all the agreements in a partnership forms the Bidding system and the Signals.
- Alert
- An indication to the opponents that the partner's bid is artificial (or that its meaning might be otherwise unexpected). An alert is made by pronouncing "alert", displaying an appropriate card from the bidding box, or sometimes by just knocking on the table. Use of alert (alert procedure) is regulated by sponsoring organizations.
- Artificial
- 1) A call or play that is not natural.
- 2) A bidding system that contains many such calls.
- Autobridge
- A non-digital game for one person, designed to teach bridge (see image).
- Auction
- 1) see bidding.
- 2) Auction bridge, an older form of bridge, now replaced by Contract bridge.
B
- Balanced hand
- A hand is said to be balanced if it has a distribution of 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, or 5-3-3-2 (Also defined as "no voids, no singletons, and at most one doubleton"). Balanced hands are particularly suitable for notrump contracts.
- Bid
- A declaration of both level and denomination (suit or no trump) that generally indicates the number of tricks the bidder believes their partnership can win; certain bids can also be used as conventions.
- Bid out of turn
- A bid erroneously made when it was other player's turn to bid. Subject to penalty.
- Bidding
- The first phase of the game, where players try to establish the final contract by making subsequent bids.
- Bidding system
- The complete set of agreements and conventions assigned to every possible bid by a partnership.
- Board
- 1) a device that keeps each player's cards separate for duplicate
bridge.
- 2) see deal.
- Board-a-Match
- A form of scoring for team events, parallel to matchpoint scoring in pair games, in which every deal scores the same ? +1 for a win, 0 for a tie, and -1 for a loss. Now less common than IMP/victory point scoring.
- Book
- The basic six tricks that must be taken by the declaring side. Since there is a total of 13 tricks, these six tricks below the half are always assumed and are never taken into account in scoring. Thus, a contract on level 1 denotes taking at least (6+1) tricks.
- Bonus
- In scoring,
the additional points awarded for making a contract,
for making a doubled contract, or for making doubled or redoubled overtricks.
There are different bonus amounts at the partscore,
Game,
small slam,
and grand
slam levels. Bonus amounts may depend on the vulnerability, and whether or
not the contract is doubled or redoubled. Bonus amounts are different in rubber
bridge and duplicate.
See Bridge
scoring for details.
- see also points for Honours.
- Break
- When the cards of a suit in the hands of the opponents are split evenly, or nearly evenly, so that neither opponent has a particularly large or small holding in that suit, then suit is said to break. The corollary is a "bad break" when the suit does not split evenly. See also distribution.
C
- Caddy
- A non-playing person designated to move boards between tables during a tournament.
- Call
- Any bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage.
- Chicago
- A form of bridge in which a rubber is completed every four deals, and the vulnerability is different in each of those deals. The scoring and sequence of dealer and vulnerability used in duplicate bridge are derived from those used in Chicago bridge. Chicago is said to have been devised by commuters who played bridge on daily train journeys, where the time available for play was limited by the length of the trip.
- CHO
- Centre Hand Opponent; a slang term for the partner.
- Claim
- A statement by declarer about how the remaining unplayed tricks will be won or lost. Normally the claiming player exposes their hand and describes the sequence of play for the remaining tricks and their disposition. This is usually done when the play of the rest of the hand is straightforward. See also concession.
- Communication
- 1) The process of (or the ability to) move the lead
between the two hands
of a partnership, so as to lead each trick from the more advantageous hand.
- 2)The means to convey a message to the partner in bidding. The only legal means of communication is through bids themselves, rather than using hesitation or mannerism.
- Competitive auction
- A bidding sequence which involves both partnerships.
- Concession
- An admission by a player that he must lose some or all of the remaining tricks. (See claim.)
- Contract
- 1) The statement of the pair
who has won the bidding
that they will take at least the given number of tricks.
The contract consists of two components: the level,
stating the number of tricks to be taken (plus the book
tricks), and the denomination,
denoting the trump suit (or its absence). The last bid
in the bidding phase denotes the final contract.
- 2) Short for Contract Bridge as opposed to other forms of bridge, such as Duplicate bridge or Auction bridge.
- Control
- 1) In play,
declarer's ability to limit the number of tricks that opponents could cash
(usually related with trump
contracts).
