Carioca Club
Mr. Armando Pires e Albuquerque of Brazil has posted on the Internet a bidding system based on bidding high with weak hands and low with strong hands. The artificial opening bids in Clubs and its answers show point counts, and rebids show playable suits. Weak 1 No Trump is used, and another artificial opening is used for strong balanced hands.

Caroline Club, The

Carrot Club - Carrotski Club
This is the English version of the Carrotski Club or Carrot Club Bidding System. Included is Interference After a Two-Way Club Opening and responses after a 1 No Trump opening.

Carrot Club
Note: The web page is presently off line. The website presented the Swedish version of the Carrotski Club in Swedish. A forcing club system devised 1988 by Mr. Hans Göthe, Mr. Sven-Olov Flodqvist, Mr. Per Olof Sundelin, Mr. Tommy Gullberg, Mr. Anders Morath and Mr. Sven-Åke Bjerregård of Sweden.

As much as possible these web page presentations have been archived and preserved on this site for future reference. Other designations, most likely in the evolution or development, include Romklöver and also Bla Klöver.

Another version of the origins of the designation for this bidding system is that it was chosen for Mr. Anders Morath of Sweden, and it was named the Carrot Club because of the red hair, which he had at that time, especially when playing in the Bermuda Bowl Championships in Manila, Phillipines, in 1977. Mr. Anders Morath continues to be nicknamed the Carrot.

1.	Carrot Club - This version, presented in the year 1971, and compiled by Mr. Sven-Olov Flodqvist , of the Carrot Club is written in the language of Sweden. No translation is available.
2.	Carrot Club - This description is comprehensive documentation by Carrot Club as it was played in 1988 by Sven-Olov Flodqvist, Per Olof Sundelin, His Goethe, Tommy Gullberg , Anders Morath and Sven -Ake Bjerregård.
3.	Carrot Club - This version is a compendium, which provides a summary documentation by which the system is played as of 1992 by Sven-Olov Flodqvist , Per Olof Sundelin , Hans Goethe , Tommy Gullberg , Anders Morath and Sven- Åke Bjerregård.
4.	See also: Auby-rutern or Auby Diamond. This is a system that was designed for playing only when non-vulnerable and was developed by Mr. Daniel Auby. The idea behind the concept was to play the Auby Diamond by a non-vulnerable game and whenever the partnership was vulnerable, then the partnership would play according to the guidelines of the Magisk Carotti.
5.	O'Carrot Club - This version of the O'Carrot Club is written in the language of Sweden. No translation is available. The published date is also not available. The information on this web page is not formatted correctly to present the information accurately. The reader must be aware of this information.
6.	Magisk Carrot - Included is also the write-up in .pdf file format the presentation of the Magisk Carotti (Magic Carrot). The author is unknown as well as the date of the published online article.

Carrotski Club - Carrot Club
This is a translation of the Carrot Club from Swedish. This system is a combination of Polish Club and the Swedish systems Svan and Skrot ("metal junk") developed by Mr. Anders Morath and Mr. Sven-Ake Bjarregard in 1972. Svan/Skrot are five-card-Major versions of the Carrot Club. The Carrot Club, originally Morotsklovern, (Swedish for Carrot Club), was invented by Mr. Sven-Olof Flodqvist and Mr. Anders Morath in 1972 for use in the European Championships in Athens, Greece.

Carrot Club 1 No Trump Opening
The opening of 1 No Trump shows a range between 14 and 16 high card points. Any holding with fewer or more high card points may not be opened with 1 No Trump. This limiting bid does not exclude the No Trump bidder from remaining an active participant in any continuing bidding sequences.

O'Carrot Club Opening Bids
The O'Carrot Club opening bids is the newer version of the Carrot Club opening bids. This version was developed by Mr. Sven-Olof Flodqvist, who played it with Mr. Svante Ryman, Mr. Hans Gothe, and Mr. Lars Andersson in order to satisfy certain sponsoring bridge organizations, which declined to accept the original version under their Rules and Regulations policies.

Carryover Scores
The score from early sessions that applies to an overall tournament score.

Carson-Roberts Step Ladder System
This is the designation of a bidding system listed in the publication authored by Mr. Albert A. Ostrow, titled The Bridge Player's Bedside Companion, published 1955 in a list of numerous systems and conventions ..... proposed. The proliferation of bidding systems abounded during the early stages of the game of bridge and, disappointingly, many of such proposed bidding systems and conventional methods have been lost. And additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Carter System, The
This is a bidding system of Mr. John Thomas Carter, which he published in his authored work titled The Carter System: Contract in 1936, in Riverside, California. Additional information is not available.

Carve
Slang: to badly misplay, or butcher, a hand.

Cash
Slang: take a trick with a winning card.

Cash Out
Slang: cash all available immediate winners.

Catomult System - He-Man
This designation originates from the defining terminology, which is CAnapé-Take-Out-MULTi. The following are the System Notes of Mr. Mark Abraham and Mr. Michael Ware. The original System Notes are located at Mark Abraham's website. These Notes have only been preserved and archived on this site in .pdf file format for future reference.

Caution, Complex Computer Count
Designed by Mr. Edgar Kaplan with Mr. Jeff Rubens, both Editors of The Bridge World magazine at the time, this valuation method was meant to also be a method of evaluating a holding. The method was developed with the assistance of computated calculations on an early computer and published in the October issue of The Bridge World in 1982. The valuation method also became known as the 4 C's, but the average and even expert bridge player could not mentally compete, employ, apply, or use the method effectively owing to the fact that they are computer calculations and the implementation thereof proved to be problematic at the bridge table. The valuation method, as a consequence, lost its popularity, especially also owing to the fact that the program itself was not mature and imprecise. The project was subsequently cancelled and/or postponed.

Cavalier
A fourth Coat Card, which is still maintained in some playing cards as an alternative to the Jack.

Cavendish Club In New York
The Cavendish Club was founded in 1925 by Mr. Wilbur C. Whitehead in association with Mr. Gratz M. Scott and Mr. Edwin A. Wetzler. The Cavendish Club was located for the first eight years at the Mayfair House, but then relocated to the Ambassador Hotel. After that the Cavendish Club moved to the Ritz Tower Hotel between 1950 and 1965. Later it moved to a location on Central Park South between 1965 and 1974. In 1974 it moved into the Carlton House where it remained until 1983, where it was located for only a brief time. Later it moved to a location on 48th Street and finally in a townhouse on 73rd Street. The Cavendish Club was disbanded and ceased operations on May 31, 1991. From 1941 the Cavendish Club was a not-for-profit membership corporation, managed by Mr. Benjamin Jay Becker to 1947. From 1947 it was managed by Mr. Rudolf Muhsam to 1973. Mr. Thomas M. Smith managed the Cavendish Club from 1973 to 1987. Mr. Thomas L. Snow managed from 1987 to 1990, and the last manager was Mr. Richard Reisig until 1991. In 1974, the Cavendish Club inaugurated the Cavendish Invitational Pairs, which became one of the largest and most prestigious invitational bridge events in the world.

