Book
-- the first six tricks taken
by declarer. Only tricks in excess
of book are counted for fulfilling
the final contract. (To make a contract
of 4S, you must take 10 tricks --
6 for book plus the 4 named in the
bid).
-
Book
also refers to the number of
tricks the defenders must win
before they can begin earning
a score for defeating a contract.
(If the opponents' contract
is 3D, book for defenders is
4 tricks -- if they take a fifth
trick, they defeat declarer's
contract and earn a plus score.)
Declarer
-- the
player who first named the suit
(or notrump) specified in the final
contract.
Dummy
-- declarer's partner. Dummy
does not participate in the play.
After the bidding is completed and
the opening lead is made, dummy
places his cards face-up on the
table, sorted into suits, and they
are played by declarer.
Defenders
-- opponents of declarer.
LHO
and RHO -- acronyms for Left-Hand
Opponent and Right-Hand Opponent.
Trick
-- four cards, one contributed
by each player in turn (clockwise
around the table). The highest card
of the suit led (or the highest
trump) wins the trick. The player
who wins the trick chooses the card
to lead to the next trick. There
are 13 tricks in each deal.
Lead
-- the first card played to
a trick. Each of the other three
players must follow (in clockwise
order) by playing a card of that
suit if they have one.
Opening
lead -- the card that starts
the first trick of a deal, after
the bidding is over. The opening
leader is the player to the left
of declarer.
Trump
suit -- the suit named in the
final contract.
Notrump
-- a contract played without
a trump suit. The highest card of
the suit led wins the trick.
Trumping
(or "ruffing") --
playing a trump on a non-trump-suit
trick. A trump can be played only
when the trump suit is led or when
you cannot follow to the lead of
another suit (you have no cards
remaining in the suit led). A trump
beats any card in any other suit.
If a trick contains more than one
trump, the highest trump wins the
trick.
Discard
(or pitch, or "sluff")
-- to play a non-trump card
when you cannot follow to the suit
led.
Finesse
-- an attempt to trap an opponent's
high card in a suit and thus avoid
losing a trick to it. The most common
finesses are made in suits where
you have most of the high honors
but are missing the king or queen.
These holdings are called tenaces.
Revoke
(or renege) -- to fail to follow
suit when you actually hold one
or more cards in the suit led. This
is a violation of bridge rules.
The
Cards in Your Hand
Honors
-- Ace, King, Queen, Jack (and
sometimes Ten).
High-card
points -- the total point-count
of the honors (AKQJ) in your hand.
Quick
tricks -- high-card holdings
that will usually win early tricks
in the suit -- aces, kings, and
AK, KQ and AQ combinations. AK combination
= 2 quick tricks; Ace or KQ
combination = 1 QT; King =
1/2 QT; AQ combination = 1.5
QTs. A good opening bid usually
contains 2 1/2 quick tricks. Other
high-card holdings (queens, jacks
and QJ combinations) are often called
"slow" tricks.
Playing
tricks -- the number of tricks
that your hand will take through
power (assuming equal breaks of
the missing cards), if you
buy the contract. The most common
way to figure playing tricks is
to estimate how many tricks your
long suit(s) will take and add that
number to your quick tricks in other
suits. For example, 
AQJ1043 
AK43 
A 
K3
would be 9.5 playing tricks -- 5
spades and 3 hearts (assuming each
of the other three hands holds 3
hearts), plus the 1.5 quick tricks
in the short suits.
Losing-Trick
Count -- another method of hand
evaluation that figures potential
losers (assuming equal breaks of
the missing cards), if you buy the
contract. In general, you count
1 loser for each missing ace, king
and queen in any 3-card or longer
suit; for each missing ace or king
in a 2-card suit; for a missing
ace in a 1-card suit. For example,
the example hand above is a 3-loser
hand (counting the spade king, heart
queen and club ace as losers). A543 KQ43 QJ2 Q3
would be a 7-loser hand (2 spades,
1 heart, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs).
Stoppers
-- protected honors you hold
in a suit an opponent has bid. Examples
are Kx, Qxx, Jxxx. This term refers
to their ability to "stop"
the opponents from running their
suit if you declare a notrump contract.
Controls
-- holdings that will take the first
or second trick if a suit is led.
A first-round control is
an ace (or a void, for trump contracts);
a second-round control is
a king or singleton.
Void
-- to have none of a suit in
your hand.
Singleton
-- a one-card suit.
Doubleton
-- a two-card suit.
Balanced
hand -- having no void or singleton
suits and (usually) no more than
one doubleton. Balanced distributions
of your 13 cards are 4-3-3-3 , 4-4-3-2
, 5-3-3-2 (sometimes 5-4-2-2).