- 2) A feature of a hand which prevents the opponents of taking any (or more than one) immediate tricks in a suit. Aces are always "1st-round" controls and Kings are "2nd-round" controls; in trump contracts, voids are also 1st-round controls and singletons 2nd-round ones.
- Convention
- An agreement on the meaning of particular (sequence of) bid(s) between two partners, where the meaning of the bid(s) is not necessarily (and most often is not) related to the length and strength of bid suits, that is, an agreement on an artificial call or play.
- Convention card
- A form filled out by a partnership that shows all the bidding and play conventions being used. Usually used during tournaments.
- Cover card
- A card (honor or extra trump) which is known to compensate one of partner's losers; for example, a King in trumps is known to cover partner's trump loser.
- Crossruff
- A playing technique in trump contracts where extra tricks are gained by taking ruffs in both hands alternately.
- Cuebid
- 1) A bid of the opponents' suit
in a competitive auction. Usually a conventional, forcing bid that shows
strength or an unusual hand.
- 2) A bid that shows control in a suit (usually with an Ace or King, sometimes with a void) but does not indicate length or strength in the suit otherwise. Partnership agreements indicate when in an uncontested auction a bid is considered a cuebid. Usually used in exploring for a slam contract, or for showing stoppers needed for a notrump game.
D
- Deal
- The set of particular 52 cards as dealt to each player, and the collectivity of bidding and play that occurred with it. Also called Board or Hand.
- Dealer
- The player who deals the cards and bids first. In duplicate bridge, cards are not literally dealt in every play, but the dealer is pre-defined for each board, and is marked on the physical boards.
- Declarer
- The person who plays the hand in the partnership that wins the contract; by the rules, the declarer is the first player in the partnership who had called the final denomination in the bidding stage. The other partner becomes the dummy.
- Denomination
- Component of a bid and contract denoting the trump suit or notrump. Thus, there are five denominations (see rank (2)).
- Defenders
- The pair who tries to defeat the contract. The opponents of the declarer and the dummy.
- Director
- Referee (in duplicate bridge). The director enforces the rules, assigns penalties for violations, and oversees the progress of the game. The director is also responsible for the final scoring. At a tournament there may be several directors, reporting to a Head Director.
- Discard
- To play a card that is neither of the suit led, nor trump (and therefore has no chance to win the trick). Also, the card so played.
- Distribution
- 1) The number of cards in each suit
in a player's hand,
usually expressed as a series of 4 numbers. A distribution of 4 - 6 - 2 - 1
means 4 spades, 6 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 1 club. Sometimes also called a
"Hand pattern".
- 2) The number of cards in one suit as distributed in four (or two) hands, expressed as series of 4 (2) numbers.
- 3) The degree to which a player's hand consists of particularly long and short suits.
- 2) The number of cards in one suit as distributed in four (or two) hands, expressed as series of 4 (2) numbers.
- Distribution point
- A measure of a hand's strength due to the length or shortness of suits.
- Double
- A call that increases penalties for opponents' failing to make a contract, but also increases the bonus for making it. A player can only double a contract bid by the opposition. Often used as a convention.
- Doubleton
- A suit containing exactly two cards (in a hand).
- Duck
- A play technique where a player deliberately does not immediately take a trick, but plays a small card instead.
- Down
- See Set.
- Dummy
- 1) the partner of the declarer,
whose hand is placed on the table and played solely by the declarer; dummy has
minimal rights and must not interfere with further play of the hand
(especially not by suggesting play to the declarer).
- 2) the dummy's hand as exposed on the table.
- Dummy reversal
- A playing technique in trump contracts where extra tricks are gained by taking ruffs in the hand with longer trumps.
- Duplicate bridge
- A form of bridge where every deal is played at several tables, by several pairs, unchanged, and the scores are ultimately compared against each other. At minimum, two tables (four pairs) are required for a duplicate bridge match. The hands of each deal are saved in metal or plastic containers called boards that are passed between tables.
E
- EBL
- European Bridge League, the official organising body of bridge in Europe.
- EBU
- English Bridge Union, the official organising body of bridge in England.
- Endplay
- A play which forces a particular opponent to win a trick, so that that opponent must later make a favorable lead. The player so forced to win is said to be "endplayed".
