Bridge Glossary

Rabbi's rule

"when the king is singleton, play the ace."

Rabbit

new player.

Rags

(slang) low cards; low spot cards.

Rainbow

a duplicate-bridge movement for individual events in which, traditionally, the players sitting in different compass directions follow guide cards of different colors.

Raise

(1) (verb) make a further bid in a suit bid by partner.

(2) (noun) a strain-suggesting bid in a suit bid by partner.

(3) (noun) a hand that meets the requirements for supporting a suit bid by partner.

Raiser

a player who raises.

Rank

(1) the relative position of suits or cards as applied to play or bidding;

(2) level achieved by a tournament player.

Rattle off

(slang) run (meaning 1).

Rattlesnake

(slang) Hand with 4-4-4-1 distribution

RCO Two-Bids [RCO = Rank/Color/Oddment]

opening two-bids to show less than an opening bid and at least five-five in two suits: for two hearts, majors or minors (sorted by rank); for two spades, reds or blacks (sorted by color); for two notrump, pointed suits or rounded suits (sorted by oddment).

Rebid

(1) (noun) a player's second bid;

(2) (verb) to bid again a suit already bid by the same player.

Rebiddable suit

a suit long and/or strong enough to be bid again in a given bidding situation.

Recap (or recapitulation)

summary of results in a tournament.

Recorder

a tournament or organization official who keeps track of reports of non-standard behavior.

Rectify the count

lose one or more tricks to adjust the difference between the number of tricks to be played and the number of winners available to the appropriate quantity (most often one) for a planned squeeze.

Red

See: Vulnerability conditions.

Red against red

See: Vulnerability conditions.

Red against white

See: Vulnerability conditions.

Red suits

hearts and diamonds.

Redeal

replacement for a cancelled deal.

Redouble

a call that raises the scoring of a contract already doubled.

Redwood

a variant of key-card Blackwood in which the asking bid is four hearts when diamonds is the agreed suit or four diamonds when clubs is the agreed suit; see also Kickback.

Re-enter

use a re-entry.

Re-entry

a card that will provide the lead at a later time, after a different entry bas been used.

Refuse

duck.

Regional

a tournament level above sectional and below national.

Reisinger

one of the major American national team championships, scored at board-a-match.

Reject

(1) (of a game-try or a slam-try or an invitation to take a particular action) fail either to make the call suggested or invited, or to move in that direction; state or imply unwillingness to cooperate with partner's suggestion

(2) (of a transfer) fail to make the call suggested by the transfer

Relay

(1) (noun) an artificial call, very often the cheapest bid, possibly nondescriptive or at most partially descriptive, that asks or allows partner to offer a description.

(2) (verb) to use a relay (meaning 1).

(3) (adjective for system) a bidding method in which a high proportion of constructive auctions make use of relays.

Examples of meaning (1) (the lettered calls are relays):

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 NT	Pass	2 (a)

(a) Stayman; asks opener for information without directly describing responder's hand. Some relays are more descriptive than others; for example, a two-diamond response to one-notrump might be game-forcing Stayman.

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 NT	Pass	2 *	Pass
2 (b)

*transfer to hearts (Jacoby transfer)
(b) completion of transfer; says little (in some contexts nothing) about the South hand

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 NT	Pass	4 *	Pass
4 (c)

*puppet to four hearts (Texas transfer)
(c) completion of transfer; says nothing about the South hand
Similarly, the expected reply to any puppet acts as a relay.

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
2	Pass	2	Pass
2 *	Pass	2 (d)

*Kokish: either hearts or a game-going balanced hand
(d) relay enabling opener to clarify hand-type (by bidding either two notrump if balanced or higher with hearts)

Relay boards

the boards used at a relay table (hence shared with another table).

Relay system

a method based on extensive use of relays.

Relay table

in a tournament movement, a table that shares boards with another table.

Remove

take out to a new bid, especially a double.

Renege

fail to follow suit (when able to do so); revoke.

Renounce

renege.

Reopen

(1) take an action other than pass after a bid, a double, or a redouble has been followed by two passes.