Past Presidents of the Cavendish Club were:

1925-1935		Mr. Gratz M. Scott
1935-1947		Mr. Frank Crowninshield
1948-1958		Mr. Nate Spingold
1958-1961		Mr. Samuel Stayman
1961-1964		Mr. Howard Schenken
1964-1967		Mr. Harold Ogust
1967-1970		Mr. Leonard Hess
1970-1973		Mr. Edward Loewenthal
1973-1976		Mr. Roy V. Titus
1976-1979		Mr. Archie A. Brauer
1979-1980		Mr. Yehuda Koppel
1980-1981		Mr. Roy V. Titus
1981-1982		Mr. Samuel Stayman
1982-1985		Mr. William Roberts
1986-1987		Mr. Sidney Rosen
1987-1990		Mr. Claire Tornay
1990-1991		Mr. Thomas M. Smith

Cavendish Variation
A later version of four-deal bridge, with dealer's side non-vulnerable on the second and third deals.

CBIA (website) - (WBF website) - An abbreviation for Contract Bridge Association of Ireland. The Contract Bridge Association was founded in 1932. It is the official regulator for the recognized game of Contract Duplicate Bridge in this part of the island. As such, any changes to the worldwide rules are passed to us and then to our members. The CBAI structure divides the country into thirteen geographical Regions. The key administrator is the Regional Secretary who is assisted by County Development Officers. Regular meetings are held during the season. Clubs are kept informed on all relevant matters by the Regional Secretary, or directly from CBAI National Headquarters.

CDH Buchanan - Buchanan - Clubs-Diamonds-Hearts Buchanan
This is a defense method against a No Trump opening by an opponent. This conventional method was devised by Mr. David F. Buchanan, and was published in Bridge Magazine in January, 1980. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Ceiling Concept
This is a .pdf file format. The Ceiling Concept is defined as the contract, which would be preferred not to pass unless an attempt is initiated for a slam, and is a fundamental feature of the Ekrens bidding system.

Cell Phone Applications
With the advancement of the technical and digital age many digital devices are available to perform many and multiple functions both in audio and visual format, which only a decade ago were considered impossible. Cell phones, smart phones, and mobile phones have changed forever the shape of the global landscape. Other digital devices with displays and Internet connection include the iPad, the HP Slate, the Dell Streak, the Asus Eee Tablet, the Compal Tablet, the Notion Ink, the MSI, the Quanta, the ICD Vega Tablet, and the Google Tablet.

Center For Bridge Education
In June 2006 a group of players concerned about the state of bridge in San Francisco, including the average age or players and the limited locations for play, resolved to make a plan. Nearly a year later they formed the Center for Bridge Education. A group of San Francisco Bridge players has formed the Center for Bridge Education. The Center was formed for the purpose of teaching new players to play the game. The CBE hopes that by educating more players, there will be more people playing in San Francisco and that those who play will be from a wider age group. The CBE plans to promote bridge education in several ways. First, they plan to conduct classes for young players particularly in high schools and junior high schools. This has already started. Second, they hope to be able to sponsor teachers who reach out to adults who want to learn to play. Finally the Center’s most ambitious plan is to establish a place for the teaching and practice of bridge.

Chair
Slang: position at the bridge table.

Chair Pushers
This is a designation for those bridge players, who are not happy or satisfied with the assigned physical chair for the position as scheduled by the movement. It can happen that particular players indeed tip the attendants to procure chairs adequately large and sufficiently comfortable, in which they then are pushed or indeed push themselves around from table to table. The requirement for such an action is not necessary or required since the player is in no manner physically disabled. It has been determined that the female player is more prone to such action.

Note: Some members of the staff of the sponsoring organizations refer to such chairs as a' la Crockford in reference to the Crockford's Bridge Club of New York, New York, United States, founded by Mr. Ely Culbertson in the year 1932. The appointments and elegant style for the very wealthy was evident after stepping through the front door.

Chalfant Movement
Excerpted from the publication The Bridge Game Guide authored by Mr. Nicolae Sfetcu:

Less common is the Chalfant movement. In this movement, the boards remain stationary while the players move according to guide cards. This requires significantly more physical tables, because several tables are not in play on any given round. (Like the Howell movement, this movement is typically used when there is a relatively small number of players, typically no more than 12 pairs. Also like the Howell movement, this movement produces a single winner and pairs face all or almost all of the other pairs in play.) This movement has the advantage that pairs are often moving to a table that was not in use on a previous round, so a slow pair does not delay as many other pairs as in a Howell. Also, for several sizes, this movement is technically superior in that more pairs face all other pairs than in the corresponding Howell movement. This movement has the disadvantage of requiring a larger number of physical tables, and thus more space. It also requires the players to carry guide cards with them and consult them, while the guide cards usually remain on the tables for Howell movements.

Note: From the Catalog of Copyright Entries 1977 Books and Pamphlets July-December, 3D, Series, Vol. 31, Part 1, Section 2, is the entry The Chalfant movement. 8 p. £ cards. Appl. au: Paul W. Chalfant. O Paul W. Chalfant: 27Jun77: A870996.

Challenge
A declaration proposed by Mr. Sidney Samuel Lenz (1873-1960) in 1929 to replace the Takeout Double. It was used experimentally in one New York Bridge Club, but received little support in the bridge community. In the 1950s, the term was revived with a different understanding. It was defined as an attempt to check artificial bidding practices. Whenever any player had made two bids, a positive bid could be challenged. The auction then ceased and the contract reached would be played redoubled. This concept, originated by Col. Cyril Rocke, received little support in the bridge community.

Champagne - District 8 Regional Championships - District Eight Regional Championships
This bridge tournament was contested over four days. The tournament was conducted annually in Illinois or Northern Indiana, United States, beginning in the year 1967, generally in the late summer months. The event consisted of Open Teams, Masters Pairs, Open Pairs, Men's Pairs, Women's Pairs, and Mixed Pairs. The reference Champagne is most likely to the city of Champaign in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The city is located 135 miles south of Chicago and 124 miles west of Indianapolis, Indiana. The District 8 was headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, and the similarity of the pronunciation of the name of the city was too difficult for the organizers to avoid in promoting this bridge tournament, and thus it became known as the Champagne, albeit spelled incorrectly.

Championship Player of the Year
The annual Championship Player of the Year is determined by the number of masterpoints won at NABCs while playing in unlimited national-rated events, including the North American Open Pairs and excluding the Grand National Team competitions.

Change of Pack
The two packs are used alternately, unless there is a redeal. A pack containing a card so damaged or marked that it may be identified from its back must be replaced if attention is drawn to the imperfection before the last card of the current deal has been dealt.

A pack originally belonging to a side must be restored on demand of any player before the last card of the current deal has been dealt.

Change Of Suit
A bid of a previously unbid suit. Using standard bidding methods, the general guideline is that a change of suit by the responder is forcing for one round, whereas a change of suit by the opener is not forcing. However, according to the bidding system used by the partnership, this guideline is subject to many exceptions.

Charity Game
This refers to a bridge tournament, whereby all net proceeds are donated to a specific and designated charity organization.

Charity Pairs
The Charity Pairs is a regular pair game, the only difference being that a minimum amount of the proceeds from the selling of entries is earmarked for a specified charity, such as the ACBL Charity Foundation.

Charles H. Goren Award

Charles J. Solomon Award
This award is to the player, who is considered to have accomplished the Best Played Hand of the Year, chosen and selected by the International Bridge Press Association.

Charles Solomon Trophy
This trophy was first introduced in 1966 at the World Bridge Championships for the Pairs Olympiad and the World Knockout Teams held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and presented to an independent and self-governing country for best overall performance by representatives of one NCBO or National Contract Bridge Organization, in principle with at least 250 members. The first winner was named the United States.

