Bridge Glossary: 100 Essential Contract Bridge Terms Explained

This bridge glossary defines 100 contract bridge terms in plain English, from the words you need on your first evening to the ones you meet a year in. Each entry answers “what is this in bridge” in two or three sentences, so you can look up a word mid-lesson and get back to the cards.

By Tracey Bauer

Contract bridge has a vocabulary all its own, and nothing slows a new player down like nodding along to a word they don't know. Bookmark this page. If you're brand new to the game, start with our complete beginner's guide to bridge and keep this glossary open beside it. Every term links back to the lessons where we teach it, and the list grows as the 50 Conventions in 50 Days series does.

Alert

An alert in bridge is the announcement you make when your partner's call carries a conventional meaning, so the opponents know what it shows. At the table you alert partner's calls rather than your own, online and behind screens you alert your own, and the ACBL publishes an Alert Procedure that lists which calls are alertable. Writing the agreement on your convention card is the other half of the same duty.

Attitude signal

An attitude signal in bridge is a card a defender plays to tell partner whether they like the suit, with a high spot card encouraging and a low one discouraging. It is the first signal most players learn and the one that comes up most often, usually on partner's opening lead. Attitude, count and suit preference are the three messages defenders send, and they have their own guide to defensive signals.

Auction

The auction in bridge is the bidding phase of each deal, where the four players take turns making calls until one side wins the right to name the contract. It begins with the dealer and ends when a bid is followed by three consecutive passes. The auction is a conversation in code, and learning to speak it clearly with your partner is half the game.

Balanced hand

A balanced hand in bridge is a hand with no void, no singleton, and at most one doubleton, meaning the shapes 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, and 5-3-3-2. Balanced hands are the natural territory for no trump bidding, such as opening 1NT with 15 to 17 HCP. Recognizing whether your hand is balanced or unbalanced is one of the first sorting decisions in every auction.

Balancing

Balancing in bridge is bidding in the pass-out seat with less than you would normally need, because the opponents stopping low means the missing values are sitting somewhere. Partner has already passed, so if you pass too the deal ends cheaply for them. Balancing bids are shaded by roughly a king compared with the same bid made in the direct seat.

Bid

A bid in bridge is a call that names a number of tricks and a trump suit (or no trump), such as 2♥, which offers to win 8 of the 13 tricks with hearts as trump. Each bid must outrank the one before it, either by level or by suit rank, with ♣ lowest, then ♦, ♥, ♠, and no trump highest. Every bid tells partner something, which is why good bidding is less about the cards you hold and more about the story you tell.

Bidding box

A bidding box in bridge is the tray of printed cards players use to make their calls silently at the table. You pull the card rather than say the bid, which keeps tone of voice out of the auction and leaves the whole bidding visible while it is in progress. Most clubs and every tournament use them.

Blackwood

Blackwood is a bridge convention where a bid of 4NT asks partner how many aces they hold, so the partnership can check for missing aces before bidding a slam. In the classic version, 5♣ shows zero or four aces, 5♦ shows one, 5♥ shows two, and 5♠ shows three. Most modern partnerships play the upgraded version, Roman Keycard Blackwood, which counts the trump king as a fifth “keycard,” and Bridge Unleashed teaches it with 1430 responses in the 50 Conventions in 50 Days curriculum.

Book

Book in bridge is the first six tricks taken by declarer's side, and the number in a contract counts only the tricks beyond it. A contract of 4♥ is therefore a promise of ten tricks, six for book plus four. Once you see it that way, the numbering of contracts stops being strange.

Claim

A claim in bridge is a statement by declarer or a defender that they will take a stated number of the remaining tricks, made by facing the hand and explaining the intended line of play. A clear claim saves the table time when the rest of the deal is a formality. Play is suspended the moment you claim, and if anyone disagrees the director rules, so state your line rather than assuming it is obvious.

Contract

A contract in bridge is the final bid of the auction, which commits the declaring side to win a specific number of tricks in a chosen trump suit or in no trump. For example, a contract of 4♠ means the declaring side must win at least 10 of the 13 tricks with spades as trump. Making the contract scores points for the declaring side, while falling short gives points to the defenders.

Convention

A convention in bridge is an agreed-upon bid whose meaning is artificial, telling your partner something about your hand rather than suggesting the bid suit as trump. Conventions like Stayman and Blackwood let partnerships exchange precise information within the limited vocabulary of the auction. Bridge Unleashed teaches the 50 most useful ones in the 50 Conventions in 50 Days curriculum. Partnerships write their agreements on a convention card, which is what the opponents are entitled to see.

