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DAB - An acronym for a Directional Asking Bid
 

Damaged Card - A card damaged or marked, making it unusable for play.  The card (or pack) must be replaced. See Law 7
 

Danger Hand - Referring to the cards held by an opponent which threaten the declarer.  The declarer must often pay special attention to avoid the dangerous opponent from gaining the lead.
 

Dangerous Opponent - An opponent which, if allowed to get on lead, will threaten the declarer's contract.  See Details of an Avoidance Play
 

David - King of Spades - The K, referring to the King of Israel (the Psalmist, standing by a Harp) See History of Cards
 

Datum - The average score or scores used to determine players ranking, usually in IMP competition.
 

DBF - Abbreviation for the Danish Bridge Federation
 

Jargon

Dead -
 

1.	A hand lacking transportation to partner's values.
2.	The player in the passout seat.

Laws

Deal -
 

1.	The disbursement of the cards.
2.	The complete cycle of bidding and play.

Presence of contestants - See Law 6
Procedure - See Law 6
Redeal - See Law 6  86
Rotation of dealer - See Law 2
Shuffle -  See Law 6
 

General

Laws

Dealer - The player responsible to disburse the cards and make the first call.  In Rubber Bridge, players cut high cards for deal, with subsequent deals rotating clockwise.  In Duplicate, the designated dealer is:
 

North	1	5	9	13	17	21	25	29	33
East	2	6	10	14	18	22	26	30	34
South	3	7	11	15	19	23	27	31	35
West	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36

First to call - See Law 17
Rotation - See Law 2

Dealmaster Pro - An interactive Bridge hand generator software program coupled with Deep Finesse to simulate various generalized or specific deal and hand analysis.   See Dealmaster website
 

Death Holding - A suit holding which greatly hinders the ability to play a successful defense.
 

Play

Deceptive Play - Playing a card which misleads an opponents to erroneously evaluate cards concealing weakness for strength.  See Bridge book on Psychology and Defender Play - Leads  and  Signals
 

Laws

Deck- The pack of 52 cards, consisting of four suit of 13 card.

Deck - See Law 1

General

Declaration -
 

1.	The final contract
2.	A claim made by the declarer indicating the sequence of tricks won and lost with special attention to trump play.

Laws

Declarer - The criteria for declarer is determined during the bidding phase:
 

1.	The player first calling the strain (suit or Notrump), and,
2.	The side making the highest ranking call of that strain (final contract suit or Notrump).

      The declarer's rights during the play phase:
 

1.	The player that controls the play of the Dummy and one's own holdings.

Becomes dummy by facing hand after opening lead out of turn - See Law 54
Facing of hand after opening lead out of turn - See Law 54
Play of dummy's hand - See Law 41  42  45
Right after irregularity - See Law 9
 

Declarer Play - Sometimes referred to as Dummy Play, the phase of play where the Dummy hand is exposed after the opponents' opening lead.

Techniques include: Avoidance, Backward Finesse, Coup, Crossruffing, Deceptive play, Discovery, Drawing Trump, Elopment (En passant), Elimination, Endplay, Entry management, Environmental Factors, Finesse, Gambit, Loser on loser, Promotion, Restricted Choice, Ruffing, Rule of ..., Safety play, Shooting, Smother play, Squeezes, Strip and endplay, Suit Combinations, Throw in play, Unblocking.  Other factors include evaluation of odds and Probabilities: Card Distribution in remaining two hands, Hand Distribution of suits within a hand, High Card Point Count in one hand, Miscellaneous Probabilities, Number of Cards - quantity in a suit, Posteriori Probability when additional information is known, Expected Controls based on HCP.
 

General

Deep Finesse - An interactive Bridge hand analyzer software program that performs "double dummy" hand analysis to determine the maximum number of attainable tricks as well as correct or incorrect leads and plays.  See Deep Finesse website
 

Defeat the Contract - A contract is defeated when the opponents take more tricks than those needed by declarer.
 

Laws

Defective Trick - A trick not containing one legally played card by each of the four players.

