Bridge Glossary

Sack

(slang) sacrifice.

Sacrifice

deliberately bid above one's trick-taking potential in the hope of losing fewer points than if the opponents were allowed to play and make their contract.

Safety level

security level.

Safety play

the surest line to make the contract, disregarding extra tricks that might be made in some other way.

Sandbag

(slang) pass with strong values, hoping to trap the opponents or come into the bidding later on.

Sandwich overcall

a bid made after both opponents have bid.

Save

(slang) (noun and verb) sacrifice.

SAYC

acronym for Standard American Yellow Card, the system defined by the current set of listings on a form of convention card identified by its color.

Scientific

a style of bidding in which the partners attempt to clarify their hands as accurately as possible.

Scissors coup

a loser-on-loser play intended to deny an entry to a particular opponent.

Score

(1) a numerical result of a deal, match, session or event;

(2) (slang) take a trick with; [Usage: Score the queen of spades = take a trick with the queen of spades.]

(3) (slang) win. [Usage: Score three spades and two hearts = take three spade tricks and two heart tricks.]

Score slip

(1) traveler;

(2) pick-up slip.

Scramble

(1) run to a new contract;

(2) take tricks without attempting to retain control of trumps.

Scrambled Mitchell

a Mitchell movement adjusted with direction changes to balance the groups against which each pair is compared.

Screen

a divider that prevents a player from seeing his partner.

Screenmate

opponent on the same side of the screen.

Seat

(1) place at a table;

(2) (slang) position (meaning 2).

Secondary

(1) (describing a call) made at a player's second turn to call or second opportunity to act;

(2) (describing honors or high-card strength) lower than the strongest values but still potentially useful;

(3) (describing a control) second-round;

(4) (describing support) less than primary; sometimes, the length just below primary.

Second guesser

result player.

Second hand

(1) the player second to have the opportunity to bid (i.e., at the dealer's left);

(2) the player second to play to a trick.

Second hand low

a principle of card play from whist.

Section

grouping of entrants at a tournament.

Sectional

a tournament level above local and below regional.

Security level

the bidding height to which it is presumed that the partnership can bid without significant risk, even with no additional values beond those already promised by the earlier bidding. (Example: If South opens one spade and North offers a game-forcing raise, the North-South security level at that point is four spades.)

Seed

(1) an entrant given a rank in a seeding (meaning 1) procedure; [Usage: first seed = top seed = highest-ranked entrant.]

(2) an entrant selected as seeded (highly rated) as opposed to unseeded (low rated).

Seeded

(1) selected in a seeding (meaning 2) procedure;

(2) rated higher than the current opponent.

Seeding

(1) arranging entrants, through objective or subjective criteria, approximately in order of strength;

(2) selecting a small number of entrants believed to be stronger than the rest.

See-Saw squeeze

= entry-shifting squeeze.

Semi-balanced hand

hand with suit distribution 5-4-2-2 or 6-3-2-2.

Semi-forcing

(as an adjective for one-notrump response) wide-range, including hands of game-invitational strength, over which opener will rebid as over a forcing one-notrump response, but not including game-going hands (so that opener is permitted to pass).

Semi-solid

(of a suit) with roughly one additional loser compared to a solid suit; likely to have one loser without any contribution from partner.

Send back [Send it back]

(slang) redouble.

Senior

player over 55 years of age.

Sequence

(1) all calls made in an auction;

(2) an auction;

(3) two or more cards of adjacent ranks.

Serious

strongly suggestive or invitational, as a serious slam-try as opposed to a mild slam-try or mere indication of.willingness to cooperate in an investigation.

Session

(1) a group of deals played consecutively without a break;

(2) a group of deals whose scores are added together;

(3) one morning, afternoon or evening of play, usually of 24 to 36 deals.

Set

(1) defeat; prevent from fulfilling the contract;

(2) playing in fixed partnerships.

Set game

rubber bridge or four-deal bridge with fixed partnerships.

Set up

(1) (noun) established;

(2) (verb) establish.

-seventh

within or heading a seven-card holding. [Usage: jack-seventh = seven cards headed by the jack = Jxxxxxx.]

Shaded

(of a bid) made on slightly fewer values than usual.

Shake

(slang) discard (usually a loser).

Shape

(1) (slang) distribution.

(2) (of a suit) pointed or rounded. [Spades and diamonds are pointed suits; hearts and clubs are rounded suits.]

Shark

hustler; expert.

Shift

(1) lead a different suit;

(2) bid a new suit.

Shoot

take a desperate chance in an effort to achieve a very high score; = swing (3).