Count signal

A count signal in bridge is a card a defender plays to show how many cards they hold in a suit, playing high then low with an even number and low then high with an odd number. Count matters most when declarer is running a long suit and partner has to judge exactly when to take an ace. It is the signal that lets a defender count out declarer's shape.

Crossruff

A crossruff in bridge is a line of play where declarer ruffs losers in both hands alternately, winning tricks with small trumps that would otherwise be worthless. It works when each hand is short in a suit the other can lead and the defenders cannot overruff. Cash your side-suit winners first, because once the crossruff starts the defenders get discards.

Cue bid

A cue bid in bridge is a bid of a suit the opponents have shown, or a bid made to show a control rather than a place to play. In competitive auctions, cue bidding the opponent's suit typically shows a strong hand or a strong raise of partner's suit. In slam auctions, cue bids let partners show aces, kings, and shortness on the way to deciding whether 12 tricks are there.

Deal

A deal in bridge is both the act of distributing all 52 cards, thirteen to each player, and the unit of play that follows it. Every deal has its own auction, its own play and its own score. In duplicate the same deal is played at several tables, which is what makes the results comparable.

Dealer

The dealer in bridge is the player who distributes the 52 cards, 13 to each player, and makes the first call of the auction. The deal rotates clockwise around the table so everyone takes a turn. In duplicate bridge the dealer is printed on the board, which is one less thing to argue about.

Declarer

The declarer in bridge is the player who first bid the suit (or no trump) of the final contract for their side, and who plays both their own hand and the dummy's. Declarer's job is to win at least the number of tricks the contract promises. The player to declarer's left makes the opening lead.

Defender

A defender in bridge is one of the two players opposing the declarer, trying to win enough tricks to defeat the contract. The defender to declarer's left makes the opening lead, and the two defenders cooperate through their card play since they cannot talk. Defense is the hardest part of bridge and also the part played most often, so every hour spent on it pays twice.

Director

The director in bridge is the person who runs the game and applies the Laws when something goes wrong. Calling the director is not an accusation and is not rude, it is the normal way to sort out a revoke, a lead out of turn or a wrong explanation. Call early and call cheerfully.

Discard

A discard in bridge is a card you play from another suit, other than trump, when you cannot follow suit to the card led. A discard cannot win the trick, but it can protect winners you need later or send partner a message about what you hold. Careless discards give away more contracts than bad finesses ever will.

Distribution

Distribution in bridge is the pattern of suit lengths in a hand, written as four numbers such as 5-4-3-1 for five spades, four hearts, three diamonds, and one club. Distribution matters as much as high card points, because long suits produce extra tricks and short suits produce ruffs. Two hands with identical point counts can be worlds apart once you look at their shape.

Double

A double in bridge is a call that increases the penalty if the opponents fail to make their contract, and increases their reward if they make it. Doubles at low levels are usually “takeout,” asking partner to bid a suit rather than expecting to defend. Whether a double is takeout or penalty depends on the auction, and it is one of the most important distinctions in modern bidding. Both takeout doubles and negative doubles have their own guide.

Doubleton

A doubleton in bridge is a holding of exactly two cards in a suit. Once a trump fit is found, a doubleton adds value because the hand can ruff the third round of that suit. Learning to count shape alongside points is one of the fastest upgrades a newer player can make.

Drawing trumps

Drawing trumps in bridge is leading trumps until the defenders have none left, so your side-suit winners cannot be ruffed away. It is usually declarer's first job, and counting the missing trumps is what tells you when to stop. The main exception is a hand that needs dummy's trumps for ruffing, which is one of the judgments in our play of the hand guide.

Duck

To duck in bridge is to deliberately play low and lose a trick you could have won. Declarers duck to preserve an entry or to cut the defenders' communication, and defenders duck to keep declarer guessing about who holds what. It feels wrong the first few times and it wins tricks.

Dummy

The dummy in bridge is the declarer's partner, whose 13 cards are placed face up on the table after the opening lead. The declarer chooses which card the dummy plays to every trick, so the dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand. Declarer plays those 13 cards and their own 13 as a single unit, and that is what makes declarer play such a rich strategic exercise.

