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Term |
Description |
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1. |
bid |
a
statement by a player indicating how many tricks he or she (or his or her
partnership) expects to take |
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2. |
blind nil |
a bid
of nil made by a player before looking at his or her cards |
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3. |
boss |
The
highest available rank of a particular suit. For example, if the ♥A has
been played on a previous round, the ♥K is considered "boss." |
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4. |
break spades / trump |
To
play a spade for the first time in a particular round. |
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5. |
Bring it / It’s still your
lead |
Stop
stalling and bid or play. |
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6. |
broken / busted |
A
failed nil bid, i.e., the nil bidder has taken at least one trick. |
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7. |
cover |
To
help a nil bid succeed. |
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8. |
cross-trump |
When
two partners alternate leading suits in which the other can trump. |
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9. |
death bid |
A
combined bid of 12 tricks. |
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10. |
discard |
a card
played in a suit other than the suit led, and other than a spade |
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11. |
doubleton |
an
original holding of exactly two cards in a suit |
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12. |
duck |
To
play a card of a rank lower than the highest currently played card, or a
card of a non-trump suit other than the led suit. |
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13. |
dump/ throw off/ slough |
To
play a card that avoids taking a trick. |
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14. |
"Earl" |
A bid of one. As in "to bid an Earl" |
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15. |
finesse |
A play
which results in taking a trick with a non-boss card, against the
opponent's intentions. |
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16. |
interesting lead |
Could
be brilliant, could be suspect, either way I’m confused. |
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17. |
lead |
the
card played to start a trick, or the obligation to play the first card of a
hand; a player "has the lead" or is "on lead" when he or she has won the
previous trick |
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18. |
long suit |
a suit
in which you have many cards (five or more). |
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19. |
nil |
a bid
by a player attempting to avoid taking any tricks |
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20. |
overbid |
1. To
make a bid higher than one might under normal circumstances
2. To make a bid higher than warranted or necessary
3. or to have made a bid greater than the number of tricks one's team ended
up taking. |
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21. |
overtrump |
To
play trump of a higher rank than one's opponent's trump. |
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22. |
precision bidding |
Taking
exactly the number of tricks that you have bid. |
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23. |
Prime Directive |
Never
go nil on the opening hand of game. |
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24. |
prolong the agony |
Prevent the other team from winning the game (by setting their bid or
giving them a tenth bag) when your team will still be several hundred
points behind. |
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25. |
Puppy Feet |
Used to describe "clubs".
Archaic |
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26. |
renege |
To
play a card that does not follow suit. |
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27. |
run
out trump |
To
lead spades in succession, usually to deplete opponents' trump. |
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28. |
sandbagging |
Understating the value of one's hand |
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29. |
set |
To
prevent an opposing team from successfully achieving at least one of their
bids.
(adj.) In the state of having failed to make one's bid. |
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30. |
short suit |
A suit
in which one owns two or fewer cards. |
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31. |
singleton |
An
original holding of exactly one card in a suit |
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32. |
"Stone" or "Getting Stoned |
The process of wasting a spade when the next
player can just overtrump your play. |
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33. |
Susan Hammerschmidt
Memorial Lead |
To
lead the King of a suit when the Ace is still present. Usually to free up
the Queen. |
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34. |
table talk |
Giving
hints to your partner. Never quite as clever as the person giving the hint
thinks. |
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35. |
trump |
A suit
that outranks all other cards for purposes of winning a trick; in this
game, spades are always trump |
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36. |
void |
An
original holding of no cards in a suit |
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37. |
WFWF |
Whine
Free, Wimp Free |
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38. |
Wheelhouse |
To
lead into your opponents strength. |