Too few cards - See Law 67
Too many cards - See Law 45  67
 

Defend - To guard against declarer's tactics during play.
 

Laws

Defender - The side opposite the declarer (opponents).

Prohibition on inquiry re partner's failure to follow suit - See Law 61
Right after irregularity - See Law 9
 

Play

Defense -
 

1.	Proactive or reactive bids used against opponent's calls during bidding.
2.	The tactics used to guard against declarer's play.

Defense to a Squeeze - Tactics used to discard when an opponent is running a long suit, with particular attention to management of one's possible winning tricks in side suits.  See Details
 

Defensive Bid -  A bid that prevents or interferes with the opponents finding their optimum contract.
 

Defensive Carding - Partnership defensive agreements including Leads, Attitude, Count, and Suit Preference.  See Details and Convention Card Instructions.
 

Defensive Play - Leads, plays, signals, and discarding tactics used to minimize the tricks won by the declarer.  See Attitude, Suit Preference, Opening Leads, Passive Lead, Trump Lead, Active Defense, Carding, and Conventions
 

Laws

Defensive Signals/Carding -
Explanation of - See Law 20
Disclosure required - See Law 40

See Attitude, Suit Preference, Opening Leads, Passive Lead, Trump Lead, Active Defense, Carding, and Conventions
 

Defensive Tricks - During the bidding phase, an evaluation of the ability to win tricks in opponents' strain (suit or Notrump).
 

Laws

Delay -
 

1.	A break in the normal cadence of bidding or play of the cards.
2.	To temporarily deny suit holdings or strength during bidding or play.

Delta - A system based on weak opening bids.
 

Demand Bid - To make a forcing bid.
 

Dentist's Coup - To extract an opponent's otherwise safe exit card.
 

Denial - To indicate non-support for partner's call or play.
 

General

Laws

Denomination - The strains, including:
 

First (top)	Notrump	N
Second	Spades		Major
Third	Hearts		Major
Fourth	Diamonds		Minor
Fifth (lowest)	Clubs		Minor

Denominations, rank of - See Law 1  18
 

DEPO - An acronym Double Even, Pass Odd, used to indicate Aces or keycards when an opponent has interfered with a slam-asking sequence as Gerber or Blackwood. See Conventions
 

General

Deschapelles Coup - Leading an unsupported honor to either provide an entry into partner's hand or drive out opponent's A x doubleton.
 

Laws

Designation Of Card - See Law 45

Erroneous - See Law 46
Inadvertent - See Law 45
Incomplete - See Law 46
Proper form - See Law 46

Desperate - A risky lead made by the defender, hoping to quickly win tricks before declarer can promote a suit and discard losers.
 

Deuce - The 2 (two-spot) of a given suit.
 

Devils Bedpost - The colloquial term referring to the 4 (Four of Clubs).  See Card Names
 

Devils Coup - A tactic of leading a non-trump suit to prevent losing a trump trick through an end play or ruffing finesse. See Example
 

Devils Pictures - An historic Christian view that playing cards is sinful, especially those with pictures relating to fortune-telling, false icons, or games of chance.  See History of Bridge
 

Develop - To promote or establish a suit.
 

Diagram - A graphical layout showing an overhead view of the cards each player holds. Players are referred to by their compass orientation; clockwise from the top, the players are: North, East, South, West.  See Example
 

Diamonds - The second-lowest ranking suit, using the symbol.  See Example
 

Duplicate

Diamond Life Master - An ACBL rating for a Life Master exceeding 5,000 Masterpoints.

 

Masterpoints	Achievement
300, w/other tournament requirements	Life Master
500	Bronze Life Master
1000	Silver Life Master
2500	Gold Life Master
5000	Diamond Life Master
10000 w/other tournament requirements	Grand Life Master

DIC - Abbreviation for Director In Charge
 

Dink - To force the declarer to ruff a side suit, in an attempt to exhaust opponent's trump.
 

Direct Competition - In duplicate play, one's competitors sitting in the same direction (North/South or East/West) at other tables.
 