Duplicate bridge

Duplicate bridge is the competitive form of the game where the same deals are played at multiple tables, so every partnership faces identical cards. Your score depends on how well you did compared with other pairs who held the same hands, which removes most of the luck of the deal. It is the format used in clubs and tournaments run by organizations like the ACBL.

Endplay

An endplay in bridge is a play that hands a defender the lead at the one moment when every card they hold helps declarer. Thrown in, they must either lead away from an honor or concede a ruff and discard. Endplays look like magic and are mostly counting: remove the safe exits first, then put the right defender on lead.

Entry

An entry in bridge is a card that allows you to win a trick in a specific hand, giving you the lead there when you need it. Declarers manage entries to reach established winners in the dummy, and defenders manage them to reach each other's tricks. Many contracts are won or lost not on power but on being in the right hand at the right time.

Establishing a suit

Establishing a suit in bridge means forcing out the opponents' high cards so that your remaining low cards become winners. A five-card suit headed by the king and queen opposite three small usually produces four tricks once the ace has gone. The question that decides most contracts is whether you still have an entry to reach the suit after you establish it.

Finesse

A finesse in bridge is a play that tries to win a trick with a card lower than one the opponents hold, by taking advantage of that higher card's position. A classic example: leading toward a hand with the A♠ and Q♠ and playing the queen if the opponent in front of it does not play the king. A simple finesse succeeds about half the time, and knowing when to take one is a core declarer skill.

Fit

A fit in bridge is a combined holding of eight or more cards in one suit between the two partnership hands, such as five spades opposite three. An eight-card or better fit is the standard target for choosing a trump suit, which is why so much of bidding is a search for the fit. When no fit exists, no trump usually becomes the home.

Follow suit

To follow suit in bridge is to play a card of the suit that was led, which the Laws require of you whenever you hold one. Only when you are void may you discard or ruff. Failing to follow suit when you could is a revoke, and once it is established the director usually transfers one or two tricks to the other side.

Forcing bid

A forcing bid in bridge is a bid that partner is not allowed to pass, because it promises more bidding to come. Forcing bids let a partnership explore for the right game or slam without fear of the auction dying too early. Knowing which of your bids are forcing and which are not is the single most common source of partnership misunderstandings, so agree on it early. One system built on exactly this idea, Two Over One, makes a two-over-one response forcing all the way to game.

Fourth suit forcing

Fourth suit forcing in bridge is a bid of the one suit nobody has bid, used artificially to ask partner for more information rather than to suggest that suit as trumps. Bridge Unleashed teaches it as game forcing, so the auction never dies below game and neither partner has to guess. It is the tool for a hand too strong to invite and too shapeless to place the contract itself.

Game

A game in bridge is a contract worth at least 100 trick points, which earns a large scoring bonus. The standard game contracts are 3NT, 4♥ or 4♠ in the major suits, and 5♣ or 5♦ in the minor suits. Partnerships with roughly 25 or more combined high card points usually try to bid a game because the bonus is so valuable.

Gerber

Gerber in bridge is a 4♣ ace-asking convention used after a natural no trump bid, where responder's answers show the number of aces in steps. It exists because 4NT opposite a no trump bid is a natural raise, so the ask has to start lower. Most partnerships keep Gerber for no trump auctions only and use Blackwood everywhere else.

Grand slam

A grand slam in bridge is a contract to take all thirteen tricks, bid at the seven level. It pays the largest bonus in the game and costs you the whole board when it fails, so partnerships check for missing aces and kings before bidding one. Most grand slams are bid on a known fit and a way to count thirteen tricks, not on optimism.

Hand evaluation

Hand evaluation in bridge is the process of deciding what your thirteen cards are actually worth, using high card points plus length, shape and fit. A hand with 12 HCP and a six-card suit is worth more than 12 HCP spread flat across four suits. Good evaluation is re-evaluation: your hand changes value every time partner bids.

HCP (High Card Points)

HCP, or high card points, is the standard method for measuring the strength of a bridge hand: ace = 4, king = 3, queen = 2, jack = 1. A full deck contains 40 HCP, so an average hand holds 10. Point count drives most bidding decisions, such as opening 1NT with 15 to 17 HCP.

Hold-up play

A hold-up play in bridge is declarer refusing to win a trick with a stopper until the defenders have no card of that suit left to lead. Holding up the ace for two rounds in no trump can cut the defenders' communication completely. The cost is the tricks you concede while you wait, so hold up when one opponent is the one you fear getting the lead later.