Cheap Blackwood
T he concept of Cheap Blackwood is to retain as much bidding space as possible for the partnership to exchange information about the length and strength, distributional singletons and/or voids, and about the number of Aces and Kings held by the partnership. This concept of Cheap Blackwood also incorporates the King of trump into the number of possible Key Cards, which are the four Aces and the King of trump. It is essential to understand that Cheap Blackwood can only then be initiated after a suit has been established, and then only with the cheapest, meaningless bid.

Cheaper Minor as a Second Negative
This treatment has been developed for those holdings by the responder, in which a distributional Major suit could possibly lead to a game contract by making a natural bid. On the other side of the coin, the responder would also prefer to show a holding, in which a game contract is most likely not possible, and the partnership agreement is that by rebidding the cheaper Minor suit, the responder can show zero or minimum values on his second negative rebid.

Cheaper Minor Over The Blacks
This method uses an overcall of 3 Diamonds after a preempt on the three level of 3 Clubs, and a 4 Clubs bid over a preempt on the three level of 3 Clubs, for takeout. Any double over a preempt on the three level of 3 Clubs is for penalty. Any double over 3 Diamonds or 3 Hearts is considered a cooperative double.

Cheaper or Lower Minor
This is a method, sometimes referred to as a convention, which uses the Cheaper or Lower, still available Minor suit, if the preempt on the Three Level is in the Club suit, as a takeout double.

Cheapest Bid
The lowest legal bid. Over 1 Club, 1 Diamond is the cheapest bid.

Check
1. Slang: an improper form of passing, which is not legal and represents an irregularity since information could possibly be communicated;
2. Slang: denotes or signifies a stopper. It is of Antipodean usage, meaning something that is the exact opposite or contrary of another; an antipode.

Checkback Stayman
A common conventional agreement applied after opener's rebid of 1 No Trump, or, less commonly, 2 No Trump, searching for an unbid major suit or a preference to responder’s major. The bidding sequence 1 Club - 1 Heart - 1 No Trump - 2 Clubs asks the opener to give preference to Hearts, or to show an unbid four-card Major Spade suit. If the opener can not support Hearts and has no four-card Spade suit, the opener rebids Diamonds. If the opener rebids either 2 Hearts or 2 Spades, this rebid is purely invitational and not forcing. Some partnerships use the 2 Diamonds rebid as a game-forcing Checkback Stayman, and 2 Clubs as a weak Stayman. If the rebid is 2 Clubs in this partnership agreement, then the responder shows invitational values if he bids again.

Checkback Stayman by the Responder
This .pdf file has been written and contributed by Mr. Marvin French of San Diego, California, United States. It represents a thorough explanation of this conventional method and employs illustrative examples demonstrating auctions and situations, in which the conventional method is used. We are very grateful to Mr. Marvin French for his contribution. The .pdf file will be automatically be opened by your browser in a new window.

New Minor Forcing vs Checkback Stayman
This is an article written and contributed by Mr. Marvin French of San Diego, California, and which was published in the book Marvin's Conventions and Treatments written by Mr. Marvin French. It addresses the problem encountered by bridge players when confronted with a certain bidding sequence. This is a .pdf file and will automatically be opened by your browser.

Chest Your Cards
To hold your cards close to your chest, so that they are not visible to another player. An alternative is to "lap your cards", meaning to hold them in your lap, where they are hidden from view.

Chicago
The original version of four-deal bridge, with dealer's side vulnerable on the second and third deals.

Chicago Convention
This convention is mostly used while playing Rubber Bridge. When a player picks up a Yarborough, he inquires of his partner, How's your aunt in Chicago? If the partner replies that She died last week, this means that he holds no values to compete in the auction. Then he will add, Hey, wait! I have only 12 cards! The other partner will then respond I have 14 cards! Thereupon both players will quickly throw their cards into the center of the table and shuffle them, so that the truthfulness of their statements can not be proven. This is also known as the 12-14 Convention.

However, if the partner does have some biddable values, after the initial question, the partner can reject the offer and answer, My aunt is doing fine, or Count again please.

Chicago Trophy
Awarded for the North American Open Team Championship, board-a-match scoring, until 1965 when it was replaced by the Reisinger Memorial Trophy. The Trophy was donated by the Auction Bridge Club of Chicago in 1929. In 1928, the Open Team Competition was for the Harold S. Vanderbilt Cup.

Chicane
A term from Bridge Whist referring to a hand that is void of trumps. It was scored the same as three honors.

Note: One definition, perhaps the oldest definition, is to be found in the publication located at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in England, and which is titled Biritch, Or Russian Whist. This publication is dated October 23, 1886, and although there is no indication of the name of the author inside the publication, the book is attributed to a certain Mr. John Collinson. His definition, describing the scoring of honours, is:

If one hand has no trumps (trumps having been declared) his side, in the case of it scoring honours, adds the value of simple honours to its honour score, or, in the case of the other side scoring honours, the value of simple honours is deducted from the latter's score. This is called Chicane.

Chicken Squeeze
This is a colloquial designation and refers to a play strategy by bridge players, who sometimes risk via a line of play not the actual contract, but the more intuitively calculated than mathematical strategy of making that extra, that additional overtrick, which will result in the highest score. Some players reserve this line of strategy for those players, who have that abstract feature of card sense.

Chico Two Diamonds
A simplified version of the Multi Two Diamonds. An opening bid of 2 Diamonds shows either a weak Two-Bid in a major or a strong 20 plus HCPs and 4-4-4-1 distribution.

Chih-Kuang Two Bids or CK2 Bids
The origin of this method is unknown although is has been strongly suggested that the concept originated in Taiwan in the 1950s. Any additional information as to the identity of the author, also photographic material, would be greatly appreciated. These Weak Two Bids are considered in the class of Brown Sticker conventional methods. Such conventional methods are banned by certain national and international sponsoring organizations, sometimes only in the level of competition, and are generally restricted by the sponsoring organization.

Chile - Federacíon Chilena de Bridge (Chile) - Bridge Federation of Chile - (WBF)

Affiliated Clubs are listed here.

Chilli Bidding System
Devised by Mr. Alan Williams. The link will bring the bridge student to the URL of Mr. Alan Williams. In his words: Chilli is an unusual bridge bidding system that places simplicity and universality of rules as its highest priority. Its intention is to shift the focus in practical bidding from memory to evaluation.

In the beginning, in 1997, Mr. Alan Williams, with partner Mr. Michael Booker, began developing The White Club System. Via many paths and external observations and influences both gentlemen completed their assignment and selected the designation of The Chilli Bidding System. The visitor can find additional information under History, which provides points of interest.

Note: Mr. Alan Williams has, as of April 2008, introduced the new version Chilli Bidding System, Version II, a revised system that is a little more artificial than Original, but that is even simpler, and yet functionally improved to meet the main deficiencies of Original Chilli that were identified by my partners and Chilli's small but enthusiastic international following. Mr. Alan Williams has also a Chilli Bidding Blog for discussion.

The following are the words of the developer: The cornerstones of Chilli are its three distinct and well-defined auction types, its universal forcing rules and that jumps show fit or distribution and not strength. The style of the system is constructive, and the priority is to find major suit fits.

I devised the Chilli bidding system in collaboration with my partner Michael Booker, and more recently with my old university pal Geoff Lacey. The first outline of the system, in September 1997, has evolved through many changes to something much more powerful and effective, and yet noticeably simpler.