Laws

Direct Cuebid - A bid of the suit opened by your RHO (right hand opponent). Check the appropriate box or boxes opposite Natural, Strong T/O (takeout) andMichaels under the headings Minor, Major and Artif. Bid (artificial bid). See Convention Card instruction on Direct Cuebid
 

Direct Seat - The player sitting clockwise to the left of an opponent making a bid, as opposed to the player in the "passout seat".
 

Direction - The position of the players at the table: North, East, South and West. See Example
 

Directional Asking Bid - A bid in opponent's suit, soliciting partner to bid Notrump with a stopper in opponent's suit.  See Western Cuebid
 

Director - The person in charge of a Bridge event, responsible for determining the movement, interpreting and enforcing Bridge Laws, scoring the event, and awarding applicable masterpoints to participants.  See Director Tech File - Conduct Procedures for Directors
 

Laws

Director_ -

Discretionary powers in general - See Law 12
Duties in general - See Law 81  90
Notice to contestant of right to appeal - See Law 83
Powers in general - See Law 81  90
Rectification of error in procedure - See Law 82
Ruling on agreed facts - See Law 84
Ruling on disputed facts - See Law 85

  Director, discretion of

To adjust score -  See Law 12; see also Adjusted score
To penalize notwithstanding forfeiture of right to penalize - See Law 11
To predeal - See Law 6
To require redeal - See Law 6  86

Play

Discard -
 

1.	To play an inconsequential card other than the suit led.
2.	To play a specific card, signaling information to partner.

Discipline - To follow an orderly system of bidding and play, according to partnership agreements.  See Example
 

Disciplinary Regulations - The set of requirements to ensure orderly behavior to ensure everyone's enjoyment of the game.  See Tech File -  Disciplinary Regulations
 

Discouraging Bid - A bid denying supportive values anticipated by a partner, who might otherwise be inviting game or slam.
 

Discouraging Card - A defender's card signaling partner to switch to another suit. Typically, low cards are considered discouraging unless the partners are playing Upside Down Attitude.
 

Discovery - The tactic of controlling the order of play to determine opponent's holdings.  One common method is an opening lead of a winning card, allowing leader to observe dummy and receive discard signals from the partner.
 

Disqualification - The process of removing a player, pair, or team by a Director in accordance.  See Law 91
 

General

Distribution -
 

1.	The balance of cards held by each player in a suit, also called the "break" or "split" of the cards.  See Card Distribution
2.	The number of cards held in each suit.  See Hand Distribution

Two common methods to illustrate distribution are:
 

1.	4=5=3=1	Shows exactly 4 Spades, 5 Hearts, 3 Diamonds, 1 Club. Using equal signs, only suit length is given from highest (Spades) to lowest (Clubs).
2.	5-4-3-1	Shows a distribution of 5 cards in one suit, 4 cards in the second suit, 3 cards in the third suit, and 1 card in the fourth suit. Using dash symbols, suits are listed from longest to shortest suits.

Bidding

Distribution of Opponents Cards - The priori probability of two hidden hands holding a certain number of cards is based on mathematical odds.  Aspiring Bridge players make mental references the distribution when determining the best line of play.  See Probability of Card Distribution.

Card Distribution (remaining two hands)
Hand Distribution (suits within a hand)
High Card Point Count (HCPs in one hand)
Miscellaneous Probabilities (assorted interesting odds)
Number of Cards (card quantity in a suit)
Posteriori Probability (example when additional information is known)
Suit Combinations (best lead and plays)

Bidding

Distribution Points - Additive points based on one of the following (but not both):
 

1.	Length	A suit with more than 4 cards, ideally with several honors. This method anticipates the suit becoming declarer's trump, thus promoting low cards into winners.
2.	Shortage	A suit with less than 3 cards, ideally opponent's suit.  This method anticipates allowing partner to eliminate losers by ruffing the suit -- assuming adequate holdings in partner's planned trump suit.

See Details and Cover Cards associated with Losing Trick Count
 

District - The American Contract Bridge League is divided into 25 sectors, or Districts.  Each geographical District contains Units which are comprised of Bridge Clubs.
 