- Entry
- A card that allows a player to win in one hand after leading from the other. Entries are vital to communication.
- Extra values
- Values (in form of high card points, shortage or cover cards) which are "above" the ones that a player has promised so far in the bidding.
F
- Face card
- An Ace, King, Queen, or Jack. (Also honor)
- False sacrifice
- see Phantom sacrifice.
- Falsecard
- A card played with the intention of deceiving an opponent as to one's true holding. Also, the act of making such a play.
- Finesse
- A playing technique where extra tricks are gained by using favorable lie of opponents' cards.
- Follow suit
- Every player is obliged to play the card of the same suit as the one that was first led to the trick, if in possession of one. Failure to follow suit constitutes a revoke.
- Fit
- 1) A long suit
(usually 8 cards or more) in two combined hands, that can be used as trumps.
- 2) General term for two hands that are productive together (i.e. have at least one 1 suit fit and no wasted values). Cf. misfit.
- Forcing bid
- A bid that requires the bidder's partner to make another bid -- that is the partner is not supposed to pass. Which bids are forcing is a matter of agreement between partners.
G
- Game
- A contract worth 100 points (or more) bid and made. The minimal games are 3NT, 4♥, 4♠ in majors, and 5♣, 5♦ in minors. The game can also be achieved by making a doubled or redoubled contract, e.g. 2 spades doubled is initially worth 2?2?0) = 120 points. The pair bidding and making the game is awarded a high bonus.
- Game try
- A bid of a side suit which invites the partner to bid a game if he has extra values as well as cover cards in that suit.
- Goulash
- A style of dealing, usually in rubber and chicago games, where the cards are not thoroughly shuffled between deals and are dealt in groups. It results in "wild" card distributions.
- Grand slam
- A contract to win all thirteen tricks in the hand. Making a grand slam scores significant bonus points.
H
- Hand
- 13 cards belonging to one player; sometimes also used as a synonym for entire deal.
- High card points (HCP)
- Method for evaluation of hand's strength, where every face card is assigned a numeric value.
- Hono(u)r
- A face card (Ace, King, Queen or Jack); usually also includes the ten.
- Hono(u)rs
- A rubber bridge scoring bonus. If a player has 4 of the top 5 cards in the bid suit a bonus of 100 points is scored. If declarer has all 5 of the top cards or all 4 Aces in a NT contract then a bonus of 150 points is scored.
- Holding
- 1) The cards in a particular player's hand at a particular point in play -
often at the start of play.
- 2) The cards of a specific suit in a particular player's hand.
- Holdup
- A type of ducking play used for the purpose of cutting opponents' communication in the suit. In a holdup, a player delays taking a trick until opponents' entries are reduced.
I
- IMP
- International Match Points ? a method of overall scoring in duplicate bridge where every result is subtracted from a datum (average or median) score and converted to so-called IMPs using a table defined by WBF.
- Individual
- A form of duplicate in which players compete as individuals, not as partnerships or teams. Players change partners at each round of play (typically two to four deals).
- Insult
- In rubber games the bonus for making a doubled or redoubled contract is sometimes referred to as the "insult" or as being "for the insult".
- Invitation
- A bid which requires the partner to bid on if he has extra values.
- Irregularity
- In club or tournament duplicate play, any illegal or suspect action. To avoid dispute, the director is called to rule on the situation and assign the proper penalty, if any.
J
- Jump shift
- A bid of a new suit at a level higher than the lowest level at which that suit could be legally bid. For example, 1♥-2♠ is a jump shift, while 1♠-2♥ is not. In older versions of Standard American bidding a jump shift shows a strong hand, while in newer versions and other systems it may show either a strong or a weak hand, depending on partnership agreement and the bidding sequence involved.
K
- Knockout
- A tournament form, usually in team games where only the winning team from each round advances. The losing team is removed from play. In a double knockout a team is removed from play only after losing two matches.
- Kibitzer
- A person who watches a bridge match.
L
- Lead
- 1) Playing the first card to a trick,
thus dictating the suit
which others must play if able (see follow
suit).
- 2) The card so led.
- 3) The hand which is next entitled to lead to a trick is said to be "on lead" or to "have the lead", often shortened to simply "the lead".
- 4) See opening lead.
- 2) The card so led.