Chilli is mainly natural. Many common bidding devices simply don't exist in Chilli. There are no transfers, no strength-showing reverses, no game-forcing bids, no fourth suit forcing and no high-level cue bids, for example. Lovers of conventions may be disappointed, but on the other hand, the application of natural bidding is often not as expected if you have been brought up on an orthodox system such as Acol or Standard American, and there are plenty of surprises.

Mr. Alan Williams also discloses the significance of the designation: I realised that the three most common forms of chilli were yellow, red and green, and that these could be used to represent the three auction types. The new name, backed up with some suitably colourful convention cards, was an immediate hit. Amongst other things, we quickly became 'the Peppers' at the club.

Note: Mr. Alan Williams published the book with a Foreword by Mr. Andrew Robson in April 2012 and titled What Can Possibly Go Wrong?: The Syntax, Semantics and Soul of the Chilli Bridge Bidding System. The book was published by Ralentango Books April 2012, ISBN-10: 0957161700/ISBN-13: 978-0957161702.

Chinese Contract Bridge Association - (CBA) - Chinese Contract Bridge Association (WBF)
Founded in 1980.
80 Tian Tan Dong Road
100061 Beijing

Chinese Taipei Contract Bridge Association - (CTCBA) - Chinese Taipei Contract Bridge Association - (WBF)
B1, No. 7, Alley 7, Lane 217, Sec. 3
Zhong-Xiao E. Rd.
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Chinese Finesse
The origin of this finesse technique is unknown. The concept of this particular fake or pseudo finesse is an attempt to win a trick by leading an unsupported honor to the dummy where a higher honor is visibly located. If South is required to avoid a loser in the Heart suit as illustrated below, then the declarer or South, in this example, may / might dismiss the idea of dropping a possible singleton King and attempt the effect of leading the Queen from his/her hand. In this example West might decide to duck the Queen, assuming the Jack-10-9 behind it, thereby providing the declarer with an additional, possibly undeserved trick.

	Dummy
	A4
West		East
K863		J107
	South
	Q952

Note: For the bridge column authored by Mr. Dick Cummings in The Sun-Herald of Australia, date April 6, 1980, this article titled Chinese Finesse has only been preserved and archived on this site as a .jpg.

CHO
This term is a colloquial acronym used to describe the Center Hand Opponent and usually carries a negative reference to one's partner or to partners in general. This designation is in addition to LHO or Left Hand Opponent and to the RHO or Right Hand Opponent.

Choice-of-Games Cuebid
A cuebid asking partner to suggest a strain for game, as opposed to inviting slam.

Choice of Packs and Seats
The winner, or highest card, of the cut for first deal has the choice of which seat he will take and which of the two packs he wishes to deal. Presumably, unless the wrong player deals at some subsequent point, the cards will continue to be dealt by this player and his partner, the other pack by their opponents.

Chronological Order System, The
This is a designation for a bidding system or conventional method listed in the publication The Bridge Player's Bedside Companion, authored by Mr. Albert A. Ostrow, published 1955. During the early evolution of the game of bridge there occurred a proliferation of many such bidding systems. However, many have been forgotten and were discarded for the newest version of another bidding system. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Chuck
Slang: this term means to throw away, as in a number of points or a contract, by means of an error, bad play, inattentiveness during play, etc.

Chukker
A unit of four deals at four-deal bridge played as Chicago. It is also used in a long team match for a group of boards followed by comparison with four-card suits. The term is borrowed from the game of polo.

Chunky
This term is applied to a sequence or semi-sequence of cards, which contains sufficient honors and/or intermediate cards to provide playing strength without regard to the position or assistance from the partner. An example would be: QJ109 or KQJ9.

Churchill Style
In the early, pioneering days of the game of bridge, Mr. Seymour Garton Churchill, aka Church, of Great Neck, New York, United States, advocated and promoted a certain style of bidding in the game of bridge. As an intellectual he joined the bridge community and, as a result, enhanced the game by becoming one of the leading American bridge players, by becoming one of the more outstanding personalities of the game, and by adding his personal touch to the game by introducing his own style of bidding.

Cincinnati Leads
Most of the information contained here is from the book Count Coded Leads, published by Mr. Jerry Fink and Mr. Joe Lutz. The origin of the designation Cincinnati Leads is unknown; otherwise the preferable designation is Count Coded Leads. Some references also designate this carding method as American Leads Convention Cincinnati Style.

Claim or Concession
Statement of intention to win or concede a certain number of tricks, suggesting that further play is unnecessary. The definition is the same for both duplicate and social bridge, but the procedure following a claim or concession is quite different depending upon which form of bridge is played.

Clarac Slam Try
A feature of the Pro System based principally on a 4 Clubs bid to ask about Aces and other controls, in order to attempt slam after the previous auction has indicated the possibility. The name CLARAC is an acronym for CLub Asking, Respond Aces and Controls.

Clash Squeeze
A squeeze in three suits, distinguished by the presence of a special type of long menace called a clash menace, analyzed and named by Chien-Hwa Wang in the Bridge Magazine articles appearing 1956 and 1957.

Clear A Suit
Remove obstacles to a suit's being run. If the contract is No Trump, the Declarer has to clear a suit by forcing out adversely held high cards by continuing to lead that particular suit so that the remaining cards are winners.

Clement Oliver Opening Bids
This opening bids structure was developed by Mr. Bruce Clement and Mrs. Pam Oliver of Wellington, New Zealand.

Clementinklover
This is the Swedish designation for the translated Tangerine Club bidding system by Mr. Jan Eric Larsson.

Clocks
Devices used at tournaments to indicate to the players how much time is left in the round and when the round is ended. Clocks are also used to time pairs at Team events. Since there are penalties for slow play, it is necessary to determine which player or players are responsible for the slow play.

Clone
This bidding system is a mixture between Carrot Club and the Tangerine Club. This is a bridge bidding system based on a weak/strong 1 Club opening, followed by natural sequences, light opening bids of one of a suit containing 9-16 high card points and at least 4 cards in the suit.

Clone Opening Bids
These are the opening bids of the Clone bidding system. The continuances are not presented.

Closed Hand
Declarer's hand. The term dates from Bridge Whist, which introduced the idea of an exposed hand visible to the other players.

Closed Room
In tournament play, a room from which spectators are barred.

Clothesline
An arrangement by which traveling scoreslips can be displayed for study by the players when the recapitulation sheet does not show information beyond the matchpoint score itself.

Cloudberry Club Opening Bids
These opening bids were devised and developed by Mr. Max Odlund from Sweden in the late 1970s. After an opening of 1 Club, a first response of 1 Diamond is considered to be negative, whereas a Major suit response shows at least a 5-card suit. A first response of 2 Clubs is game-forcing if the opening is weak, and slam-forcing if the opening is strong, which the opener must decide and direct to the correct contract.

Club
The place or building, where a group of players meet in order to play the game of bridge. The world bridge community is sub-chaptered in Zones, Districts, and Clubs. Any individual ACBL member or group of ACBL members or non-affiliated organization may apply for a sanction from ACBL to conduct a duplicate game at which masterpoints are awarded, which as a consequence permitting ACBL members and others to compete on a regular basis in their community.

Note: ACBL clubs are not governed by the General Convention Chart; they have the authority to set their own regulations on conventions, and this authority is officially delegated to them by the ACBL. However, if an ACBL club is the site of an official ACBL game such as a Sectional Tournament at Clubs, it is governed by the tournament rules and must allow the convention chart which was announced for the tournament.