Honor

An honor in bridge is one of the top five cards in a suit: the ace, king, queen, jack, or 10. Honors win tricks directly and combine with each other, which is why A-K-Q in one suit is worth more than the same cards scattered across three suits. When players talk about “honor strength,” they mean how much of a hand's value sits in these top cards.

IMP

An IMP, or International Match Point, is the scoring unit used in team bridge. The point difference between the two tables' results on a deal is converted to IMPs on a fixed scale that flattens huge swings. IMP scoring rewards bidding and making games and slams, which makes team bridge feel very different from matchpoint pairs.

Invitational bid

An invitational bid in bridge is a bid that invites partner to carry on to game but allows them to pass with a minimum. Raising 1NT to 2NT is the classic example. Invitations are how a partnership stops in a partscore when the values are not there, so knowing which of your bids invite and which force is a conversation worth having away from the table.

Jacoby 2NT

Jacoby 2NT in bridge is a 2NT response to partner's 1♥ or 1♠ opening that promises a game-forcing hand with four-card or longer support. It sets the trump suit at once and leaves the whole two and three level free for describing shape and strength. In the Bridge Unleashed structure opener jumps straight to four of the major with a minimum, which shuts down slam exploration when the values are not there.

Jump shift

A jump shift in bridge is a bid of a new suit one level higher than necessary. Played by responder in standard American it shows a very strong hand, around 17 or more points, and forces to game. Plenty of partnerships play jump shifts as weak instead, which is exactly the sort of agreement that belongs on your convention card.

Keycard

A keycard in bridge is one of the four aces plus the king of trumps, five cards in total, counted by Roman Keycard Blackwood. Counting the trump king is the whole point, because a slam missing it is usually a slam off a trick. Bridge Unleashed teaches keycard with 1430 responses, where 5♣ shows one or four keycards and 5♦ shows zero or three, and the full scheme is in our Blackwood guide.

Kibitzer

A kibitzer in bridge is a spectator watching a table without playing. Kibitzers are expected to stay silent and expressionless while a deal is in progress, and online they can often see more than one hand. Watching a strong pair play is one of the cheapest lessons in the game.

Law of Total Tricks

The Law of Total Tricks in bridge is a guideline that the total number of tricks available to both sides is roughly equal to the total number of trumps they hold in their best suits. With nine trumps, compete to the three level; with eight, stop at two. It is a rule of thumb rather than a law, and it earns its keep in competitive auctions where nobody yet knows whose hand it is.

Limit raise

A limit raise in bridge is a natural raise of partner's suit showing roughly 10 to 12 support points, inviting game without forcing it. Opener passes with a minimum and bids on with extras, which is exactly what an invitation is for. Partnerships that play Jacoby 2NT keep the limit raise for the hands that are not quite strong enough to force to game.

Losing Trick Count

The Losing Trick Count in bridge is a way to value a hand once a fit is known, counting losers in the first three cards of each suit. Add your losers to the number partner's bidding promises, subtract the total from 24, and the answer is roughly how many tricks the partnership should take. It is a fit tool rather than a replacement for high card points, so use it after a trump suit is agreed.

Major suit

The major suits in bridge are ♠ and ♥, the two higher-ranking suits, which score more per trick than the minors. Game in a major is at the four level, requiring 10 tricks, which is one trick fewer than game in a minor. This scoring edge is why so much of modern bidding, from Stayman to transfers, is built around finding an eight-card major suit fit.

Masterpoint

A masterpoint in bridge is the unit the ACBL awards for placing well in a sanctioned game, and the currency behind every rank from Junior Master to Grand Life Master. They measure how much you have played and placed as much as how well you play. Nobody needs them to enjoy the game, and plenty of players enjoy chasing them anyway.

Matchpoints

Matchpoints is the scoring method used in most duplicate pairs games, where your result on each deal is compared with every other pair who held the same cards. You earn one matchpoint for each pair you beat and half for each tie, so even a small edge like an overtrick can be worth a top score. Matchpoints rewards fighting for every trick on every deal.

Michaels cue bid

A Michaels cue bid in bridge is a bid of the opponent's suit that shows a two-suited hand with at least five cards in each suit. Over a minor it promises both majors, and over a major it promises the other major plus an unspecified minor. Bridge Unleashed teaches it with two strength ranges, roughly 6 to 11 or 16 and up, and the partner of the Michaels bidder never passes.

