299er Pairs - An ACBL tourney where all pairs consist of players who have fewer than 300 masterpoints.
 

TAB (Trump Asking Bid) -  See Conventions
 

Laws

Table -

Arrangement of playing - See Law 3
Scoring table - See Law 77

Table Feel - A player's cunning ability to draw inferences from the aggregate factors of bidding and play.  For instance, drawing an inference from the opponent's behavior is both legal and useful, while it is not lawful to do so based on partner's mannerism (such as a tempo, hesitation, body language, etc).  Table feel also includes:

- knowledge of opponent's bidding and playing style
- knowledge of player's likely bidding and play ay at other tables
- consideration of Environmental Factors
- careful consideration of inferences during bidding, play,
  opening lead, dummy, line of play, etc.
 

Table Guide Card - A prominent card in the center of the table (placed under the duplicate boards) providing orientation instructions for players, providing compass orientation, table numbers, player and board movements, and other useful information such as a scoring references.  See Example
 

Table Numbers - A prominent card in the center of the table (placed under the duplicate boards) providing players movement information between tables and in the case of large tourneys, identification of tourney section (colors and associated alpha letters can vary).  See Example
 

Table Spacing - The distance between tables at a duplicate event.  A buffer space zone between each table provides a more comforable environment for the players and others as the Director, Caddy, and Kibitzers to enjoy the game.  The distance between the tables is ideally based on a 9 foot centers from each table - a 7 foot center is a minimum.  Many tournament committees compromise on 8 feet, providing 64 square feet per table.
 

Tactics - Referring to successive steps carefully administered during bidding or the play of the hand.  Good tactics take all factors into consideration, including analysis of all competitor actions and the optimum plan to ensure the most desirable result.
 

Takeout Double - A double demanding partner to make a call in a new strain, made as a competitive bid to either win the auction or make it more difficult for opponents to make a higher level contract.  See Details

Also see Books on Doubles
 

Tally - A Rubber Bridge scoring paper designed to track scores during each round of play (often 4 deals) and provide the player table movement directions between rounds.   Bridge Hands has free downloadable 2, 3, and 4 table Tallies
 

Tank - A players long hesitation or "huddle" before making a bid or play.
 

Duplicate

Tap -

Laws

Tardiness - See Law 90
 

Tax - An extra fee, akin to a "sin tax" assessed to a pack of cards used to raise money for the government.  At one point in time, card manufacturers were prohibited from manufacturing the Ace of Spades; only the government would produce a distinctive face on the Ace of Spades to insure the appropriate tax was paid. See History of Cards
 

Tax Card - The colloquial term referring to the A (Spade Ace) See Card Names.
 

TBW - Abbreviation for The Bridge World [magazine]
 

TD - Abbreviation for Tournament Director
 

TDic - Abbreviation for Tournament Director in charge
 

Team - Four (or more) players competing against other teams in Duplicate Bridge event formats such as a Swiss or Knockout event.  At any given session, two players are assigned one direction at a given table while their partners are assigned complementary seats at the mate table; the four player team competes against another team for the session.  In some situation, a "Round Robin" movement is necessary when an odd number of teams are in play during the initial sessions.
 

Team Events  -

Adjusted score - See Law 86
Partnerships - See Law 4
Substitute board - See Law 86

Teammate - Either a partner at the table or another player on the team, sitting at the other table or on the sidelines if the team has more than 4 players.
 

Tech Files - A comprehensive set body of supplemental information for ACBL Directors.

Tech Files Index (for Directors)
       Laws Interpretation                            Laws Commission Rulings
       Masterpoint Award Rules & Regs     Masterpoint Reqs for Ranks
       Alerts                                                     Bid Box
       Convention Chart                                General Contest Conditions
       Event Guidelines                                  Forms
       Duplication Guidelines, etc                 Intermediate-Novice Guide
       Knockout Participation Guide             NAP Conditions of Contest
       Board-A-Match (BAM) General         BAM Conditions of Contest
       Pairs Conditions of Contest               
       STaC Conditions of Contest                Swiss Conditions of Contest
       Code - Disciplinary Regulations          Conduct Procedures
      Psyches
 

Technical Position - The side holding a strategic and psychological advantage of a player relative to the other players
 

Telephone Number - To receive a very big penalty score for undertricks, indicating a four digit penalty (1000 points or more) - referring to the last four digits of a telephone number.
 

Tell - The colloquial term for a player that unwittingly provides opponents information about one's holding and thought processes, open based on observation of prior habits.
 

Laws

Tempo - the interval of time during bidding or play, as compared to other intervals by the same player.  Tempo should not be confused with hesitations; for instance, a player who normally bids or plays in 5-10 seconds but makes a bid or play after only 1 second has broken tempo.  Changes in tempo may be both fast or slow.