Ditch - To discard a losing card.
 

Dog - A colloquial term referring to a poor hand without values or features such as shape (long or short suits).  See Shape
 

Dominant - An obstructive bidding systems which may cause opponents to take defensive tactics.
 

Donation - A derogatory colloquial term referring to a player making a very poor bid or play
 

DONT - Acronym for Disturbing Openers No Trump.   See Conventions
 

DOPI - An acronym for Double Zero, Pass One, used to indicate Aces or Key Cards when an opponent has interfered with a slam-asking sequence as Gerber or Blackwood.  See Details
 

Bidding

Laws

Double - A call whose original purpose was to maximize the score when an opponent overbid a contract.  However, over time the double became the most widely used convention to serve a large number of purposes. See Details. Following a double, an opponent may redouble.  Assuming the double is passed by all three players (see Law 77):
 

Contract Made	Trick score is doubled
	Overtricks are 100 points each if Non-Vulnerable, 200 points  if Vulnerable
	50 points for fulfilling contract (insult)
Contract Not Made	For first undertrick, 100 point penalty if Non-Vulnerable
	For first undertrick, 200 point Penalty each, if Vulnerable
	For second and third undertrick, 200 point penalty each, if Non-Vulnerable
	For second and above undertrick, 300 point Penalty each, if Vulnerable
	For fourth and above undertrick, 300 point penalty each, if Non-Vulnerable

Error in stating bid doubled - See Law 19
Form - See Law 19
Inadmissible -  See Law 19  32  35  36  39
Increase in scoring values - See Law 77
Legal - See Law 19
Out of rotation - See Law 32
Proper form - See Law 19
When pass was required - See Law 37

Also see Books on Doubles
 

Double Action - An unethical pause or gesture, providing Unauthorized Information to one's partner showing values of a hand.  See Law 16
 

Double Barreled Stayman - See Convention

Double Counting - A misevaluation when a player counts  wasted values.  A common error is to count shortage points when partner has counted length points.  Another trap is to double count one's own hand. See Example
 

Double Coup - A variation of the Trump Coup requiring two ruffs to obtain the proper end position.  See Details
 

General

Double Dummy -
 

1.	To expose all four hands to evaluate bidding or play.
2.	A complement to a player, indicating perfect play as if the player could see all four hands.

General

Double Dummy Problems - A form of a Bridge "puzzle" found in newspaper articles and books.  The Double Dummy problem format includes:

- all hands are exposed
- the bidding and final contract is provided
- the opening lead has been played

The problem is for the player is to find the correct line of play to make a challenging contract.
 

Double Finesse - A tactic involving multiple finesse attempts when missing two honors (tenaces) or key cards.
 

Double For Sacrifice - A double of opponent's slam used to indicate either a willingness to continue bidding or penalize the opponents (various treatments are available, including the negative and positive slam double).
 

Double Grand Coup - A tactic involving two ruffs of winning cards (often in dummy) by declarer, in order to establish a Coup.  See Details
 

Double Into Game - A double of opponent's contract which boosts them into game, where an undoubled contract would leave opponent's in a part-score.
 

Bidding

Double Jump - A raise skipping two levels of the auction.  One example is a triple-raise, as: 1H - 4H.  Another example is the Double Jump may also be a Jump-shift, as:

1S - 4C         See Splinter Bids
 

Double Jump Overcall -  Typically played as a preemptive jump bid over an opponent's bid, as:

(1D) - 3S
 

Double Key Card - A variation of Key Card Blackwood where Kings of two suits are counted towards the keycard response.
 

Double Knockout - A variation of knockout elimination where teams are  continue to compete until they loose two match sessions.
 

Double Menace - A tactic involving a Double Squeeze, with a threat card in the suit guarded by the opponents.  See Example
 

Double Mitchell - A duplicate tournament movement where the contestants are subdivided in two sections using a Mitchell rotation (N/S player remain stationary, E/W players move up each Round and E/W boards move down each round.
 