Minor suit

The minor suits in bridge are ♣ and ♦, the two lower-ranking suits, which score less per trick than the majors. Game in a minor is 5♣ or 5♦, requiring 11 tricks, so partnerships often prefer 3NT with only nine tricks when they can manage it. The minors do their best work as the quiet foundation of the auction rather than the final destination.

Negative double

A negative double in bridge is a double by responder after an opponent overcalls, used for takeout rather than for penalty. It shows values and length in the unbid suits, with a particular promise of any unbid major. It solves the problem of the hand that holds the suits you cannot bid at that level, and it has its own guide.

No trump

No trump in bridge is a contract played without any trump suit, so the highest card in the suit led wins each trick. No trump contracts are written with NT, as in 1NT or 3NT, and 3NT is the most common game contract because it requires only nine tricks. Balanced hands with strength in every suit are the natural home for no trump bidding.

Opening bid

An opening bid in bridge is the first bid of the auction, made by the first player who chooses not to pass. It sets the tone for the whole deal, describing the opener's strength and shape to partner, such as opening 1♥ with five or more hearts and 12 or more points. Everything that follows in the auction builds on what the opening bid promised. The strongest opening of all, 2♣, has its own guide.

Opening lead

The opening lead in bridge is the first card of the play, made by the defender to declarer's left before the dummy is placed face up. It is the only card chosen without seeing dummy, which makes it both the blindest and one of the most influential plays of the whole hand. Standard agreements, like leading fourth from your longest and strongest suit against no trump, exist to make this guess an educated one.

Overcall

An overcall in bridge is a bid made after the opponents have opened the auction. It competes for the contract, suggests a lead to partner, and takes bidding space away from the other side, such as bidding 1♠ over an opponent's 1♦ opening. A simple overcall typically shows a decent five-card or longer suit and roughly 8 to 16 points.

Overruff

An overruff in bridge is playing a higher trump than the one an opponent has just ruffed with. Sitting behind the hand that ruffs is worth real tricks, which is why declarers time their ruffs for the moment the danger of an overruff has passed. Ruffing high to shut out an overruff is often worth the trump it spends.

Overtrick

An overtrick in bridge is any trick the declaring side wins beyond what the contract required, such as taking 11 tricks in a 4♠ contract. Overtricks score a small bonus per trick, and at matchpoints that small bonus can be the difference between a top and an average board. At IMPs, the safety of the contract matters far more than an extra 30 points.

Partscore

A partscore in bridge is any contract below game level, worth fewer than 100 trick points, such as 2♠ or 3♦. Partscores earn a small bonus rather than the big game bonus, so they are the target when the partnership lacks the strength for game. Winning the fight for a partscore is one of the quiet skills that separates good pairs from average ones.

Pass

A pass in bridge is a call that makes no bid, no double, and no redouble, simply handing the turn to the next player. The auction ends when a bid is followed by three consecutive passes, and if all four players pass at the start, the deal is thrown in with no contract. Passing is not quitting; a well-judged pass is often the strongest call at the table.

Penalty double

A penalty double in bridge is a double made to collect a larger penalty because you expect the opponents to fail. It is the opposite intent to a takeout double, and which one a given double shows is a matter of partnership agreement about level and position. Most penalty doubles at the club come from a stack of trumps sitting behind declarer.

Preempt

A preempt in bridge is a high-level opening bid or jump made with a weak hand and a long suit, such as opening 3♣ with seven clubs and little outside strength. The goal is to take away the opponents' bidding space before they can exchange information. Preempts trade safety for disruption, and vulnerability should always temper how bold you get.

Psych

A psych in bridge is a deliberate gross misstatement of your strength or suit length, made to mislead the opponents. It is legal, but it has to surprise your own partner too, because a psych your partnership has an understanding about is an undisclosed agreement and that is not legal. Psychs are rare at club level and best left alone until you know the Laws well.

Quick trick

A quick trick in bridge is a measure of the tricks a holding will take immediately on defense, counting ace-king as two, ace-queen as one and a half, an ace or king-queen as one, and a guarded king as a half. Opening guidelines often ask for a hand to hold two or two and a half quick tricks. It is a reality check on a hand whose points are all queens and jacks.

Rebid

A rebid in bridge is your second call of the auction, and it is where most of the real description happens. Your opening bid says a little, and your rebid tells partner your strength range and your shape. Before you open, look at what you plan to rebid over partner's likely response, because a hand with no comfortable rebid is a hand to think twice about.