Short club

opening one club on a suit of only three cards (usually because of a systemic prohibition against opening a four-card major suit).

Short diamond

opening one diamond on a suit of only three cards (usually because of a systemic prohibition against opening a four-card major suit).

Short hand

a hand with fewer trumps than in partner's hand.

Short-suit points

valuation points awarded to short suits because of their trick taking ability (or the trick-taking ability of the long suits whose possession they imply).

Short-suit game try

game-invitational action that specifies a singleton or void suit.

Show out

fail to follow suit.

Show-up squeeze

a squeeze position in which declarer refuses a finesse in the ending, because if the missing card were onside it would have already been played.

Shuffle

mix the cards in an attempt to obtain a random distribution.

Shut-out

preemptive.

Shomate

an individual movement.

Side

partnership.

Side game

at a tournament, a lesser event run simultaneously with a major championship.

Side suit

(1) a suit other than the trump suit;

(2) a suit of four or more cards other than the trump suit in declarer's or dummy's hand.

(3) a suit of significant length but secondary to the main suit in a player's hand (such as the four-card suit in a 7-4-1-1 distribution).

Signals

conventional plays made by the defenders to give each other information.

Signoff

(1) (noun) a call that requests partner to pass; bar

(2) (noun) a call that denies additional values.

(3) (adjective) having the meaning of a signoff

Sign off

(verb) to make a signoff call.

Silent bidder

dumb bidder.

Simple

(1) (of a bid) not a jump;

(2) (of a finesse) against only one missing card;

(3) (of an overcall) a minimum defensive bid in a new suit;

(4) (of a raise) a bid in partner's suit one level higher (also single raise);

(5) (of a squeeze) against one opponent in two suits.

Simultaneous pairs

an event played at the same time in different locations, using the same deals.

Single dummy

based on the sight of only the dummy and one's own cards. [Compare with "double dummy," which means with sight of all four hands.]

Singleton

a holding of one card in a suit.

Sit (or sit for)

(slang) allow to stand (usually a double).

Sitout

round in a duplicate bridge movement for which a pair has no opponents (because of a half-table).

-sixth

within or heading a six-card holding. [Usage: jack-sixth = six cards headed by the jack = Jxxxxx.]

Skip

a round in a tournament movement where players bypass the table they would reach according to their regular pattern.

Skip-bid warning

in tournament play, a warning to an opponent to be prepared to pause before taking his next action (to avoid giving illegal information to partner).

Slam

any bid of six (small slam) or seven (grand slam).

Slam-force

a call that by agreement requires that partner not pass until slam is reached (or an opposing contract is doubled).

Slam-try

a call that invites partner to bid a slam.

Slot

(slang) favorable position [in the slot = onside]

Slow

(of a trick or of high-card values) needing to be established before it can be cashed.

Slow arrival

a jump to the level to which the bidding is already forced showing specific values. [e.g., one heart--two clubs--two spades--four spades to show unusually strong spades].

Sluff

discard.

Slush

(slang) honor strength mostly or entirely in queens and jacks.

Small slam

a bid of six.

Smith (or Smith echo)

on defense against a notrump contract, using the play of an encouraging or discouraging cardin the suit declarer attacks to show encouragement or discouragement for the suit of the opening lead.

Smolen

after notrump opener's denial, a bid of three of a major by Stayman responder to show four cards in the bid major and five in the other.

Smother play

an endplay to enable the capture of an onside trump when a higher card behind it has insufficient supporting cards for a finesse. [Example: Spades trump. North has spade ace, heart ace. West has spade king-ten. South has spade queen-jack. East has club ace-king. If East is on lead, West's king of spades is smothered.]

Smug

familiar form of address or reference for Mr. Smug, which is (1) a character of S. J. Simon's marked by moderate skills, extreme overconfidence, and practical behavior at the table; (2) The Bridge World's computer.

SNAP

strong notrump after passing; a one-notrump response by a passed hand to show 9-12 points.

Snapdragon

overcaller's partner's double of a new-suit response to show length in the remaining unbid suit and at least a mild fit for overcaller's suit. [Example: one diamond--one heart--one spade--double to show club length plus at least two hearts.]

Snatch

(1) (slang) (verb) win or cash immediately, or at the earliest opportunity, or before some particular event of importance;

(2) (slang) (noun) ace.

Sneak

(slang) singleton.

Sock

(slang) double (for penalties).

Soft values

lower honors, usually queens and jack, as compared with aces and kings.

Solid

(of a suit) with no gaps, or with no gaps after the specified card. [Usage: five solid = AKQJ10 (sometimes AKQJx). jack-ten-solid-fifth = J10987.]