Double Negative - See Conventions
 

Double of a Cuebid - See Conventions
 

Bidding

Double Raise - A Skip or Jump bid in partner's suit, two levels higher than partner bid as:

     1H - 3H

Typically, Double Raises are played as an invitational limit raise (historically a game forcing raise), while some treat it as a weak preemptive bid showing 4 card support (see Bergen Raise)
 

Double/Redouble Out of Rotation - A legal call is made after one's right hand opponent bids; out of rotation calls, including doubles, are improper (see Law 32):
 

Double Squeeze - A squeeze where both opponent's are squeezed in two suits.  See Details
 

Doubled Notrump Game - When opponents bid a 3 Notrump game contract or above, partnership doubles have various lead directing possibilities depending on bidding and conventional agreements.  See details
 

Doubler - The player who makes a call of Double.
 

Doubleton - A two-card holding in the named suit.
 

Double Tenace - A broken suit holding in two locations, as A Q 10 [x].
 

Laws

Doubly Improper Call - A call not in accordance with the Laws on two counts, as:

     1H - (  P) - 2H - X
           (XX)

The redouble is out of rotation and also an Inadmissible Call.  See Law 36
 

Down - To Set the opponent's contract, resulting in a penalty score.
 

Bidding

Play

Down the Line -
 

1.	Referring to bidding the higher of two equivalent suits before bidding the lower suit, as in a two-level response to partner's double.  In many other circumstances, such as a normal responder's bid or Stayman response, bid are typically made "Up the Line".
2.	To play the highest ranking card, usually from a series.

DP - Abbreviation for Disciplinary Penalty
 

Draw - To force opponents to play a card, such as trump.
 

Rubber

Draw for Partner - In contract Bridge, players select a card from a shuffled pack (deck). Once all players have drawn cards, the two players drawing the highest cards are partners.  When two cards cards of the same denomination rank are drawn, the higher ranking suit is used to determine the winner.
 

Drawing Trumps - The general tactic of leading trump to eliminate opponents' opportunity to ruff.
 

Drive Out - To force opponent's to play a high-ranking card, usually in anticipation to establish the given suit.
 

Jargon

Drop -
 

1.	To catch an opponent's possible winning but unprotected card by leading a higher card in that suit.
2.	To lose a trick or contract through poor play.

Drop Dead Stayman - An artificial treatment by responder after opener bids 1 Notrump.  The responder bids 2C, planning to pass any bid by opener. See  Details
 

Dropped Card - See Laws: declarer: 48  defender: 50
 

Drury - See Conventions
 

Dub - A Bridge player with a lower ability than the one's peers.
 

Jargon

Duck - To refuse taking a trick offered by an opponent by playing small card from one's holdings.  While ducking causes the loss of the immediate trick, its purposes include:
 

1.	Prevent establishment of a long suit in the dummy
2.	Prevent transportation from to the dummy
3.	Exhaust opponent's trump
4.	Anticipate a ruff by one's partner

See Rule of 7

Duck - The colloquial term referring to the 2 (two-spot).
 

(Ugly) Duckling - A colloquial term referring to a hand with a 5-3-3-2 distribution.  See Shape
 

Duffer - A Bridge player with poor ability.
 

Duke - A very strong hand.
 

Duke of Cumberland Hand - A purportedly rigged hand dealt the son of George III, the King of England, resulting in the loss of a £20,000 wager.  The  hand was was used in the James Bond movie, "Moonraker" against the villain Drax. See Example
 

General

Dumb Bidder - A special board used to facilitate silent bidding.  The Dumb Bidder permits players to select all calls, including numbers 1-7, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and calls (pass, double, and redouble).  At each player's turn, they tap the appropriate location to indicate their call.  The Dumb Bidder's purpose is to prevent players from passing Unauthorized Information inadvertently made by the players voice tone, loudness, or inflection.  This device has given way to the Bidding Box.
 