Redouble

A redouble in bridge is a call available only after the opponents have doubled, and it doubles the stakes again in both directions. A redouble can show confidence that the contract will make, or by agreement it can carry a conventional meaning, like showing 10 or more points after partner's opening bid is doubled. Scores in redoubled contracts get very large very fast.

Response

A response in bridge is the bid made by the partner of the opening bidder. Responses describe strength and shape so the partnership can find its best contract, such as responding 1♠ to partner's 1♣ opening to show four or more spades. The opener and responder take turns narrowing the picture until one of them can place the final contract.

Reverse

A reverse in bridge is opener's rebid in a new, higher-ranking suit at the two level, such as 1♦ then 2♥, which forces partner to the three level to go back to the first suit. It promises extra strength, usually about 17 or more points, with the first suit longer than the second. Because it costs so much room, a reverse is a promise rather than a preference.

Rubber

A rubber in bridge is the traditional scoring unit of home and social play, won by the first side to make two games. Rubber bridge adds bonuses for winning the rubber and keeps a running score above and below the line. Most competitive play today uses duplicate scoring instead, but rubber bridge is where many players first learn the game.

Ruff

To ruff in bridge is to win a trick by playing a trump card when you have no cards left in the suit that was led. Ruffing turns small trumps into winners, which is a main reason to play in a suit contract instead of no trump. Scoring extra tricks by ruffing in the shorter trump hand is one of declarer's most reliable techniques.

Ruff and sluff

A ruff and sluff in bridge is what a defender concedes by leading a suit that both declarer and dummy are void in, letting declarer ruff in one hand and throw a loser from the other. It hands declarer a trick that no amount of good play could have produced. Avoiding it is the main reason defenders count the hand before leading late in the deal.

Rule of 20

The Rule of 20 in bridge is an opening guideline: add your high card points to the lengths of your two longest suits, and open the bidding when the total reaches 20. It lets shapely hands open light while keeping flat eleven-counts quiet. Treat it as a tiebreaker rather than a command, alongside the other tests in our guide to bidding basics.

Sacrifice

A sacrifice in bridge is a deliberate bid of a contract you do not expect to make, because going down, even doubled, figures to cost less than the score the opponents would earn for their contract. Sacrifices depend heavily on vulnerability, which sets the price of going down. A good sacrifice is a calculated purchase, not a panic bid.

Sequence

A sequence in bridge is a run of touching honors in one suit, such as queen-jack-ten. Sequences make safe opening leads, because the cards behind the one you play protect it. Leading the top of a sequence is standard, and it tells partner what you hold as clearly as it attacks declarer.

Side suit

A side suit in bridge is any suit other than trumps. Declarer's plan usually runs through a long side suit that can be established for discards, and the defenders' plan usually runs through cashing their side-suit winners before those discards appear. In a trump contract the side suits are where the real work happens.

Signal

A signal in bridge is a card a defender plays to send partner information rather than to win the trick. The three standard messages are attitude, count and suit preference, and which one applies depends on who led and on what the card could usefully mean. Defense is a two-person job and signals are the legal way to do it, covered in full in our defensive signals guide.

Singleton

A singleton in bridge is a holding of exactly one card in a suit. In a suit contract a singleton is an asset, since the hand can start ruffing that suit on the second round. In no trump the same singleton becomes a liability, which is a tidy example of how the value of a hand changes with the contract.

Slam

A slam in bridge is a contract at the six level or higher. A small slam (like 6♥) commits your side to winning 12 of the 13 tricks, and a grand slam (like 7NT) requires all 13. Slams pay large bonuses, so partnerships use tools like Blackwood to check for aces before bidding them.

Splinter bid

A splinter bid in bridge is an unusual jump in a new suit that agrees partner's suit as trumps and shows a singleton or void in the suit bid. It is a game-forcing raise with the shape information built in, so partner can judge whether their honors in that suit are wasted. Wasted honors opposite a splinter are the clearest slam warning in bidding.

Squeeze

A squeeze in bridge is an ending where one defender guards two suits and cannot keep both when declarer cashes a long winner. Most squeezes need the timing to be right, which usually means losing your losers early rather than late. They sound advanced, and the simplest ones are worth learning early, because you will play one by accident before you play one on purpose.

Stayman

Stayman is a bridge convention where a 2♣ response to partner's 1NT opening asks whether opener holds a four-card major suit. Opener answers 2♥ or 2♠ with one, or 2♦ with neither, helping the partnership find a 4-4 major suit fit instead of guessing. It is one of the first conventions every new player should learn, and we break it down fully in our Stayman guide.