Solid suit

a suit strong enough to name as trumps without support from partner; a suit with no losers.

Solid suit

a suit strong enough to name as trumps without support from partner; a suit with no losers.

Sominex coup

(slang) to take so long over an action that, whether by accident or design, another player loses concentration.

Sort

arrange one's cards by rank within suit.

S.O.S. redouble

a redouble asking partner to bid.

Sound

(1) full-valued;

(2) based on relatively high requirements; [Example: sound opening bids have higher minimum requirements than light opening bids.]

(3) (of a player) talented; reliable.

(4) (of a contract) worthwhile; likely enough to make to be worth the risk.

South

one of the compass points; one of the four players (usually the declarer) in the standard diagram.

South African Texas

four-level two-step transfer response to notrump openings (four clubs = hearts; four diamonds = spades).

Space

See: Bidding space.

Spades

the highest-ranking suit, symbol: .

Specific kings

a five-notrump follow-up by the Blackwood biddeer to ask partner to cue-bid kings at the six level (as opposed to showing them wholesale with a step response, as in traditional methods).

Speedball

tournament organized with less time per deal than usual.

Spingold Cup

one of the major American national team championships, a knockout event.

Splinter

(1) (noun) a raise (or, less commonly, a bid showing a one-suiter) that shows shortness (singleton or void) in a particular suit.

(1) (verb) to make a call indicating a splinter (1).

Split

(1) (verb) play one of a group of cards equivalent in rank (usually applied to honor cards).

(2) (noun) the distribution of missing cards (e.g., a two-two split of four missing cards).

Split menace

a threat that depends on values in both hands of the side executing a squeeze.

Split notrump(s)

weak notrump nonvulnerable, strong notrump vulnerable.

Split tenace

a tenace composed of values in both partnership hands (such as ace in one hand and queen in the other).

Sponsor

(1) organizing organization of a tournament;

(2) one who hires a partner and/or teammates.

Spot

(1) (noun) spot card;

(2) (slang) (noun) contract.

Spots

(slang) (noun) strong intermediatre cards;

Spot card

any card from deuce through nine.

Spread

(1) (verb) put down the dummy;

(2) (slang) (noun) laydown;

(3) (verb) reveal one's cards (as during a claim or concession).

Sputnik

negative double.

Square hand

hand of 4-3-3-3 distribution.

Squeeze

a play that forces a hand to part with a needed card.

Squeeze-endplay

strip-squeeze.

Squeeze card

a card that, when led, effects a squeeze.

Stack

(1) (slang) (noun) unfortunate distribution of the cards.

(2) (verb) prearrange (the cards); fix (the deal)

Stacked

(1) (slang) (of some or all of the cards) unfortunately distributed (usually for declarer).

(2) prearranged.

Stagger

a form of stanza movement for teams of four.

Stand

(slang) pass (usually over a double).

Standard American

standard bidding in America.

Standard American Yellow Card (also SAYC)

the system defined by the current set of listings on a form of convention card identified by its color.

Standard bidding

bidding methods used by most players.

Stand off

no net score (on a deal or a session).

Stand up

(slang) take a trick, perhaps surprisingly; in particular, survive without being ruffed by an opponent.

Stanza

(1) in a match, a set of boards played as a unit, after which scores are commpared;
(2) in a duplicate-bridge movement, a set of rounds played and scored independently from other rounds.

Stationary

remaining in the same seat or seats throughout the tournmaent movement in use.

Stayman

(1) Stayman convention;

(2) more generally, any call that asks a notrump bidder to show length in a major suit.

Stayman convention

an agreement between partners under which a response of two clubs to an opening bid of one notrump asks opener to bid a four-card major suit if he holds one.

Steal

(1) (of a trick) win with an unusually low card

(2) (of a trick) win without losing the lead

(3) (of a tempo) gain time needed to perform some other function or deprive the oppponents of such time.

(4) (of a contract) make through deception when there was a way to defend successfully. (Also refers to a successful deceptive defense but not usually so applied.)

(5) (of an auction) become declarer at a (perhaps surprisingly) low contract when the opponents could profitably have bid higher.

Step

in an anction, the distance from one bid to the next highest bid. [Example: One diamond is one step above one club.].

Step bid (or response)

a bid (or response) whose meaning derives from the number of steps it is above the previous bid.

Steppingstone

a squeeze in which an opponent is either forced on lead to provide a missing entry or threatened with the use of a blocked winner as an entry.

Stiff

(1) (slang) (adjective) unsupported by low cards. [stiff king = singleton king; queen-jack stiff = queen-jack doubleton]

(2) (slang) (noun) singleton.

