Friday, July 15, 2011

DUPLICATE BRIDGE: GLOSSARY

GLOSSARY/ DEFINITIONS:





ACE SHOWING BIDS – A method response showing specific aces often employed when partnership has

                                            interest in bidding slam.    See also CUEBIDDING



ACE SHOWING RESPONSES  --  Responses to show specific aces over strong two bids (usually 2C)

                                                            Over the artificial 2C, the responses are as follows:

2 D  shows no aces

2 H  - 2S - 3C - 3D shows that ace

2NT  shows zero aces but at least 8 points

3NT  shows two aces.



ACBL STANDARD YELLOW CARD  --  List of conventions often used by partnerships in yellow card

                                                                        bridge events.  



ALERT  --  a warning to the opposing side that a call by your partner has a conventional message rather

                    than the meaning of a natural bid.



ACOL 4NT OPENING  --  An opening bid of 4NT asking for specific aces.  The responses are:

5C shows no aces

5D  - 5H  - 5S  - 6C   shows that ace

5NT shows two aces



ASTRO CUE-BID  --  A way of describing two-suited hands after an opponent opens one of a suit.  A

                                      direct cuebid of opener’s suit shows a long minor suit (6 cards) and a shorter major

                                       suit (4 cards).

2C  over 1C  shows diamonds and hearts

2 D over 1D  shows clubs and hearts

2H  over 1H shows clubs and spades

2S   over 1S   Shows clubs and hearts



ACOL THREE NOTRUMP OPENINGS  --  A stronger version of the GAMBLING THREE NOTRUMP

                                                                           with a long minor suit and at least two outside stoppers. 

                                                                           Also see GAMBLING THREE NOTRUMP.



ATTITUDE  --  The play of a card to tell your partner to return a card in a particular suit.  A high card is

                            encouraging while a low card is discouraging.



BLACKWOOD CONVENTION  --  once partnership agrees on a trump suit, a bid of 4NT is

                                                              conventional and asks partner how many aces he has in his hand.  
The responses are:

5 C   - zero or four

5 D  - one ace

5 H   - two aces

5 S   - three aces



BROKEN SEQUENCE  --  A sequence when two cards are touching but a card is missing before the next

                                               card (Q – J – 9)  or ( J – 10 – 8).



BALANCED HAND  --  A hand with no voids, no singletons and no more than one doubleton.  (4-4-3-2);

                                         (4-3-3-3); (5-3-3-2).



BERGEN RAISES  --   A bidding style of a major suit whereby one reaches at the three level with a
                                        four-card support. 

BECKER  --  A convention that utilizes and overcall of 2C  over an opening bid of 1NT to show both

                       minor suits and an overcall of 2D  showing both major suits.





CUEBID  --  An artificial forcing bid.  The bidding of an opponent’s suit or a control bid when partnership

                       is interested in slam-force bidding.   Usually showing an ace control.



CONTROL  --  A void or and ace that prevents the opponents from winning a trick in a suit.  There are

                           first-round controls, aces and voids; and second-round controls, kings and singletons.



CONTROL RESPONSES  --  A convention response whereby partner shows the number of controls

                                                  (aces and kings) he holds when responding to a strong forcing bid. 



CROSSRUFF  --  The play of a hand where tricks are won by both the declarer and the dummy.  Ruffing

                               losers in both declarers hand  and in the dummy’s hand.



COMBINED POINTS  --  The total number of high-card points in a partnership.



CAPPELLETTI  --  A convention that prescribes the following values to overcalls of an opponent’s 1NT 

                                  opening bid. 

Double is for penalty.

2C  - shows a one suited hand.

2D - shows hearts and spades

2H  - shows hearts and a minor suit.

2 S  - shows spades and a minor suit.



DISTRIBUTION  --  The number of cards held in a suit by a partnership. 



DISTRIBUTION POINTS  --  The valuation of a hand that takes in consideration the shape of a particular

                                                     hand i.e. length points, shorts, voids etc.



DOUBLE  --  A call that increases the value of tricks when scoring a contract i.e. Penalty Double.



DOUBLE (TAKEOUT)  --  A convention that asks partner to bid his best suit..



DOUBLE (NEGATIVE)  --  A variation of the takeout double usually when an opponent overcalls at the

                                                low level.



DONT  --   A convention that assigns the following meaning to an overcall of an opponent’s 1NT opening

                   bid.

Double – shows one-suited hand

2C  - shows clubs and another suit.

2D - shows diamonds and a major suit

2H  - shows hearts and spades

2 S  - shows spades.



DRURY  --  A conventional response of 2 clubs to a major suit opening ( 1H or 1S ) in third or fourth

                     position asking partner if he has a full opening bid.



DUMMY POINTS  --  Valuation points for voids, singletons, doubletons etc;  Void = 5; singleton = 3;

                                       doubleton = 1.



DEFENSIVE SIGNALS  --  Cards played by the defenders so that each defender can paint a clear picture

                                                of their hand so that they can make the right decision or choice in playing the

                                                proper cards to defeat a contract.



FINESSE  --  A play to win a trick with a card lower in rank than a crad held by the opponents.



FEATURE  --  The holding of an ace or a king.



FORCING BID  --   A bid that requires a partner to bid. 



FOURTH BEST  --  The fourth highest card in rank in a long suit. i.e. K – 10 – 7 – 5 – 3. 



FOURTH SUIT TRANSFER BIDS  --  Transfer bids after partner opens 1NT.

2 D  for H

2H     for S 

2S    for  C 

2  NT  for  D



FORCING STAYMAN  --  A variation of the Stayman Convention (2C ) that has responder bid 2H  or

                                               2S  forcing opener to at least bid 2NT.