Laws

Dummy -
 

1.	The declarer's partner
2.	The cards of of the declarer's partner, exposed after the opening lead.  The partner of the declarer shall arrange the cards vertically in suits from highest to lowest, with the trump suit on the dummy's right. See Example

Arrangement of cards in - See Law 41
As agent of declarer - See Law 42
Hand of - See Law 41
Hand played by declarer - See Law 41  42  45
Limitations on actions by - See Law 43
Penalty for infraction by - See Law 43
Rights of - See Law 42  61
Sorting of cards in - See Law 41
 

   Dummy, play of

Attempt to play card not in dummy - See Law 46
By declarer - See Law  41 - 42 - 45
Card not designated by declarer - See Law 45
Designation of card not in dummy - See Law 46
Incomplete designation of card - See Law 46
Misplay by dummy of card not named by declarer - See Law 45
Partial designation of card - See Law 46
Premature play by defender - See Law 57
Proper method - See Law 45 - 46
Singleton not deemed automatically designated - See Law 57

Dummy Play - Referring to declarer play, where the Dummy hand is exposed after the opponents' opening lead. 

Techniques include: Avoidance, Backward Finesse, Coup, Crossruffing, Deceptive play, Discovery, Drawing Trump, Elopment (En passant), Elimination, Endplay, Entry management, Environmental Factors, Finesse, Gambit, Loser on loser, Promotion, Restricted Choice, Ruffing, Rule of ..., Safety play, Shooting, Smother play, Squeezes, Strip and endplay, Suit Combinations, Throw in play, Unblocking.  Other factors include evaluation of odds and Probabilities: Card Distribution in remaining two hands, Hand Distribution of suits within a hand, High Card Point Count in one hand, Miscellaneous Probabilities, Number of Cards - quantity in a suit, Posteriori Probability when additional information is known, Expected Controls based on HCP.
 

Laws

Dummy's Limitations - The dummy is required to remain silent during the play of the hand and act as the declarer's agent.  The dummy should not:

See Law 43,  Duplicate Decisions,  Director Tech File
 

Laws

Dummy's Rights - As declarer's agent, the dummy is entitled to certain privileges including:

See Law 42,  Duplicate Decisions,   Director Tech File
 

Play

Dummy Reversal - The typical declarer play involves ruffing declarer's losers using the dummy's short suit.  However, when the dummy has features such as a long side suit worthy of promotion, the declarer may find a better strategy is to rethink the play of the hand from the dummy's perspective.  Another Dummy Reversal opportunity occurs when holding a large number of winning trumps; the declarer may find it advantageous to ruff the partnerships longer trump holding until the opposite hand is holding more trumps.  See Example
 

Dummy's Forfeiture of Rights - The dummy loses the right to ensure declarer does not lead from the wrong hand or establish a revoke when the dummy intentionally looks at the hand of the declarer or an opponent.  See Laws 42 and 43.
 

Dummy's Hand - A common misconception is that all players equally share the responsibility that the Dummy's Hand is proper, including exactly 13 cards can be seen.  In reality, the player facing the dummy is responsible to ensure all 13 cards are clearly visible.  See Law 14, 41, Duplicate Decisions, Director Tech File
 

Duplicate - A method of reusing players cards from one set of contestants to another.  When not in play, the cards are kept separated in a board until the cards are ready for play at another table.
 

Duplicate Bridge - Referring to Bridge using the Duplicate scoring format, where contestants at different tables play the identical cards in an effort reduce the element of luck.  See Law 77.

Also see Duplicate Bridge books
 

Duplicate Decisions - A compilation of stipulations interpreting the Laws of Duplicate Bridge.  See Duplicate Decision
 

Duplicate Whist - The predecessor to Duplicate Bridge began with Mitchell and the Howell movements, dating back to the 1880's.
 

Duplication Of Boards - See Law 6 , See Director Tech Files - Duplication Guidelines
 

Duplication of Distribution - The undesirable situation when both partners have identical suit lengths (mirrored values) as a "trump poor" dummy" hand.  See Example
 

Duplication Of Values - The undesirable situation when both partners have controls in the same suit.  See Example
 

Duplimate - A computerized device that rapidly deals bar-coded cards, automatically placing the cards into the a duplicate board. See website
 

Dutch Spade - See Conventions

Dynamic One Notrump - See Conventions

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