Club Appreciation Games
These are special bridge games offered during the month of October at individual and participating bridge clubs. These games offer masterpoint awards calculated at 85% of sectional rating.

Club Bust - Diamond Bust
A colloquialism to describe a holding with a long Club suit, generally a 6-card suit, and insufficient values for game after a No Trump opening by partner. The second designation, a Diamond bust referring to the other Minor, is also a colloquialism used in the bridge community. This particular method, origin unknown, has several variations, which have been included.

Club Championship
Each regularly scheduled weekly game is entitled to four club championship sessions each year. The overall awards for club championship games in open clubs are 65% of sectional rating.

Club Director
ACBL offers any member the opportunity to become an ACBL-rated Club Director in order to run a local club-level sanctioned game and award masterpoints. This title can be achieved through a self-study course or by attending a Club Director course and successfully completing a test.

Club Directors Handbook
This publication by ACBL, reformatted in 2003, is available as study material for members wishing to become ACBL Directors and for club directors to use in directing sanctioned games in individual bridge clubs.

Club Manager's Handbook
Note: This is a .pdf file and will be automatically opened by your browser. This is a publication by ACBL targeted for owners and presidents of sanctioned bridge clubs recommending certain guidelines for a successful bridge club and the requirements necessary in order to remain recognized by ACBL, the governing organization. This Handbook has also been archived and preserved only on this site in .pdf file format for future reference.

Club Game Classifications
There are five general classes of games at clubs:

1.	Open club games, where all players are welcome.
2.	Invitational club games may limit participation to members of a particular organization or to participants invited by the club manager. Guests are often accepted at invitational clubs.
3.	Masterpoint limited club games are for players who are beyond Rookie level but not ready for open competition. These games may have any limitation that is determined to be best for the players in question, such as 49er, 99er, Non-Life Master, etc.
4.	Newcomer club games may operate under different titles such as newplicate, novice, 0-5, 0-20, etc, but participation is limited to persons holding fewer than 20 masterpoints on record with the ACBL.
5.	College or high school club games are special forms of invitational club games restricted to students, faculty members and their spouses.

Club Managers Newsletter
This is a publication and appears three times annually. The purpose of the publication is to provide information to club managers, club owners and club directors and to share tips for success at ACBL clubs.

Clubs
The lowest ranking suit of the four suits in a bridge deck. The term is from the French trefle, but the name also seems to be of Spanish or Italian origin as a translation of basto or bastone.

Club Bridge
See: Chicago

Club Conventions
There are many such conventional bidding systems which use the Club suit for opening the auction. The first known Club convention is the Vanderbilt Club. Other such Club conventions are the One Club System, the Two Club System. Other Club conventions which are applied at higher levels are Two Clubs Strong Artificial Opening, Stayman, Gerber, etc.

Club Master
A member who has at least 20 but fewer than 50 masterpoints recorded by ACBL.

Club Masterpoints
These are points earned at the club level in games with club rating. These are black points and are distributed in fractional amounts. One hundred fractional points equal one masterpoint.

Clubs
Organizations or groups of bridge players who form units acting as centers of interest for players in a particular community.

Clubs-Diamonds-Hearts Buchanan or CDH Buchanan
This is a defense method against a No Trump opening by an opponent. This conventional method was devised by Mr. David F. Buchanan, and was published in Bridge Magazine in January, 1980.

Clubs For Takeout
A variation of Cheaper Minor Takeout. The bid for takeout is always made in Clubs. Even when the preempt is in Clubs, the next higher Club bid shows a hand worth a takeout double.

Club Systems
All strong Club Systems is a set of bidding conventions and agreements employed in the game of contract and duplicate bridge, and is based upon an opening bid of 1 Club as being an artificial, forcing bid promising a strong holding of a minimum of 15-16 high card points. There are several variants of the strong Club system and all variants are classified as artificial because the continuations are generally based on individual agreements rather than on any specific response system. The original strong Club system was the Vanderbilt Club, which was devised in the 1920s by Mr. Harold Sterling Vanderbilt. Several bidding systems employ this approach, especially the Precision Club, Moscito, and also all Blue Club bidding variants.

Terminology has evolved regarding certain parameters and features of such strong Club bidding systems. The following is a representation of several of these designations:

Definitions of one of a Minor openings. Names for 1 Club openings are as follows. Similar names are used for the 1 Diamond openings. See: Orange Book of August 2010.
	Short (or Nebulous) Club: not forcing, possibly on two (or fewer) Clubs.
	Prepared Club: not forcing, guaranteeing at least three Clubs.
	Phoney Club: forcing, possibly on three (or fewer) Clubs.
	Phoney Club: forcing, possibly on three (or fewer) Clubs.
	Either/or Club: forcing showing a strong hand (like a Strong Club) or a weaker hand (such as a weak No Trump or a minimum opening with Clubs).
	Note: Conventional openings: Short, Phoney, Strong, and Either/or Clubs are considered conventional: Prepared Clubs are considered natural (except for alerting).
	Note: Utility Club is only another term for the so-called Phoney Club.
	Note: According to the The Clare (College) Association Annual, 2007-2008, The Phoney Club was published under the pseudonym David Allen as a pseudonym. The real name is: David Allen Marsh-Smith

Coat Cards
The original term in English for the three cards of each suit which represent costumed human figures: the King, the Queen and the Jack. In some countries a fourth coat card, variously the Valet of Courtier, is included in the deck. The term has been superseded by a corruption called Court Cards.

Cobra
Computer Oriented Bridge Analysis is the result of feeding a computer certain elements of the evaluation and distributional factors of card combinations by Mr. Torbjörn Lindelöf.

Cobra Opening Bids
As a base for the entered data into the software application, Mr. E.T. Lindelof used the following opening bids, similar to the Schenken Club opening bids. They establish precise limits for each opening bid but the system was so set up that the software could establish and adjust the point value of a certain holding according to its individual hand evaluation method.

Coded 9s and 10s
Against No Trump contracts, this method of leading can communicate information to your partner. A lead of the 9 spot promises 0 or 2 higher cards, for example from the holding Q1098 or 987. A lead of the 10 spot promises 0 or 2 higher cards, for example from the holding KJ109 or 1098. These leads are generally against a No Trump contract, but can, by partnership agreement, be used against suit contracts.

Coded Raises
The origin of this concept is unknown. The concept states that whenever a Major suit opening by partner is doubled by the immediate opponent, then certain coded raises may be employed per partnership agreement to communicate specific information.

Coded Splinter Bids
This origin of this treatment is unknown but has been mentioned in the publication called Bridge Sense by Mr. Bernie Chazen. The concept is such that the so-called Coded Splinter Bid provides less information to the opponents, although the location of the singleton is later revealed in the ensuing auction.

Code of Discipline Regulations
The ACBL has a Code of Discipline Regulations governing the jurisdiction of any irregularity caused either by the game of by the individual player. ACBL lists all versions since August 2007 and their revisions. In addition the list also includes information for Flow charts and Pamphlets as well as Sample Letters and Disciplinary Committee and Appeals Committee Forms.

Coffeehousing
Slang: making gratuitous statements, often, and highly improperly, with the intention of misleading or confusing the opponents.

Coffin Natural Big Club Opening Bids
Mr. George Sturgis Coffin was born on September 8, 1903 and died March 12, 1994. He was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. He was an American author and also publisher of bridge-related books as well as other games. He was also a co-founder of the American Bridge Teachers Association. The opening bids or his bidding system are presented on this web page.