FLANNERY  --  A convention of 2D  opening bid showing 4 spades and five hearts and at least an

                             opening hand (11 to 15 points.) 



FIRST ROUND CONTROL  --  An ace or a void when playing in a suit contract.



FIVE CARD MAJORS --  Bidding style where a 1H or 1S  promises at least a five-card or longer suit.



FORCING RAISE  --  A response to the three level to an opening bid of one of a suit forcing to at least

                                       the game level.



FOURTH SUIT FORCING  --  A bid in the fourth suit by the responder at his second turn to bid.



FLAT HAND  --  A  hand lacking a distribution feature.  4-3-3-2 and 4-4-3-2 are flat hands.



GAMBLING 3NT  --  An opening bid of 3NT that has a long, solid minor suit rather than the traditional

                                      hand of 25 to 27 points.



GERBER  --  A conventional bid of 4C  after a bid of 1NT or 2NT to ask partner for aces.  Partner

                       Responds as follows:

4D   - 0 or 4 aces

4H   -  1 ace

4 S   -  2 aces

4NT  -  3 aces

*** If partnership has all the four aces, a bid of 5C asks for kings with the same responses at the 5 level.



GOOD SUIT  --  A suit headed by two of the top three honors or three of the top five honors.



GRAND SLAM  --  A contract to take all thirteen tricks.



JACOBY TRANSFER BIDS  --  A popular method of responding to notrump opening bids.  Over a

                                                        partner’s 1NT opening bid, a response of 2D  shows hearts; 2H  shows

                                                        spades.



JACOBY 2NT  --  An artificial forcing raise of partner’s major suit opening bid.  Over 2NT opener must

                               describe his hand as follows:



-- 3 of a suit shows that singleton or void.

-- 3 of the agreed major shows 16 or more points.

-- 3NT shows 14 or 15 points.

-- 4 of a suit shows a good 5-card suit

-- 4 of the agreed major shows a minimum.



JUMP SHIFT  --  The use of a jump-shift response to show a fit for partner’s suit and another real suit.  It

                               is often used by a passed hand.



KANTAR CUE-BID  --  A special cuebid response to partner’s opening bid of one of a suit; a direct

                                          cuebid of an opposing overcall shows a three-suited hand with shortness in the

                                          opposing suit.



KEY-CARD BLACKWOOD  --  A specialized way to respond to Blackwood in which the king of trump

                                                        is included as an ace producing five key cards instead of four.  The

                                                        responses are as follows:

n       5C   shows 0 or 4 key cards

n       5D shows 1 or 5

n       5H   shows 2 key cards

n       5S   shows 3 key cards



LIMIT RAISES  --  A jump raise from 1 to 3 in the opener’s suit to invite partner to game.  The hand of

                                  the jump raiser shows 10 to 12 points.



MICHAELS CUE-BID  --  The use of a direct cue-bid of an opponent opening bid of one of a suit.   The

                                               cue-bidder promises a two-suited hand.

2 C  over 1 C  shows hearts and spades

2 D over 1 D  shows hearts and spades

2H  over 1H   shows spades and any one minor

2S   over 1S   shows hearts and any one minor.



NEGATIVE DOUBLE  --  A double by the responder used as a takeout double after partner’s opening bid

                                            of one of a suit is overcalled by the opponent.  The negative doubler shows

                                            support in the two unbid suits.



PUPPET STAYMAN  --  A variation of the stayman convention.  The 2C response to opener’s opening

                                            bid of 1 NT forces opener to rebid 2 D  (except to show a 5-card major suit). 

                                            Responder rebids as follows:

2 H  shows a 4-card spade suit.

2 S   shows a 4-card heart suit.

2 NT shows both majors and invitational strength.

3 NT shows both majors and game strength.



ROMAN BLACKWOOD  --  Another variation of Blackwood that will pinpoint which ace is missing

                                                  when partnership holds three aces.  The responses are:

5 C  shows 0 or 3 aces

5 D   shows 1 or 4

5 H   shows 2 aces of the same color or next to each other in rank.

5 S   shows 2 unlike aces



SPLINTER BID --  The use of an unusual jump bid to show a singleton or a void in the suit bid and

                                  excellent trump support for partner’s last bid suit.   This kind of bid is forcing to game

                                  and shows slam interest.



STRONG JUMP OVERCALLS --  A jump overcall in a suit to show a hand of 16 –18 points and at least

                                                            a six-card good suit. 







STEP RESPONSES  --  The popular method of showing controls over a partner’s forcing opening

                                         Strong bid of 2C .

2 D  shows 0 or 1 controls

2 H   shows 2 controls.

2 S   shows 3 controls, an ace and a king

2 NT shows e controls, 3 kings

3 C  shows 4 controls





UNUSUAL NOTRUMP OVERCALL  --  An notrump overcall used as an artificial takeout bid.  It is

                                                                       often used as a direct jump overcall bid.  It was invented by

                                                                       Alvin Roth to show minor suits. Many players use this bid

                                                                       exclusively as a takeout to show the two lower unbid suits.



UNUSUAL 2NT OPENING BIDS  --  An opening bid of 2 NT to show the holding of two minor suits at

                                                                least 5-cards in each. 



UNUSUAL OVER UNUSUAL  --  A type of defense bidding against an opponent’s unusual NT overcall. 

                                                           The responses are as follows:

                                                           3 C  and 3 D   are artificial showing hearts and spades.





VOID SHOWING OVER BLACKWOOD  --  A type of bid to show a void in a suit when responding to

                                                                               Blackwood.

The responses are:

6 C   shows 0 aces and a void.

6 D  shows 1 ace and a void

6 H   shows 2 aces and a void.

6 S   shows 3 aces and a void.

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