(2) refuse to allow the opponents to buy the contract at the present level.

Reopening

(1) (adjective) in a position to end the auction by passing. [e.g., one spade--pass--pass--?]

(2) (noun) a non-pass action taken by a player in reopening position.

Repeating

(adjective for squeeze) leading to the establishment of a new winner as a squeeze card (typically resulting in a multi-trick gain).

Repechage

a tournament form in which entrants temporarily eliminated from the main event reenter after outstanding performance in a secondary event.

Replier

a player who makes a call based on partner's request for specific information.

Rerebid

(1) (noun) a player's third bid;

(2) (verb) to bid again a suit already bid twice by the same player.

Rescue

remove the current bid to a different one. [Usage: Usually refers to changing the contract after partner's bid either has been doubled for penalty or is expected to be set heavily even if undoubled.]

Rescue redouble

S.O.S. redouble

Respond

make a bid after an opening bid by partner.

Responder

partner of the opener.

Response

bid by opener's partner at first opportunity after the opening bid.

Responsive double

after partner's informatory double, an informatory double over an opponent's raise. [Example sequence: one spade--double--two spades--double.]

Restricted choice

a mathematically based guideline for analyzing suit combinations; oversimplified somewhat, it says that a player is more likely to have a holding from which there was no choice of plays than one from which there was.

Result merchant

result player.

Result player

one who determines the soundness of bids and plays by the way they turned out; Monday-morning quarterback.

Retain the lead

lead a winning card, thus keep the right to lead to the next trick.

Retransfer

transfer into a suit previously transfered into.

Return

lead back.

Revalue

adjust hand valuation based on the progress of the auction.

Reverse

(1) (noun) a non-jump bid in a new suit that bypasses a bid in a lower-ranking suit already bid by the same player. [North one club, South one spade, North two hearts is a reverse (bypasses two clubs). But North one club, South one heart, North one spade is not (no bypass).].

(2) (verb) to make a bid described in (1).

Reverse dummy

See: Dummy reversal.

Reverse signals

See: Upside-down.

Review the bidding

repeat the calls made.

Revolving discard

a discard of a card in one suit to send a message relating to another suit.

Revoke

fail to follow suit when able to do so (an infraction of the laws).

Rewind

(slang) redouble.

RHO

an abbreviation for right-hand opponent; the player to one's right.

Rhythm double

a penalty double based on earlier penalty doubles' having been made rather than on an appropriate holding.

Ride

(1) (noun) (slang) large penalty; phone number;

(2) (verb) lead and follow low from the opposite so as to take a finesse.

Riffle

a form of shuffling in which the cards from two halves of the pack are interleaved.

Right side

(noun) more favorable placement of declarer (compared to the opposite side of the table).

Rightside

(verb) (slang) to place the declarer on the more favorable side (usually to put a particular opponent on lead).

Righty

(slang) right-hand opponent.

Ripstra

a two-of-a-minor overcall of one notrump to show length in both majors and simultaneously indicate the longer minor.

Rise

play a high card as opposed to a low card; go up.

RKCB

acronym for Roman Key-Card Blackwood.

Robert coup

the lead (possibly including a trump reduction to be able to lead) of a plain-suit card in order to create a later split tenace in trumps. [Typical ending: West holds KQ10 of trumps, North J2 of trumps and a plain-suit card, South A3 of trumps and a plain-suit card of a different suit. By leading South's plain-suit card, North-South can take two tricks.]

Rock crusher

(slang) powerful hand.

Rolling

(1) (adjective for Blackwood and Gerber) in which the cheapest rebid outside the agreed suit asks for kings wholesale.

(2) (adjective for four notrump) encouraging partner to bid slam without making explicit reference to any specific control.

