1. Shuffle: to rearrange the order of the cards in a pack

2. Deal: to distribute the cards to the players. Dealer: one who does this, and who has first bid.

3. Hand: the 13 cards you are dealt, also declarer’s cards

4. Suit: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. Also void = no cards in suit, singleton =1 card, doubleton = 2 cards. Major suit = hearts and spades; minor suit = clubs and diamonds

5. Bidding: stating a suit and level

6. Contract: the final result of bidding. A trick is 4 cards. There are 13 tricks available

7. High card Points (pts): giving court cards a value to assess the value of your hand

8. Open: to start bidding for your side. Also pass= no bid

9. Overcall: to bid when your opponents have started the bidding

10. Response: a bid when partner has opened the bidding

11. Declarer: the player who plays the contract. Also: defender, one who tries to stop you making the contract

12. Dummy: declarer’s partner, who puts the cards for display on the table after the auction is finished. Also: the visible hand

13. A ruff: playing a trump when you cannot follow suit.

14. A game: a contract which scores at least 100 pts on the scoring scale

15. A slam: contract to make 12 or 13 tricks

16. To duck: playing a lower card than one available

17. Double: a bidding term, stating that you do not believe the contract can be made

18. Overtrick: making more tricks than the specified contract calls for (likewise: undertrick).

19. Discard: to throw away a card when you cannot follow suit.

20. To raise: Bidding the same suit as partner at a higher level

21. Re-bid: Bidding the same suit twice or more

22. To Jump: bidding a suit but missing out a level (s) of bidding

23. Signal: playing a card to suggest to partner which suit needs to be played next

24. Weak = low in pts, strong = high in pts. Shape = how the suits are distributed for length in the hand

25. Rubber: When your side score the value of two games

26. Duplicate: when each hand is played several times at different tables

27. Chicago: a form of rubber bridge with duplicate scoring, and some pairs play at several tables

28. A revoke: when you could follow suit but play a card from another suit

29. System: an agreement between partners as to the meaning of certain bids

30. Convention: A bid which may have a meaning differing from the suit bid