Accidentally received information - 16
Action by partner - 16
Inadvertent variation in manner or tempo - 73
Intentional variation in manner or tempo - 73

Temporize - A player who deliberately makes a waiting action (bid or play), waiting for further developments before committing to a specific action.
 

Ten - Represented by 10 pips.  See Example
 

Tenace - A player holding a broken honor sequence as: See Example

  A Q [x...]    Major Tenace

 K J [x...]    Minor Tenace
 

Ten Implies - Referring to a defender's conventional lead, where the lead of a 10 typically indicates the leader has two (or zero) honors above the 10.  See Conventions
 

Texas Transfer - See Conventions
 

The Bridge World - Founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson, The Bridge World is the world's oldest continuously-published bridge magazine.  See website
 

Their Hand - Indicating the contract belongs to the opponents, based on their combined assets (High Card Points and/or suit length) or favorable vulnerability to take a sacrifice.
 

Thin - A bid or contract with marginal strength (High Card Points and/or suit length)
 

Third and Fifth -  See Conventions
 

Third From Even, Low From Odd - See Conventions
 

Third Hand - After an opening call or play, the third player in sequence of bidding or play.  The success or failure of the defense to a contract is usually determined at the first trick. Since the defender's success often hinges on the play of the first card, correct play by the leader's partner may provide critical momentum to the defenders.  Often, the correct play is the highest (lowest equal) card.  Also, third hand signals include encouraging, discouraging, attitude and preference.
 

Third Hand High - The concept advocating playing one's high card (lowest equal first, relative to dummy) in third seat as opposed to playing a low card in second seat.  Like most concepts, there are exceptions to this simple rule.  See Details
 

Bidding

Third Suit Bid - A bid of the third suit at the 1 level is technically non forcing, nor is it if the opener bid a second suit at the 2 in a lower suit.  However, if two suits were bid at the 1 level and the opener's rebid is a reverse (in a higher ranking suit), that bid is typically forcing for one round.
 

Threat Card or Menace - Referring to a potential winning trick, typically associated with a squeeze play in three suits.  See Examples
 

3 Level Response To 1 No Trump - See Conventions
 

3 Notrump Opening - See Conventions
 

3 Notrump Overcall - See Conventions
 

3 Notrump Response - See Conventions
 

Three- Represented by 3 pips. See Example

Three Quarter Notrump - See Conventions
 

Thirteener - Bridge jargon (slang) indicating no other players hold cards in a suit held by the fourth player.  For instance, if one side plays the Ace, King, Queen, and all players follow to the tricks, the remaining player holds the thirteener.
 

Three Suiter - Referring to a players holdings with length in 3 suits with a shortage in one suit, distributed 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0.  Three suited hands are sometimes referred to as a "Mini Roman" associated with a convention designed to handle these problematic bidding hands (also known as a "rattlesnake".  See Shape
 

Through Strength - To play a card through the strength of the player in second, anticipating the player in the third seat will hold a card to trap the card played by the player in the second seat.
 

Bidding

Throw - To discard an insignificant card not intended to take a trick.
 

Throw Away - Making a costly error, misplaying a card.
 

Throw-in - A pass in fourth seat, literally throwing one's cards in the center of the table for a redeal (lawful in Rubber Bridge but not Duplicate)
 

Throw-in Play - An endplay maneuver during the play of the last few cards, where the player on lead plays a low card to their left hand opponent guarding one or more suits.  With the opponent now on lead, one of the cards previously held over their right hand opponent now becomes a loser.  See Examples

Also see Books on Throw-In Play
 

Throw-in Squeeze - The tactic of allowing an opponent to gain the lead, thereby squeezing the leader into forfeiting one or more tricks. See Examples
 

Thrump Double -  See Conventions
 

Tickets - A colloquial term referring to winning cards, typically honors.  See Card Names
 

Tight -

Timing - The sequence of cards played, influencing the ending arrangement of trump, honors, side suits, and player on lead.  Throw-in, elimination, endplays, and squeezes are examples where timing is critical.
 

T.I.T. - The tongue in cheek acronym, "Texas Idiot Transfer" referring to partner's excessive bid over opponent's game.  For instance, a reflexive bid as:

(1H) - P - (4H) - 4S
 

Top - Obtaining the maximum possible matchpoint score on a specific hand, above that of all others playing the hand.
 

Top of Nothing - The lead of a relatively high spot card to signal one's partner that the leader does not hold honors in the led suit.  Thus, the partner is given notice not to return the led suit.   Conversely, leading "Bottom of Something" indicates encouragement for the led suit.  See BOSTON
 

Total Point Scoring - See Duplicate Scoring

Also see Law 78
 

Tops and Bottom Cuebids - See Conventions
 

Total Trumps - The aggregate sum of trumps held by each side.  The concept of total tricks is a fundamental precept of "The Law of Total Tricks."
 