Cold
Slang. an adjective, which refers to an easily makeable contract. Other terms are a laydown, frigid, icy, lock(ed). or colder than a creek rock, or crick rock.

Cole Convention
The origin of this conventional method is attributed to the suggestion of Mr. William (Bill) Cole to the the Woolsey-Manfield partnership, which consisted of Mr. Christopher R. (Kit) Woolsey and Mr. Edward (Ed) A. Mansfield. Mr. Kit Woolsey published a two-part series on the Cole convention in The Bridge World magazine March 1991, pages 16-18 and April 1991, pages16-20. It is basically a rebidding system permitting the partnership to accurately describe certain distributional holdings plus showing the range of values.

Collante Convention
The origin of this conventional defense method is unknown. This concept if employed mainly by the French bridge players, who employ Majeure cinquiéme, or Five-Card Majors. The designation of sticky, the literal translation of collante, is more a colloquialism. As a feature it is employed only by certain competitive auctions, whereby the negative double is not employed.

Colonial Acol
A version of Acol popular in Canada. Its basic elements were used by all three Canadian pairs in the 1972 World Team Olympiad.

Color
1. a method of referring to suits: Spades and Clubs are the black suits, Hearts and Diamonds are the red suits.
2. Slang: any one of the four suits.

Colorful Cuebid
A direct Cuebid over a major suit opening. For example: 1 Spade - 2 Spades to show a two-suiter in the other color. As in the example, 2 Spades to show the red suits. This cuebid was devised by Dorothy Hayden Truscott.

Colorful Gerber - Colourful Gerber
This variation allows the partnership to convey information about the number of held Aces and also the color of the held Aces.

Colons
A designation used in the game of Bridgette, a form of bridge for two players, devised by Mr. Joli Quentin Kansil. With the standard pack, the colon cards can be made by using two Jokers and the display card that is often included with the deck. The more ornate Joker serves as the Grand Colon, the second Joker as the Royal Colon, and the display card as the Little Colon. An indelible felt pen can be used to ink in colon designs on the three extra cards as follows: All of the colons are designed with two circles placed vertically, similar to the colon used in punctuation. The Grand Colon has both circles filled in plus an A in the center; the Royal Colon has one circle filled in and the other open, like a ring, plus JQK in the center; the Little Colon has both circles open plus 2-10 in the center.

Columbia: Federacion Colombiana de Bridge
La Federacion ha sido creada con el objeto de organizar administrativa y tecnicamente el deporte del Bridge en el territorio nacional, reglamentar su practica y competencias en las diversas ramas y categorías, sea que se trate de campeonatos nacionales, seccionales, municipales, zonales, Interclubes de clubes o de confrontaciones e intercambios amistosos, establecer un codigo de faltas deportivas y disciplinarias y de las sanciones correspondientes, participar en competencias o eventos deportivos internacionales.

Combinations
The idea of a combination is elemental to bridge calculations. Examples where this conception is applied is in calculating the probability of a specified hand pattern or the division of a suit among the four players.

Combination Count
The Combination Count was devised in England, and was developed by bridge players over time. This method uses lengths and shortages immediately. Using the Karpin Count, Karpin length points are supplemented by 2 for a Void and 1 for a Singleton. This treatment applies to both the opener and the responder in all situations and stages of the auction.

Combination Finesse
1. a finesse against more than one card;
2. a simple finesse preliminary to another finesse in the same suit.

Combination Shot
Slang: a line of play or defense that offers more than one possible way to succeed.

Come Down To
This phrase is used when keeping the last remaining cards, generally two or more, as in the phrase: It comes down to one trick for you and one trick for me.

Come-On Signal
A defensive card-play signal encouraging partner to lead or continue leading a particular suit. The usual come-on is a High-Low signal, also called an Echo, and in England it is called a Peter. An alternative is the Upside-Down signal.

Comfy Canape
The origin of this competitive defense method is unknown. The concept is employed when the opposing side opens the auction with a bid of 1 No Trump. The designation for this defense method is sometimes also written as CoCa, and is so named owing to the canapé structure of the double / 2 Clubs bids with a rebid in another suit promising a longer suit.

Comic No Trump Overcall
An overcall of 1 No Trump to show a weak hand with a long suit. The responder bids 2 Clubs to locate the suit. See also Gardener No Trump Overcall. If the overcall is always weak, the French refer to it as the Sans Atout Comique.

Command Bid
A term suggested by George Rosenkranz to describe a bid that commands partner to make a specific response. The alternative term to describe this action is Puppet Bid.

Commandments for Bridge Players
This is rather a personal and humorous list of Shalls and Shall Nots. It is not supposed to be taken seriously but in the spirit, in which it is presented:

1.	When thy partner makes a mistake, thou shalt not kill !
2.	Thou shalt not call a misdeal just because thou hast been dealt no picture cards.
3.	Thou shalt not covet thy opponent's Aces, nor their Kings, nor their success at 7 No Trump, doubled and redoubled.

If any visitor would like to add to this list, please feel free to do so.

Commit To
1. A phrase meaning to drive to or force to, for example a given bidding level;
2. A phrase meaning to decide on, for example an overall course of action in the bidding process.

Common Room Bidding Conventions
This is a summary of bidding conventions devised by Mr. D. Goldberg, Mr. M. Devos, and Mr. A. Banner in the year 2001. As self-described at the presently off line extension for personal bridge players / students at Princeton University while active it is an incomplete work still in progress. This information has also only been preserved and archived on this site in .pdf file format for future reference.

Common Sense System
See: Crane System

Common Sense Defense
This article, written by Marinesa Letizia, in the Bridge Bulletin published November 1997, presents a common sense and logical defense alternative to those situations, where the 1 No Trump opening has been overcalled and there is interference.

Communication Between Partners
The act of conveying information within a partnership. It is a breach of ethics when information is conveyed intentionally by a remark, gesture or mannerism.

Communication Play
A play intended to preserve or establish communication, or transfer the lead, between partnership hands to make it possible at a strategic time to lead from a certain hand. It refers also to a play which is intended to disrupt or destroy such means of communication between the opponents.

Communications
The ability to transfer the lead from one hand to the opposite hand.

Compact Knockout Teams or Compact KO Teams
This is a designation to describe a two-session bracketed KO designed to be completed in one day. The can be a gold-point event bit is limited to four-person teams. The format of Compact Knockouts are twelve (12) board rounds, two (2) per session. It a team loses the first round, then this team plays another team that lost either for match awards or as the beginning of a consolation. Whether there is a consolation or not depends on the number of entries and what the result is. If the team loses the second match, this team is out, whether the team is in the real event or the consolation. If the team wins the second match, the team continues (advances) to the next session. If the team loses the first match of the second session, this team plays the other team that lost.

Comparing Scores
Discussion of results already achieved by contestants in a duplicate competition. Making such comparisons with other contestants playing the same board in tournament play before the session’s play has been completed has long been held to be unethical. Since 1963, these comparisons have been declared illegal, and the director is authorized to assess penalties for such actions.

Comparisons
At duplicate bridge, comparisons are made between pairs or players who have played a board in the same direction, and consequently under similar conditions of dealer, vulnerability, and holding.

Compass Points or Directions
In discussing bridge hands, columnists describe the four players by using the points of the compass to distinguish the players.