- Lead out of turn
- Playing a card when it was another player's turn to lead
- Level
- In bidding, the component of a bid or contract (the other being denomination) which indicates how many odd tricks are to be made. Since six book tricks are not taken into account, there is total 13 (available tricks) ? 6 (book tricks) = 7 levels. Thus, e.g. contracts on level 4 indicate taking of 6+4 = 10 tricks.
- Light
- (Adj.) to enter the auction with sub-standard values (e.g. open light, overcall light). This is usually a part of tactics or general style.
- Lightner double
- A penalty double, usually in slam contract, requesting the partner to choose an unusual opening lead.
- LHO
- Left-hand opponent
- Long suit
- A holding of 6 or more cards in one suit. Also called long-suited.
- Loser
- a card which, presumably, has to be given up to the opponents rather than to be won as a trick. See also cover card.
- Losing trick count
- a method of hand evaluation based on counting losers rather than high-card points .
M
- Major suit
- hearts and spades; in contract bridge a trick with a major suit trumps is scored as 30 points, and game requires a bid 4 odd tricks.
- Match
- 1) the encounter between two teams
at two tables, each team sitting North-South in one table and East-West at the
other.
- 2) see round.
- Matchpoints
- A type of overall scoring in duplicate bridge where every board carries the same weight, the best pair on every board receiving a top (100%) and the worst the bottom (0% matchpoints). In matchpoint scoring only the number of pairs that a pair beats or ties matter, not by how much other pairs may be beaten.
- Minor suit
- clubs and diamonds; in contract bridge a trick with a minor suit trumps is scored as 20 points, and game requires a bid of 5 odd tricks.
- Misfit
- Two hands that don't have a common long suit (a fit), esp. when both are unbalanced. For example, a red two-suiter opposite a black two-suiter constitutes a misfit.
N
- Natural
- A call or play that has an "obvious" meaning, particularly a suit bid that suggests length or strength in the suit named, a no trump bid that suggests a balanced hand, a double that suggests the ability to defeat the contract, or a pass that suggest weakness. See Artificial.
- Negative double
- A conventional call used by responder in a competitive auction to denote support for the unbid suits, and a lack of cards in the suit doubled. It often but not always indicates a relatively weak hand.
- No trump
- When a hand is played without a trump suit, or a proposal to play without trumps
- Non-vulnerable
- The state of vulnerability where both bonuses and penalties are lower; in other words, less is at stake for a pair which is non-vulnerable.
O
- Odd trick
- The number of tricks above 6 (the book) that are to be taken in the contract. See also level.
- Opener
- The player who makes the opening bid.
- Opening bid
- The first bid (i.e. non-pass) in the auction.
- Opening lead
- The first card led by defenders in the play stage. Unlike other leads, the dummy is not uncovered yet at the time of lead, so the opening lead is made "blindly", and often has a crucial impact to the outcome of the deal.
- Opening leader
- The defender who makes the opening lead. It is always the declarer's LHO
- Overbid
- 1) A bid
overstating one's strength.
- 2) Ending up in a too high, usually unmakeable, contract.
- Overcall
- A bid made by the opposing partnership (the side that does not include the opener) in a competitive auction. Generally, it shows a 5 card suit and could show less strength than is needed to make an opening bid. The term is particularly used for the first such bid in an auction.
- Overruff
- To ruff with a higher trump than was previously played in the same trick.
- Overtrick
- Every trick taken by the declaring side over the number of tricks required by their bid contract.
P
- Pair
- Two players who play together.
- Pairs game or Pairs event
- A form of duplicate bridge in which each pair or partnership competes separately, as opposed to team and individual events. Pair events are normally scored by Matchpoints.
- Partnership
- 1) see pair
- 2) A pair who play together for an extended period.
- Partscore or Partial Contract
- A contract below the level that earns a game bonus.
- Pass
- A call indicating that player declines to bid for that turn. The bidding ends after three successive passes. A hand is called "passed out" if the bidding sequence begins with four consecutive passes.
- Penalty
- 1) A score
subtracted (added to the opposing side) for the failure to fulfill the contract.
- 2) A penalty to a pair or team assigned by director, for disobeying game rules (infraction) (e.g. a revoke). It can be expressed in terms of tricks, matchpoints or IMPs, or imposed by barring certain actions to the offender or the offending player's partner.