Stopper

A stopper in bridge is a card holding that prevents the opponents from running a suit against a no trump contract, such as an ace, a guarded king like K-x, or a guarded queen like Q-x-x. Before bidding 3NT, partnerships want confidence that every suit the opponents might attack is stopped. Tools like the Western cue bid exist precisely to ask partner about a stopper when you cannot see one yourself.

Suit preference signal

A suit preference signal in bridge is a card that points partner toward one of two other suits, with a high spot asking for the higher-ranking suit and a low spot for the lower. It applies when attitude and count would both be pointless, most often when you are giving partner a ruff. Knowing which of the three signals applies at a given moment is the hard part of defense.

Takeout double

A takeout double in bridge is a double of the opponents' bid that asks partner to bid their best suit rather than to defend. It shows opening values, shortness in the doubled suit and support for the other suits. It is the most common competitive tool in the game and has its own guide.

Tenace

A tenace in bridge is a broken honor holding such as ace-queen or king-jack, where a missing honor sits between your cards. A tenace is worth more when the opponent holding that missing honor has to play before you do. Leading away from a tenace usually gives away the trick it was going to win.

Transfer

A transfer in bridge is a convention where a response to a 1NT opening asks opener to bid the next suit up, letting the stronger hand play the contract. In Jacoby Transfers, the most common version, 2♦ asks opener to bid 2♥ and 2♥ asks for 2♠, showing five or more cards in that major. Transfers keep the opening lead coming into the strong hand, and we teach them in our workshops.

Trick

A trick in bridge is one round of play where all four players contribute one card each, and the highest card of the suit led (or the highest trump) wins. Every deal contains exactly 13 tricks, and the whole game revolves around how many your side can win. The auction decides how many tricks your side must take, and the play decides whether you deliver.

Trump

Trump in bridge is the suit named by the final contract, and any card in that suit outranks every card in the other three suits. If ♠ are trump, the 2♠ beats even the A♥ when a player has no hearts left. The auction decides which suit becomes trump, or the hand can be played in no trump with no trump suit at all.

Undertrick

An undertrick in bridge is each trick by which declarer falls short of the contract. Undertricks are what the defenders score, and what each one is worth depends on vulnerability and on whether the contract was doubled. The full table is in our guide to bridge scoring.

Unusual 2NT

The Unusual 2NT in bridge is a 2NT overcall showing at least five cards in each of the two lowest unbid suits rather than a balanced hand. Bridge Unleashed teaches it with the same two ranges as Michaels, roughly 6 to 11 or 16 and up, and the partner of the Unusual 2NT bidder never passes. Two-suited overcalls trade safety for pressure, which is why the ranges skip the middle.

Void

A void in bridge is a suit in which a hand holds zero cards. In a suit contract a void is powerful, allowing immediate ruffs the moment that suit is led. Voids also complicate ace-asking auctions, since an ace you cannot use in a void suit counts less than the math suggests, which is a judgment call worth discussing with your partner.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability in bridge is a scoring condition that raises both the bonuses for making games and the penalties for going down. In duplicate it is preset for each deal, and in rubber bridge a side becomes vulnerable once it has won a game. A vulnerable side scores more for its games and slams but pays more when it fails, so vulnerability shapes how aggressively good players bid and sacrifice. Checking the vulnerability before you compete is a habit worth building early.

Weak two bid

A weak two bid in bridge is an opening bid of 2♦, 2♥, or 2♠ showing a good six-card suit and a weak hand, typically about 5 to 10 points. It describes the hand in one call and pressures the opponents to start their auction a level higher. Weak twos are the everyday cousin of the preempt, and conventions like Ogust exist to help partner judge how high to go opposite one.

Yarborough

A yarborough in bridge is a hand containing no card higher than a nine. The odds against being dealt one are about 1827 to 1, and the name comes from a nineteenth-century earl who is said to have offered 1000 to 1 against it, which made the bet a good one for him. It is a pass, and it is a story.

Keep going

A glossary gets you the words. Playing gets you the game. The Bridge Unleashed workshop library walks every major convention from zero to table-ready, one convention at a time, and you can browse the whole library at bridgeunleashed.com/workshops. There's also a VIP membership if you'd rather learn on an ongoing path than one workshop at a time.