Compensation
A method of playing a one-table game with the luck of the deal virtually eliminated. It was devised in Kharkov in the Ukraine and was developed by players in Moscow. After analyzing thousands of deals with the aid of the computer, they calculated the scoring expectation with a given number of high card points in the partnership hands. This established a table so that players can measure at the end of a deal whether they have met, fallen short, or surpassed expectations.

Their table is: 20 point, 0: 21, 50; 22, 70; 23, 23, 110. For higher point counts the expectation varies with vulnerability: 24 points, 200 not vulnerable, 290 vulnerable; 25, 399, 440; 26, 350, 520; 27, 400, 630; 28, 430, 630; 29, 460, 660; 30 490,690; 31, 600, 900; 32, 700, 1050; 33, 900, 1350; 34, 1000, 1500; 35, 1100, 1650; 36 1200, 1800; 37+, 1300, 1950.

An example of how this scoring compensation table works is if a vulnerable partnership that bids and makes a contract of 3 No Trump for 600 with 24 points collects 600 minus 290, which equals 310.

Competition
1. any duplicate bridge contest;
2. a bidding situation in which both sides are active.

Competitive Auction or Bidding
1. an auction in which both sides are attempting to name the contract;
2. bidding from the point of view of the opening side when the other side enters the auction.

Competitive Double
1. a double showing general values rather than directly suggesting either takeout or penalty;
2. a double in a competitive auction which invites partner to bid game but gives him the option of signing off in a partscore or passing for penalties.

Complementary Scores
When two contestants play against each other in a matchpoint contest, their combined matchpoint scores add up to the matchpoint top available on that board, and the two scores are complements of each other.

Compound Guard Squeeze
A squeeze in three suits, in which two suits are stopped by both opponents and third suit holding requires a defender to retain certain cards to prevent declarer from taking a winning finesse.

Compound Squeeze
A preparatory triple squeeze, followed by a double squeeze, analyzed by Clyde E. Love. This ending requires two double menaces, guarded by both opponents, and a one-card menace. The one-card menace must be placed to the left of the opponent threatened.

Compound Trump Guard Squeeze
This is a Compound Guard Squeeze with a trump element.

Compound Trump Squeeze
A Compound squeeze in which at least one opponent is subject to a trump squeeze.

Computer Bridge
The Internet has brought the game of bridge into the house. Offered is a list of several options for the interested bridge player, who would like to stay at home and play against the software.

Computer Bridge on the Internet - World Computer Bridge Championships
In the evolution of the game of bridge it was early foreseen as inevitable that the created digital and technological devices would play a large part in the advancement and promotion of the game. Through this medium bridge players from around the globe have been able to participate in online games without having to physically be in the same location.

It was also in the early stages of the development of computers that developers thought it might be possible that two digital devices would and indeed should compete with each other in order to define and refine the code for probabilities of the possible combinations of 52 cards shared by four players. Thus was born the idea and its realization in the inaugural year 1997.

Note: The official website for all bridge playing robots for the American Contract Bridge League and the World Bridge Federation is online and operated / moderated by Mr. Alvin Levy. He has recorded all information and results of the Computer Bridge Championships since the very first Championship sponsored by Baron Barclay Bridge Supplies, which was conducted in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, at the 1997 Summer North American Bridge Championship. This very first tournament was organized by Mr. Alvin Levy.

Computer Bridge Championship Trophy - An image of the trophy as presented to the winner by ACBL and WBF.

Story of Jeremy Claptrap or Hoogli Bridge Player - On 10 April 2001, Jeremy Claptrap joined the family of computer bridge programmers by sending an email. This is an interesting story about a supposed entrant, who might have been real, but there is evidence that Jeremy Claptrap is an impostor, and most likely a virtual character.

Response of Developer of Hoogli and Closure - Authored by Mr. Matthew Ginsberg in response to GIB being disqualified. Although unsubstantiated the name of Jeremy Claptrap was an established pseudonym used by Albert Hodges Morehead in the 1930s.

New York Times Report by Mr. Alan Truscott - The bridge columnist for The New York Times authored the article Some Sophisticated Bidding by Jack, a Dutch Computer Program August 2, 2004.

Correction of the New York Times Report by Mr. Al Levy - A correction was made for the article of Mr. Alan Truscott's bridge column by Mr. Al Levy, which reported the result incorrectly.

Computer Hands
Computer-generated hands were first used at the Eastern States Regional Tournament in 1963. This is largely owing to the efforts of Mr. Martin Scheinberg. Since then, it has become common practice to have computer-generated hands at many bridge tournaments. Included in the realm of the computer are the many offered computer bridge software programs which allow the user to play at his/her computer. There are presently many varieties of online Internet Web sites will allow the user to play bridge live with many other bridge players from around the world. The computer has also been programmed to complete the scoring of almost all bridge tournaments. With the aid of the computer, the game of bridge has made giant steps in creating a medium which assists the organizers of bridge events immensely and effectively.

Computer Dealt Hands
This is an article by Mr. Paul Linxwiler, who explains the process of computer-generated hands. He describes that, in fact, only two people at ACBL are even permitted to see the hand records. One is the person whose job it is to set up the computer to generate the hand records. The other is the print shop manager who cuts, wraps and labels the hand-record packages and that neither is a bridge player. The hand records are then sealed and shipped to the ACBL warehouse. When needed, they are mailed to the tournament official who orders them. No one at ACBL ever manipulates the deals.

Computer Scoring
Since the introduction of the computer, the scoring of any bridge event has become an easier task and has replaced the manual scoring by hand records. Mathematicians and computer software programmers in the early 1960s combined their efforts and the result was a software program, which could achieve in minutes what used to take days or even weeks, depending on the number of bridge participants and the manner of the bridge movement. This is especially true of larger tournaments. Computer scoring made its first debut at the Worlds Pairs Championships held in Cannes, France, in 1962 under the guidance and initiative of Mr. Baron Robert de Nexon, who was President of the French Bridge Federation, the European Bridge League and the World Bridge Federation.

Concede
To give some or all of the remaining tricks to the opponents without contest.

Concept Preempts or Concept Preemptive Opening Bids
The origin of these conventional preemptive bids is unknown. Presented are the basic guidelines for such opening bids on the two level, except an opening of the strong, artificial 2 Clubs opening, which is strong without exception.

Condone
An act after an irregularity without requiring any penalty, thus forfeiting the right to penalize.

Conduct
It is always nice to make a good impression on your fellow bridge players. We should always try to be friendly and courteous.

Conglomerate Major Raise
This extension of the Swiss convention was designed to allow the responder to make a forcing raise of a Major suit opening, showing either a singleton, above average high card strength, above average trump support, and/or general strength.

Congress
An organized competitive duplicate bridge event, which has been sponsored, publicized, promoted, organized, and directed to completion, meaning that a winner has been determined after the scoring has been totaled. During the earlier days of Whist and Auction Bridge, such an event was referred to as a Congress. Today such a competition is referred to as a Tournament.

Consolation Pairs
Some multi-session pair games have qualifying sessions instead of being play-through. A certain number of pairs in each group qualify to play in the final session or sessions. Usually a special game for non-qualifiers is run alongside the final. This game, a regular pair game as far as movement and scoring are concerned, is called a consolation.

Constructive
A description applied to a bid that suggests game prospects but is not forcing. The partner will take further action more often than not.

Constructive Bidding
Auctions in which one side attempts to locate the best contract without interference from the opponents.