Roman

(1) (adjective for two-club or two-diamond opening) indicating a three-suiter;

(2) (adjective for Blackwood, Gerber or Key-Card Blackwood) using step replies as follows: one step = zero or three aces or key cards; two steps = one or four aces or key cards; three steps = two or five aces or key cards without the queen of the agreed suit*; four steps = two or five aces or key cards plus the queen of the agreed suit* [* indicates the modern form; originally, the three-, four- and five-step replies narrowed the description of which two aces were held]

(3) (adjective for jump overcall) indicating length in the bid suit and the next highest unbid suit;

(4) (adjective for asking-bid) calling for step responses to announce controls in the asking suit (one step = no control; two steps = king or singleton; three steps = ace or void; four steps = ace-king, perhaps ace-queen);

(5) (adjective for discard or signal) odd-even;

(6) (adjective for lead) Rusinow.

RONF

acronym for Raise Only NonForce. [Usage: Usually applied as a summary of methods for responding to a weak two-bid.]

Rosenblum Cup

the world open knockout team championship.

Rosenkranz double

a double by advancer to show a high honor in overcaller's suit.

Rotation

the order of calls and plays (clockwise).

Roth-Stone

a bidding system based on sound opening bids, five-card majors, forcing one-notrump responses, preemptive jump overcalls and responses, and negative doubles.

Round

(1) (slang) (of a hand) having 4-3-3-3 distribution;

(2) (of the auction) one turn to call for each player;

(3) (of the play of a suit) which time it is led; [The first round of a suit means the first time it is led.]

(4) (of a control, with a number) which time the suit is played the value will prevent the opponents from winning the trick; [Example: an ace, or a void when there is a trump suit, is a first-round control.]

(5) (in tournament play) a period of time during which players remain at the same table.

(6) (in tournament play) a unit of simultaneous activities with a common goal (e.g., the quarterfinal round).

Rounded (suit)

hearts or clubs.

Rounding off

scoring to the nearest full hundred (as on the back score).

Round-robin

tournament form in which each entrant, or each entrant within a group, opposes every other.

Rover

in certain tournament movements, a pair that replaces a different pair in each round.

Royal

(1) king or queen.

(2) (archaic) a card in a suit featured in some decks with more than four suits.

R-S

Roth-Stone.

Rubber

best two of three games; the traditional unit of play in bridge.

Rubber bonus

bonus awarded to the first side scoring two games (700 if the opponents have not scored one game; 500 if they have).

Rubber game

both sides vulnerable.

Rubens advances

transfer advances of overcalls.

Rubensohl

transfer responses over overcalls.

Rueful Rabbit

a character of Victor Mollo's marked by lack of comprehension, constant fretting, and incredible good fortune at the table.

Ruff

(verb) trump;

(noun) the play a trump on the lead of another suit.

Ruffers

cards that can be trumped in the opposite hand to produce a source of tricks.

Ruff and discard

the ability to trump in one hand and discard (usually a loser) from the other.

Ruff and sluff

See: Ruff and discard.

Ruff out

establish by ruffing.

Ruffing finesse

a finesse that takes advantage of the ability to trump a high card in a plain suit. [Dummy has king-queen of a side suit in which declarer is void. Declarer can lead dummy's king, ruff RHO's ace, and later make a trick with the queen.].

Ruffing value

shortness that may lead to ruffing tricks.

Rule

See Goldwater's Rule; Hamman's Rule; Rabbi's Rule

Rule of Eleven

a rule (from whist) that says: if partner has led fourth best, the number of cards outstanding above the card led is the spot on the card, subtracted from 11.

Rule of Twenty

a guideline that suggests opening the bidding when the sum of highcard points and the two longest suit lengths is at least 20.

Rule of Two and Three

a rule propounded by Ely Culbertson as a guide for preemptive bids: you should be within two tricks of your contract when vulnerable and within three tricks when not vulnerable.

Ruling

decision by a tournament director or committee.

Run

(1) play off winners in a suit;

(2) (slang) escape to a new strain (particularly after being doubled in a different one).

Runner

slangA card that will win a trick as soon as the side holding it gains the lead. (Usage: With only one stopper in the opponents' suit, we will need nine runners to make three notrump.)

Running

(of a suit) solid.

Runout

bid made to escape from an undesirable contract, especially from a doubled contract.

Rusinow lead

the conventional lead of the second highest of equal honors.