- Phantom sacrifice or False sacrifice
- when a player makes a sacrifice bid against a contract that the opponents could not, or were very unlikely to have made, thus converting a probable positive score into a certain negative score.
- Play
- The second stage of a deal, when cards are played. In the play, the declarer tries to take at least as many tricks as his or her side promised by the level of the contract, while defenders try to prevent this (that is, to set the contract) or failing that, to limit the number of overtricks the declarer takes.
- Point count
- A numeric value placed on the strength of a hand, used as a guideline in bidding.
- Preempt
- A bid whose primary function is to take up bidding space from the opponents.
- Principle of restricted choice
- It is physically impossible to explain this principal to a non-mathematician who does not play Bridge.
- Psychic bid
- A call that "grossly misstates high card strength or distribution". Psychic bids (often called simply "psyches") are legal except when they are made by agreement (and such agreement is not presented to the opponents by means of an alert), and so are less likely to confuse the bidder's partner than the opponents.
Q
- Quick tricks
- A method of hand evaluation.
R
- Raise
- A bid of partner's suit at a higher level. For example, 1♠-2♠ is called a single raise; 1♠-3♠ is called a double raise.
- Rank
- 1) The strength of an individual card; Aces have the highest rank,
followed by K, Q, J, 10,... down to deuce (2)
- 2) The order of denominations in the bidding. Notrump is highest-ranked denomination, followed by spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦) and clubs. (♣)
- Redouble
- A call that essentially doubles the penalties and bonuses of a previous double; a player can only redouble a contract bid by their side which has been doubled by the opposition.
- Relay
- A bid requesting that the relay bidder's partner make a specific agreed-upon bid.
- Revoke
- Failing to follow suit (as required) when a player is able to do so.
- RHO
- Right-hand opponent
- Round
- 1) In bidding,
the sequence of four consecutive bids,
usually starting from the dealer.
- 2) In duplicate bridge, a set of (usually 2-4) boards which one pair plays against another in pairs games.
- Rubber
- 1) In Rubber bridge, the set of deals ending when one pair first wins two
games
(there is an extra score for winning the rubber)
- 2) the act of so winning the second game, also called "making the rubber".
- Rubber bridge
- A form of bridge scoring used in "home parties" and by four players playing only amongst themselves (as opposed to duplicate bridge). There is commonly a wager on the result, which is not usual in duplicate.
- Ruff
- The play of a trump when another suit is led. A ruff is allowed only when the player cannot follow suit (of course, only in trump contracts.)
- Ruff and discard (Also ruff and sluff/slough)
- A play in which a player leads a suit in which both opponents are void, so that one can ruff while the other discards (or sluffs). Forcing a Ruff-and-Sluff is one purpose of an endplay.
S
- Sacrifice
- (Usually deliberate) bidding of a contract known to be unmakeable, with the intent that the cost of penalty (even if doubled) will be smaller than the value of opponent's score.
- Safety play
- A play whereby the declarer maximizes the chances for fulfilling the contract (or achieving a certain score) by avoiding a play which might achieve slightly higher score, but at a greater risk if the arrangement of the cards is unfavorable.
- Score
- The numerical value assigned to one pair or another as the outcome of each deal. The score is awarded to the pair who successfully fulfilled a contract, or to their opponents if the contract was not made (see penalty). If the contract is made, the score is calculated by summing up points for bid tricks, bonuses, and points for overtricks. Otherwise, it is calculated by summing up penalties for undertricks (which significantly increase if the contract was doubled or redoubled). The other pair, actually, receives a "minus score" ? that is, their score is the negative of their opponents' score.
- Set
- 1) to defeat a contract.
- 2) the number of tricks by which a contract is defeated ("a two-trick set").
- Signal
- 1) a special system of agreed meanings to cards played by defenders
in order to communicate their holdings to each other.
- 2) A particular play with such a meaning.
- Singleton
- A holding of exactly one card in a suit.
- Slam
- Bidding for and taking twelve tricks is a "small slam" -- that is, any bid of 6. Bidding for and taking all thirteen -- thus any bid of 7 is a "grand slam"
- Squeeze
- A playing technique whereby the defender(s) are forced to discard a vital card.