(3) (slang) (verb) discard protection from or all other cards in a suit except. [stiff the ace of clubs = discard all clubs other than the ace]

Stop

(1) an exclamation to inform the opponents of a special occurrence (such as a skip-bid warning);

(2) stopper.

Stopper

a holding that will (or is likely to, or might) prevent the opponents from immediately running a large number of tricks in a suit at notrump.

Stopper-ask

a call that asks partner to bid notrump with a stopper in the opponents' suit.

Stopper-bid

a bid that indicates a stopper (for notrump purposes) in the suit bid.

Strain

one of the four suits or notrump; the non-numerical element of a bid; denomination.

Stratified

form of tournament in which entrants of different rank compete in different events, held simultaneously.

Strength

valuation of a hand; honor cards.

Strip

(1) remove an opponent's exit cards;

(2) remove all cards of a suit in one's partnership's hands so that an opponent cannot lead that suit without conceding a ruff-and-discard.

Strip-squeeze

a squeeze in which one of the threats is against an exit card needed to avoid a throw-in. [Example: At notrump, if South cashes a winner to leave himself with ace-queen of spades and king of hearts, and West must discard from king-jack of spades and ace-queen of hearts, West is strip-squeezed.]

Striped-tail ape double

a double of a laydown contract intended to prevent the opponents from bidding higher.

Strong notrump

a one-notrump opening to show a balanced hand above the minimum opening strength range (often 15-17 or 16-18 points).

Strong pass

a pass prior to any bid to show the strength usually associated with an opening bid.

Strong two-bid

an opening of two of a suit to show a very powerful hand.

Stub

(slang) part-score.

Submarine

(slang) duck; underplay one or more winners (usually used when the purpose is an attempt to rectify the count for a squeeze).

Substitute

(1) (of a board) played to replace a board that cannot be completed or scored in the usual way;

(2) (of a player) replacement;

(3) (of a call) one replacing an illegal call.

Sucker double

a foolish penalty double based on inappropriate values (such as overall high-card strength when the opponents may have great ruffing power).

Sucker play

a card-play tactic that depends for its success on a blunder by weak opposition.

Suction

a suit overcall of one notrump to show length in either the next higher suit (where clubs is deemed to be above spades) or the other two unbid suits. (Sometimes used in conjunction with a two-noturmp overcall to show non-touching suits.) [Example: a Suction two-club overcall shows either diamonds or both majors.]

Suicide squeeze

a squeeze in which the partner of the squeezee leads the squeeze card or its equivalent. [Not an entirely appropriate term.]

Suit

(1) one of the four divisions of the pack; spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs;

(2) with a trump suit, as opposed to notrump (as in "suit contract").

Suit combination

a partnership's combined holding in one suit.

Suit distribution

number of cards in each suit.

Suit pip

pip.

Suit-preference signal

a defensive signaling method in which encouragement, discouragement or preference is shown for a suit other than the one of the card played.

Superaccept

(of a transfer) act at a higher level than the transfer suggested, in an encouraging way [such as one notrump -- two hearts (transfer to spades) -- three spades]

Superblitz

a win by such a large amount or extent that the winner gets maximum score and the loser a negative score that makes the total scores less than zero.

Super Gerber

a five-club bid to ask partner to show the number of aces held.

Support

(1) (noun) cards in a suit bid by partner;

(2) (verb) raise.

Support double

(1) opener's double of an overcall to show three-card support for the suit of partner's response.

(2) any double that shows a fit for partner's suit.

Support redouble

(1) opener's redouble of the double of a response to show three-card support for responder's suit.

(2) any redouble that shows a fit for partner's suit.

Swan

hand with 7-4-1-1 distribution.

Swing

(1) (noun) the difference between the scores of two teams;

(2) (noun) the difference between a score actually made and one that might have been made;

(3) (verb) take chances in an attempt to create unusual or especially good results in an effort to make up lost ground.

(4) (slang) (verb) play a round of (a suit).

(5) (slang) (noun) a round (of a suit). [Usage: Declarer pulled trumps in one swing.]

Swing deal

a deal that provides a swing.

Swindle

deceptive move.

Swish

(slang) followed by all passes. [Usage: four spades swish = four spades, pass, pass, pass.]

Swiss

(1) a tournament movement in which teams with similar scores oppose one another;

(2) a four-of-a-minor response to a major opening to show a strong supporting hand (has many variations).

Switch

(1) lead a different suit;

(2) (as in "arrow switch," referring to the directional arrows used to show directions on table cards at tournaments) interchanging the directions of the pairs.

System

the collection of partnership understandings about bidding.