Unbalanced
(distributional) hand -- any
hand that doesn't fit the description
of a balanced hand. These include
two-suiters (5-5-2-1 or 6-5-2-0,
etc.) and other hands with voids,
singletons and/or long suits (6+-cards).
Distribution
points -- a method of hand evaluation
in which you also assign points
to short suits: 1 pt. for a doubleton,
2 pts. for a singleton, 3 pts. for
a void. Add these points to your
high-card points to figure total
point-count. Distribution points
should be counted after you and
partner have found a trump fit.
In general, don't add in distribution
points when deciding on an opening
bid.
Tenace
-- a broken honor combination in
a suit (AQ, KJ, AJ, Q10, etc.).
These holdings often allow you to
trap the missing honors by taking
a finesse.
The
Scoring
Trick
score -- the points awarded
for each trick (over book) taken
by declarer if the contract is made.
-
Minor-suit
contracts (clubs and diamonds)
score 20 pts. per trick.
-
Major-suit
contracts (hearts and spades)
score 30 pts. per trick.
-
Notrump
contracts score 40 pts. for
the first trick, 30 pts. for
each subsequent trick.
Game
-- a contract
whose trick score will add up to
at least 100 pts. if declarer makes
the bid number of tricks. To score
a game on one deal (and receive
the game scoring bonus), you must
bid up to a level of :
-
At
least 3 in notrump (100 pts.
-- 40 for the first trick, 30
for each of the next two)
-
At
least 4 in hearts or spades
(120 pts.)
-
At
least 5 in clubs or diamonds
(100 pts.).
Slam
-- a contract
of six or seven. These contracts
award large scoring bonuses.
-
Small
slam -- any contract of
six, in a suit or notrump.
-
Grand
slam -- any contract of
seven, in a suit or notrump.
Partscore
-- any
contract below game level. Trick
scores from two or more part scores
can be combined to reach 100 pts.
and earn the game bonus.
Penalty
-- a score given to the defenders
when declarer fails to make his
contract (goes down).
Pass-out
-- a deal where all four players
pass. At rubber bridge, no score
is recorded, and the hand is redealt.
At duplicate bridge, the hand is
scored as 0 for each side, but not
redealt.
Honors
-- a score (100 or 150 pts.)
awarded when declarer holds 4 or
5 of the top honors in his trump
suit or all 4 aces in a notrump
contract. These are only counted
in rubber-bridge scoring.
Rubber
-- two games. The partnership
that bids and makes the first two
games (or whose part scores add
up to two games) receives bonus
points for winning the rubber.
Vulnerable
-- having bid and made one game
in the current rubber.
Not
vulnerable -- having no game
in the rubber.
Duplicate
Bridge
ACBL
-- American Contract Bridge
League, the national organization
that sponsors and sanctions duplicate
games at clubs and tournaments.
ACBL awards masterpoints and keeps
point records for members.
Masterpoints
-- point awards for winning
or placing in a duplicate-bridge
event sanctioned by ACBL.
Board
-- the metal or plastic tray
that holds the pre-dealt cards.
This term also refers to the whole
deal itself ("What was our
score on Board #4 ?" or "We
played 26 boards against Joe's team.").
Bidding
box -- a small, tabletop box
that holds pre-printed cards (one
for each of the 35 possible bids,
plus several Pass, DBL and RDBL
cards) used for silent bidding.
Bidding boxes are used by many clubs
and almost all tournaments.
Matchpoints
-- a form of scoring used in
pairs games. On each board, your
score is compared to the scores
of the pairs who held your same
cards. You receive one matchpoint
for every pair you beat and 1/2
matchpoint for every pair you tie.
The pair with the most total matchpoints
on all the boards in the session
wins the game.
Top
-- the maximum number of matchpoints
you can earn on a board. If a board
is played eight times in a duplicate
session, "top" is 7 because
the best you can do is beat the
other seven pairs who played it.
Bottom
(or zero) -- the opposite of
a top.
Stratified
pairs or teams -- events that
offer extra, separate masterpoint
awards to novice and intermediate
players. Players of all skill levels
enter the same event, but each pair
is classified into a stratum (A,
B, C) based on their masterpoint
holding. Point awards are given
to the top pairs in each stratum.
IMPs
(International Match Points) --
a form of scoring usually used in
team games. On each board, the difference
between your score and your opponents'
score is converted to IMPs, which
can be positive or negative. The
team with the most total positive
IMPs on all boards wins the match.
Swiss
teams -- an event for teams
of four players. Each team plays
short matches against several other
teams and scores the results by
IMPs. Masterpoints are awarded for
each match won.
Knockout
teams -- a multi-session team
event. In the first session, each
team plays a long match against
one other team. The loser is eliminated;
the winner advances to play another
winning team in the next session.
Matches continue until there is
one winner.