- Slough
- See Discard. Pronounced 'sluff'.
- Stopper
- A high card (normally, an honor) whose primary function is to prevent the opponents from running a suit in a notrump contract. (See also control).
- Strain
- See Denomination.
- Strong Two bid
- An agreement whereby an opening bid of two of a suit indicates a strong hand and a strong holding in that suit.
- Suit
- a sign on the cards indicating the "class" which the cards belongs to. There are four suits: spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦) and clubs. (♣). In bridge, suits are ranked, but only for bidding and scoring purposes. (See also denomination, major suit, and minor suit).
- Swing
- A (huge) difference in compared scores on a board from two tables in team match.
- Swiss teams
- A team tournament in which teams play other teams with a similar previous record of wins and losses. It typically consists of a series of relatively short (6 to 8 board) matches.
- System
- see Bidding system.
T
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- Table
- 1) A table where bridge is played;
- 2) see dummy
- 3) the number of groups of four players in play at a bridge event is described as the number of tables.
- 2) see dummy
- Table talk
- 1) Illegally conveyed information between partners, for example by means
of talking, gestures, or facial expressions.
- 2) Extraneous discussion during play, discouraged because it might convey information or distract a player
- Takeout double
- A conventional call used in a competitive auction to indicate support for the unbid suits and a hand of opening strength or more. It usually implies shortness in the suit doubled. This is usually a forcing call and asks the doubler's partner to bid a suit.
- Team
- A group of 4-6 players (but only 4 playing simultaneously, as 2 pairs against 2 pairs of another team) who compete as an entity in certain forms of duplicate bridge.
- Throw-in
- see Endplay.
- Transfer
- A type bid that directs partner to make another bid in a series, usually as part of a convention. Also spoken as a call as in 'transfer' as an alternative to saying 'alert'.
- Treatment
- The specific meaning of a natural call or play according to a partnership agreement.
- Trials
- A form of pairs duplicate game, usually of high competition level, played as round-robin tournament with small number of pairs (typically 16) playing relatively long matches (typically 16-32 boards). Usually scored in IMPs with conversion to Victory points.
- Trick
- A set of 4 cards played by each player in turn, during play stage.
- Trumps
- A suit, determined by the declaring side during bidding, which if played, wins a trick regardless of rank of other played cards.
- Two suiter
- A hand containing two long suits (see diagram), usually each containing 4 or more cards, with at least 10 cards between the two suits.
U
- Unbalanced
- Any hand that is not balanced, but particularly hands with relatively extreme distribution.
- Underbid
- A bid whereby the bidder has understated the value of his cards, by an error or by taking a "pessimistic view", or because the only other choice is an overbid (which may indicate a flaw in the bidding system in use).
- Undertrick
- Every trick that the declarer ended up short of making the contracted level at the end of the play.
V
- Victory points (VP)
- The points which represent the total score of a single match in duplicate team games and trials. The most common scale is WBF 25:5 scale, where 15:15 presents a tie, 25:5 an absolute win and 25:0 the most extreme result. (The scale depends on IMP difference achieved and number of boards played.)
- Void
- A holding of zero cards in a particular suit (in a hand).
- Vulnerability
- The state assigned to each pair in advance (in duplicate bridge, vulnerability is indicated on boards, in rubber bridge, it is determined in other ways). Vulnerability affects the scoring, i.e. both size of bonuses for making contracts and penalties. In duplicate bridge, boards are designed so that every pair is vulnerable on approximately 50%, and non-vulnerable on other 50% of deals. Vulnerability affects bidding tactics, as the ratios between potential scores available for both pairs change.
- Vulnerable
- The state of vulnerability where both bonuses and penalties are higher; in other words, more is at stake for a pair which is vulnerable. In rubber bridge a pair is vulnerable when they have won one game towards a rubber.
W
- Wasted value
- A honor or other hand feature which does not present an asset in two combined hands. For example, a doubleton queen opposite honorless length, KJ opposite a singleton, or two singletons in the same suit.
- Weak two bid
- An opening bid of two of a suit indicating a weak hand, but a long suit. This is a form of preempt.
- WBF
- World Bridge Federation, the worldwide governing body of the game.
Y
- Yarborough
- A hand with all cards less than 10, ie. only 2-9. A very bad hand.
