Bridge glossary — key terms explained

Getting started

Where do I learn?: The Learn path walks you through everything on this page, hands-on — it’s the first card on the home screen, “Learn from the start.”

The table

Seats — North, East, South, West: The four places at the table. You are always South, at the bottom. North, across from you, is your partner — you win or lose together. East and West are the other side.
Declarer: The player whose side chose the contract. Declarer plays two hands: their own, and their partner’s (the dummy).
Dummy: Declarer’s partner. As soon as the first card is led, dummy’s cards are placed face up for everyone to see, and declarer chooses which of them to play. When you declare, you play North’s cards too.
Defenders: The two players on the other side from declarer. Their aim is to win enough tricks to stop the contract.
Robot levels: On the free-play table, your opponents (East and West) can play at three disclosed levels — Gentle, Balanced (the starting level), or Sharp. Sharp always finds the best card double-dummy — every hand analysed to its full depth. Gentle and Balanced sometimes miss it instead, Gentle more often than Balanced, and when they do it’s usually a small slip rather than a big one. Whichever level you pick, your own cards are always measured against the best possible line — turning the opponents down only changes how well they defend, never how you’re judged.

Playing a hand

Trick: Four cards, one from each player in turn, going clockwise. The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick — unless someone plays a trump. Whoever wins a trick leads the next one. A full hand has 13 tricks.
Following suit: You must play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. Only when you have none of that suit may you play something else — any card you like, including a trump.
Showing out: Playing a card of a different suit from the one led. It can only happen when you have none of the suit led — so it tells everyone at the table you're out of that suit.
Trump suit: One suit can be chosen as trumps for the whole hand. Any trump beats any card of the other suits — even a lowly trump 2 beats an ace of another suit. Trumps only win a trick when played legally: either led, or played when you can’t follow suit.
No trumps (NT): Playing with no trump suit at all. The highest card of the suit led always wins the trick.
Opening lead: The very first card of the hand, played by the person to declarer’s left — before dummy’s cards go down.
Finesse: A way of trying to win a trick with a card that isn’t the highest one still out — like a queen while the king is missing. You lead toward the queen and hope the king sits in front of it, not behind it. It works about half the time, and that’s fine: it’s the odds, not a guarantee.
Tenace: Two cards in the same hand with a gap between them — like ace and queen, missing only the king — that combine to give a finesse a chance. When both your hand and dummy hold one, you can try the finesse from either side; a clue from the bidding or the play can tell you which opponent is more likely to hold the missing card.
Ruff: Playing a trump when you have none of the suit that was led — using a low trump to win a trick that would otherwise go to a higher card of another suit. Only possible once you’re void in that suit.
Duck: Playing low on purpose, even though you could win the trick — giving it away deliberately to keep control of the hand. The hold-up play is one kind of duck: letting an early trick go so a dangerous opponent runs out of a suit before it can hurt you.
Tempo: Whose turn it really is to make progress — the race to set up and cash tricks before the other side does. Spend a trick on a suit that doesn’t need it yet, and you hand the defence tempo: time they can use to develop their own winners instead.
Danger hand: The defender who could hurt you most if they win a trick — usually the one sitting with a long suit ready to run, or poised to lead through one of your holdings. The other defender is the “safe hand”. A lot of good declarer play is about keeping the danger hand off lead.
Avoidance: Playing a hand so that the danger hand never gains the lead. Sometimes that means giving up a trick you could have chased — refusing a finesse, or losing a trick to the safe defender on purpose — because letting the danger hand in would cost far more.

Bidding and contracts

Contract: The target your side commits to: a level plus a trump choice. “2♠” means promising to win at least 8 tricks (6 plus the level) with spades as trumps. Make it and you score; fall short and the other side scores.
Level: How many tricks beyond six you’re promising. Level 1 means 7 tricks, level 3 means 9, level 7 means all 13.
Auction (bidding): Taking turns to name contracts, each one higher than the last, until three passes in a row end it. The last contract named becomes the one that’s played.
Pass: A turn that says “nothing to add right now.” Passing early doesn’t stop you bidding later, and three passes in a row end the auction.
Game: The contracts that earn a big bonus: 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, or 5♣/5♦. Around 25 points between the two hands is usually enough to try for one.
Minibridge: Bridge without the auction: everyone announces their points, the stronger side declares, and declarer picks the contract after seeing dummy. It’s the recommended way in — you master the card play first.
Overcall: A bid made after the other side has already opened. It competes for the contract and, just as usefully, tells everyone your side has length and strength in that suit — a clue that can guide the later play.
Stayman: A call of 2♣ right after partner opens 1NT that isn’t about clubs at all — it asks whether partner holds a 4-card major (hearts or spades). It takes a 4-card major of your own and 11 or more points to ask. Partner answers with the major they hold, or 2♦ to say “neither.”
Transfer: A call one step below your own long major, made right after partner opens 1NT — 2♦ asks partner to bid 2♥, and 2♥ asks partner to bid 2♠. It takes five or more cards in that major to use, at any strength. Partner always completes it, whatever their own hand holds — which means partner ends up playing the hand, and your cards go down as dummy instead.

Counting points

High-card points (HCP): A quick way to weigh a hand. Count: ace = 4, king = 3, queen = 2, jack = 1. Everything else counts nothing. The whole pack holds 40 points, so an average hand is 10.
A worked example: ♠ A K 7 3 ♥ Q 5 ♦ J 9 4 2 ♣ 8 6 4 → the ace is 4, the king 3, the queen 2, the jack 1. Total: 10 points.
Shape: How your thirteen cards split across the four suits, written spades-hearts-diamonds-clubs: 4-3-3-3 means four spades and three of everything else. Shape matters as much as points — long suits win extra tricks.
Singleton: Exactly one card of a suit. After it’s played you can trump or throw away when that suit is led.
Void: No cards of a suit at all. With trumps, a void is powerful — you can trump that suit from the very first round.
Doubleton: Exactly two cards of a suit.
Balanced hand: No void, no singleton, and at most one doubleton: the shapes 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 and 5-3-3-2. Balanced hands with the right points are the ones that open 1NT.
What the totals mean: With about 12 or more you have enough to open the bidding. Around 25 between you and partner, game is worth a go. In Minibridge, the app adds yours and North’s announced points for you.