Laws

Touching -

Touching another's card - See Law 90

Tournament - A competitive event organized by a sponsoring organization, often consisting of multiple sessions.  See ACBL Tourneys, Tech Files For Directors
 

Tournament Director - The designated official responsible for tournament administration, including organization, play, player movement, administration of Laws, scoring, and result postings. The tournament director is charged with restoring equity at a table when an irregularity has occurred.  See Tech Files For Directors
 

Track - The dummy laying down or tabling the dummy cards, such as the expressing "the dummy tracked, tabling 100 honors in Spades."
 

Tram Tickets - A colloquial term for a player holding worthless cards (pips).  See Card Names
 

Trance - To take an excessive amount of time to make a bid or play, as to "tank" or "huddle"
 

Transfer - See Conventions
 

Transfer Escape -  See Conventions
 

Transfer Lebensohl - See Conventions
 

Transfer Overcalls Of 1 Notrump - See Conventions
 

Transfer Squeeze - The technique of transferring the lead to the side holding the menace card to initiate the squeeze.  See Example
 

Transferable Values - The strength of a player's cards, both offensively and defensively.  For instance, High Card Points, particularly not in long suits have transferable strength as either a declarer or defender.
 

Transferred Trick - In accordance with Law 64, the term indicating the non-offending side is awarded a trick after opponent's revoke has been established.
 

Trap Pass - In lieu of making a fair overcall bid, the would be overcaller may make a cunning tactic of passing the bid, anticipating the opportunity to obtain an even better result.   For instance, the bidding may be:

(1C) - P - (P) - X;
(P)   - P

it is often better to Pass with a strong hand and more trump then opponents, anticipating a positive net score.  Trap passes are also effective when opponents have suit misfits, often bidding beyond their attainable contract.
 

Traveler - The small scoring sheet that accompanies the a duplicate board during play.  Typically the North player at each table is responsible for posting the results on the traveler after each board is player, recording player numbers, the contract bid and tricks won, and the score.  Bridge Hands has free downloadable Traveler for you to print copies
 

Traveling Pair - In some events, the Director assigns a traveling pair to occupy different seats in the session (normally, players maintain the same relative seat orientation regardless of table movement).
 

Tray - Another name for the board which holds duplicate cards. See Example
 

Treatment - A natural bid based on a prior partnership agreement designed to handle a particular bidding scenario, providing partner pertinent information about the denomination (suit or Notrump) quality or length.  This is unlike a conventional call, which provides information not related to the denomination but instead uses artificial bids based on prior partnership agreements.
 

Trey - The colloquial term referring to the 3 (three-spot) card.  See Example
 

Trial -  An elimination-style tournament event, where the winning contestants qualify for successive events.
 

Trial Bid - A game or slam try bid, asking partner for a further explanation of their length and strength.   Game try and quantitative bids are common examples of trial bids.  See Help Suit Game Try
 

Trick - The sequence of four cards played successively by each player.  In duplicate bridge, each player maintains their own individual accounting of tricks won and lost.  In rubber bridge, one side of the trick winners typically gathers each players played to a trick.  At the end of the hand, each side counts the number of tricks won, using the result to determine the correct score.

Agreement on number won and lost - See Law 79
Arrangement in order - See Law 65
Claim - See Law 68
Completed - See Law 65
Concession - See Law 68  69  71
Correction of error in scoring - See Law 79
Defective - See Law 45  67
Disagreement on number won and lost - See Law 79
Dummy's right to keep track of tricks won - See Law 42
Fifth card to trick - See Law 45
Inspection of - See Law 66
Keeping track of number won and lost - See Law 65
Lead to - See Law 44
Orderliness - See Law 65
Play to - See Law 44
Quitted - See Law 61  62  66
Turning of - See Law 45

Trick Appropriated In Error - The erroneous act of scoring a trick for one's side, while technically the trick belongs to the other side.  If the players discover the error within the time specified by Law 67 and 68, the trick is rightfully restored to the winning side.
 

Trick Score - The numeric award representing the aggregate number of tricks attributable to the declarer.  See Scoring
 

Tricks Won -  In Duplicate Bridge, each players card played cards are kept separate from other players.  Each player may keep track of tricks won or lost by orienting the cards vertically (lengthwise) pointing to the side that has won the trick.  See Arranging Duplicate Tricks. 

