| Blackwood |
A convention designed to tell partner that you have a vague suspicion there
could be a slam in the offing but aren't quite sure how to investigate it. |
|
Variations include Roman Key Card Blackwood which is the same but
carries the additional inference to the opposition that you know what you are
doing and are not to be trifled with, and Byzantine Blackwood which
is designed to tell the opposition that you are a real expert and they double
you at their peril. |
| Claim |
Where declarer lays his hand down because it looks like he should be
able to make the rest but can't be bothered to work out the entries. |
| Cold/Solid |
A contract which should have made, but didn't. |
| Competitive Bid |
Any excessive or unsound bid in an auction where both partnerships are bidding. |
| Declarer |
In actual play, that member of a partnership who was most persistent in rebidding
his suit. In books, a synonym for South. |
| Experienced Player |
Someone who simply knows that 4 major, made but not bid, is +170 without
even looking at the back of the bidding card. |
| Finesse (1) |
A female bridge player from Finland. |
| Finesse (2) |
A specific type of card play used by declarer to secure an overtrick or to avoid
blame in a contract doomed to failure. Should a game or slam contract go off,
a declarer who took at least one finesse during play is entitled to claim it to
be a Good Contract (qv). |
|
A finesse usually consists of playing a small card towards a tenace (although
a jackace or queenace are equally suitable). |
| Fit |
That rare occurrence when partner has more than a singleton in your good suit.
Also, colloquially, what you have if you discover he has raised you with a
singleton. |
| Game Plan |
In bridge books, puzzles etc., a strategy, devised by declarer at trick one, to
secure the one additional trick (over and above his off-the-top winners) necessary
to make the contract. |
|
In actual play, a strategy, devised by declarer at trick one, to secure the five
additional tricks (over and above his off-the-top winners) necessary to make the
contract. |
| Gerber |
A convention used to justify bidding no-trump slams with an insufficient point
count. |
| Ghestem |
A system of two suited overcalls designed to exercise partner's memory
to breaking point and, frequently, beyond. The name is actually a corruption of
the original, rather unwieldy, title of the convention: "I've got two suits now
you've got to guess dem." |
| Good Contract |
A contract which went off, but might not have had it been played better or the
distribution been more favourable. Also, occasionally, a game contract where
the slam which is bid and made by the rest of the room could have been defeated
given some obscure and unlikely distribution of the defenders' cards. |
| Good Double |
A double of any defeated contract, or of a contract which might have been
defeated had you been able to play it double dummy. |
| Loser Count |
A method of hand evaluation which can be used to justify bidding major suit
games with no points. |
| Need the Rest |
These days, you may hear declarer use the phrase "I need the rest" in
its erroneous sense of "I cannot afford to lose any further tricks". Originally,
though, it meant any awkward situation calling for unusual technique, the
expression being borrowed from the game of snooker. |
| No Trump |
A fall-back denomination for use when you can't find a fit or, in a pairs tournament,
when your only fit is in a minor. |
| Off-side |
Position of any honour which has to be finessed in order to make your contract. |
| On-side |
Position of any honour which may be finessed to secure an overtrick in an
undefeatable contract. |
| Partner |
Of the three opponents at bridge, the one who sits opposite you. |
| Post Mortem |
A time set aside for relief of frustration by blaming partner for your
mistakes. |
| Precision |
A bidding system which utilises the 1♣ opener as a conventional gauntlett to
the opposition, challenging them to see if they dare bid 2♠ before you
and partner have had a chance to discuss suits. |
| Preempt |
A charitable device designed to keep opponents out of a Good Contract (qv)
or any excessive or unsound bid in an uncontested auction
(cf. Competitive Bid) |
| Probability |
A branch of mathematics designed to lend respectability to guessing. Almost by
definition, it is a dubious science. For example, according to probability
theory, every time you pick up a bridge hand you should hurl your cards at dealer
and accuse him of being a cheat. The probability that he should deal you that
precise selection of 13 cards by pure chance can be shown to be so
infinitesimally small as to be, to all practical purposes, impossible. |
| Psyche |
A bid designed to dupe your left hand opponent into thinking you hold the hand
he previously thought he had himself. If you play loser counts and have
masochistic tendencies, a psyche can also be used as invitation to partner
to land you in four of your singleton major. |
| Sacrifice |
Following a competitive auction, any contract which subsequently fails to make. |
| Sputnik Double |
A conventional invitation to partner to rebid his opening suit. |
| Squeeze |
A strategy in play where declarer, at a loss as to how to make his contract, simply
plays off his winners and then, inexplicably, finds himself making the last
trick. |
| Standard English |
An attempt by the EBU to pursuade the rank and file that Acol needs renaming in
order to give the illusion of progress. (In practice, the very small percentage
who have actually heard of Standard English aren't fooled and everyone
continues to claim to be playing Acol regardless.) |
| Transfers |
A bidding system which enables you, whenever you get bored, to ensure
that you get to be declarer simply by opening 1NT. |
| Texas Transfer |
The act of emigrating to the United States (especially if motivated by a
particularly disasterous bridge evening). |
| TNT |
Total Number of Tricks. A system of logic which is useful should you need to
blind partner with science when he challenges your decision to sacrifice over
a doomed contract. |