In Rubber Bridge, the cards constituting each completed trick are collected by a member of the side that won the trick and are then turned face down on the table. Each trick shall be identifiable as such, and all tricks taken by a side shall be arranged in sequence in front of declarer or of one defender, as the case may be, in such manner that each side can determine the number of tricks it has won and the order in which they were taken.  See Arranging Rubber Bridge Tricks
 

Triple - A jump bid 3 levels above the current level, skipping 2 levels of bidding as 1H - 4H.
 

Triple Squeeze - A squeeze play against one opponent in 3 of their suits.  See Example
 

Triple 4 by 1 - A 4-4-4-1 hand pattern, also referred to as a three suiter or "Mini Roman" hand based on a convention used by some players to describe this distributional hand patterns.  See Shape
 

Triple Raise - A jump bid 3 levels above the current level, skipping 2 levels of bidding as 1H - 4H.
 

Tripleton - A 3 card holding in a given suit.
 

Trump -

Trump Asking Bid (TAB)- See Conventions
 

Trump Control - A player holding trumps sufficient to prevent opponents from promoting a suit suit.
 

Trump Coup - An unusual declarer play tactic requiring declarer to reduce the number of trumps in hand to that of the threatening opponent holding the same number of trump.  The declarer cleverly plays winning tricks in a side suit and if the declarer's Right Hand Opponent ruffs, the declarer over ruffs; otherwise the declarer sluffs losers in side suits.  If the declarer sluffed losers on the side suit before reducing trump and the RHO refused to ruff, the declarer would have to ruff a card in dummy; then the declarer would become endplayed, having to lead a trump to one of RHO's higher trump cards.  See Example
 

Trump Echo - A defensive count signaling agreement when declarer plays trump, typically playing the natural low-high with 2 (or 4) trump but playing middle-low (if middle is an affordable card) when holding 3 trump.  This carding can be helpful to partner, indicating an opportunity to ruff a side suit when their side can regain lead before declarer exhausts all the remaining trumps.
 

Trump Lead - While leading trump is often overrated, serious consideration of trump leads include when:

Also See Opening Leads, Passive Lead, Journalist Leads, Active Defense

Also see books on Leads
 

Trump, Play Of -

When penalty card present - See Law 50
When permitted - See Law 44

Trump Promotion - The act of overruffing or uppercutting an opponent to setup additional tricks in the trump suit.
 

Trump Signal - See Conventions
 

Trumps Suit Preference - See Conventions
 

Trump Squeeze - The tactic forcing an opponent to shorten a long side suit holding, allowing declarer to later ruff a losing trick in the suit and later promote a trick. The declarer play employs trump to force opponents to discard potential winners in side suits. Technically, elements of the trump squeeze include: a split menace, a ruffing menace - two small cards that would otherwise become losers if not for opponent needing to discard the guard cards in the suit, two dummy entries.  Unlike many other squeeze plays, the trump squeeze requires the declarer to maintain trump cards for ruffing value.  See Example
 

Trump Suit - The suit denomination selected by the declarer, thus ranking above other suits when a player is exhausted of the led side suit.
 

Truscott - See Conventions
 

TYP - The Internet term, "Thank You, Partner" typically as a typed abbreviation by the declarer to partner as the dummy hand is revealed.
 

Turkey - A derogatory term referring to a substandard player.
 

Turn - The rotational sequence of bidding or play, addressing the current player.
 

TWERB: Two Way Exclusion Relay Bidding - An adoption of the Suction convention, primarily used as a defensive countermeasure against opponents 1 Notrump opening bid.  See details
 

2 Club System - Referring to the conventional 2C strong artificial bid, implying preemptive "weak 2" preemptive bids in other suits.  See Conventions
 

2 Diamond Opener - See Conventions
 

2 Level Suit Opening - See Conventions
 

2 Notrump Opener - Playing preemptive Weak 2's, opener's 2N shows 20-21 HCP; alternatively, playing all Strong 2 level bids, the opener's 2N bid shows 22-24 HCP.  A minority of player (and their systems) open 2N to show a weak minor two suited hand, akin to the Unusual Notrump.
 

2/1 (Two-Over-One) System - See Conventions
 

Two- Represented by 2 pips. See Example.

Two Suiter -  Referencing a players non-balanced hand distribution, usually more distributional than a 4-4-3-2 shape.  A hand with 2 five+ card suits are definitely two suited hands, although a 5-4 shape also qualifies as a two suiter.  See Shape
 

Two Way - A call potentially having multiple meanings, subject to further clarification after responder's bid.
 

Two Way Finesse - The opportunity to finesse either opponent for the missing card, usually a Queen.  See Example
 

Two Way Game Try - See Conventions
 

Two Way New Minor Forcing - See Conventions
 

Two Way Stayman - See Conventions
 

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