Constructive Free Bid or CBF
The origin of this designation is unknown. The concept is that after an overcall below 3NT, a new suit bid by the responder below game is non-forcing but constructive, about 6 to 12 high card points at the one level, about 8 to 12 high card points at the two level, about 10 to 13 high card points at the three level, and about 11 to 14 high card points at the four level. The Constructive Free Bid is not the same as or identical to the Negative Free Bid played by some partnerships whereby the hand can be quite weak. To the contrary, a Constructive Free Bids does show values but insufficient values to force opposite an opener, who could have opened with rather light values, for example in third seat. The responder can have fewer points than is needed if holding a good long suit with playing value.

Constructive Raise
The immediate single raise of a Major suit opening to show more than normal strength, or, sometimes, maximum values for a normal single raise. Instead of, what has generally become standard, interpreting the single raise as having a range from 6 to 9 points, the Constructive Raise is limited to 8 to 10 points. To show weaker values, the general consensus is for the partnership to agree to employ other conventional methods, such as the 1 No Trump Forcing Convention and then show the weaker values with the second response. This method is not employed if the opening is a Minor suit.

Consultation
This practice between partners regarding a penalty is forbidden under Law 10C2 of the Laws of Duplicate, and any such discussion cancels the right to penalize.

Content
A highly improper form of the call pass.

Contestant
A contestant is one of more players competing for a combined score. This pertains to individual players, pairs, and as a team of four or more, changing partners among their own teammates.

Contested Auction
Competitive bidding, meaning an overcall.

Continuous Pairs
The Continuous Pairs game is always a multi-session event. Each session is a regular pair game, and awards are given for each individual session. In addition, there are overall awards for those who perform best during the various sessions. Each individual receives credit for his best two scores, and the overall ranking is done from these figures. Each player may play with as many different partners as there are sessions since the overall standings are determined on an individual basis. Continuous Pairs must consist of three or more sessions. At North American Championships, session awards are paid in reds, but overall awards incorporating the scores from all sessions are paid in gold points. Masterpoint awards are based on the formula for a two-session open event.

Contract
1. a bet that a certain number of tricks will be taken;
2. to make such a bet.

Contract Bridge Association of Ireland (off line) - Contract Bridge Association of Ireland (WBF)
Also known as the CBAI. The Contract Bridge Association was founded in 1932. It is the official regulator for the recognized game of Contract Duplicate Bridge in this part of the island. As such, any changes to the worldwide rules are passed to us and then to our members. The CBAI structure divides the country into twelve geographical Regions. The CBAI Regions are: North Eastern, South Midland, Dublin North, Western, Northern, South Munster, Dublin South, North Western, North Midland, North Munster, South Eastern, Eastern.

Contract Bridge
1. Bridge in which only tricks bid for and made count towards game, as opposed to auction bridge, an earlier form, in which all tricks made, bid for or not, count towards game;
2. Bridge as usually played since the 1930's, when auction bridge began to die out. Contract Bridge was invented in 1925.
3. The fourth type of game in the succession of partnership cards games. The first was Whist, the second was Bridge Whist, the third was Auction Bridge.

Contracting
A term which signifies the act of agreeing to take a certain number of tricks in a deal of bridge.

Contracting Side
The contracting side is the declarer and his partner. The opponents are the defending side.

Contract Whist
A cross between Whist and Contract Bridge. The four players bid in turn for the contract, but the play is that of whist, with all four hands concealed. The principles of the game were set forth in Contract Whist by Hubert Phillips, published in 1932.

Control
1. ability to prevent the opponents from winning immediate tricks in a suit such as first-round control is an Ace or Void, and second-round control is a King or singleton;
2. command of the play at a trump contract;
3. a unit of evaluation in which Aces count two and Kings count one. For example, a hand with two Aces and one King has five controls.
4. stopper.

Control Bid
1. Any bid that indicates a control in a specific suit, generally employed when attempting slam;
2. the act of making a bid satisfactory.

Controlled Psychic
A psychic call between two partners supported by an agreement about how it can be revealed later.

Control Maintenance
This is a strategy with the goal of preventing a defender from gaining the mastery of a certain suit.

Controls

First-round control is an Ace or a void in a trump contract.

Second-round control is a King or a singleton in a trump contract.

Third-round control is a Queen or a doubleton in a trump contract.

These controls can be revealed or disclosed during the auction by means of asking bids or cuebids.

2. Specifically, controls are Aces and Kings. In the standard counting system, an Ace is counted as 2 controls, and a King is counted as 1 control.

Control-Showing Matrix
This is a feature of the Blue Team Club bidding system and of the Ultimate Club bidding system. It is generally initiated after a strong, artificial 1 Club opening by one partner. The object of the responder is to show first the number of controls held instead of the shape of the holding. The controls are considered to be Aces, Kings and Queens. However, the following considerations are to be integrated in counting the number of controls:

1.	Jacks are not counted, but 3 Jacks may be converted into 1 Queen in balanced hands.
2.	An isolated (no controls) Q-Q-Q is equal to an Ace
3.	An isolated Q-Q is equal to a King.
4.	Treat 4 Queens with at least one control as A-Q
5.	Treat 4 Queens in isolation as A-A.
6.	In a distributional freak (11+ cards in two suits), do not count singleton honors less than an Ace.

For additional information about this particular bidding system feature, review the .pdf files especially for the 1 Club opening employed in the Ultimate Club bidding system.

Control Showing Responses
This conventional method is a derivation of several bidding systems developed and defined by bridge experts from Italy. The intention is to immediately show with the first response the number of Aces and Kings contained in the hand of the responder. This particular conventional method is sometimes referred to as step responses.

Control System, The
This is the designation given to the bidding system presented in the publication titled The Control System: Contract Bridge, authored by Mr. Harry L. Levy in the year 1932, and published by the Weiss Printing Company in San Francisco, California, United States, Library of Congress code is LC: 32035630. Additional information is not available and any such information would be greatly appreciated.

Convention
An understanding between partners that would not ordinarily be understood by the opponents in the absence of an explanation. A convention, in contrast to a treatment, is a bid that gives or requests information unrelated to the denomination named. A convention is also a call or play with a defined meaning, which may be artificial. The oldest convention is the fourth-best lead, which dates back to Hoyle in 1740. The oldest bidding convention is the Takeout Double conceived in 1912, but which has undergone several changes.

Note: Other definitions of the noun convention have been expressed and worded. One example is the explanation / definition of an anonymous English writer as found in the publication Complete Auction Bridge for 1922, written by Mr. Bryant McCampbell, which is excerpted here:

Rules in bridge which have emerged by degrees from the welter of all sorts of conflicting ideas, in the course of which the pros and cons of each of them have been anxiously considered and warmly debated by persons best qualified to judge their merits.

Convention Chart - 2000
This is a write-up for instructions on how to complete the Convention Chart as issued by the American Contract Bridge League as of the year 2000. This write-up is presented only for the purposes of historical reasons.

See also: Convention Card Instructions
Links to a printable text file explaining how to fill out a Convention Card. Also a link to acbl.org which presents the 24 .pdf files published in the Bridge Bulletin beginning August 2004, explaining and illustrating how a Convention Card may be filled out.

Limited Convention Chart - This Convention Chart may be used in games with an upper limit of 20 or fewer masterpoints. Club management shall determine the conventions permitted in club games with an upper limit of 20 or fewer masterpoints. The sponsoring organization of local and higher rated tournaments may determine the conventions permitted in games with an upper limit of 20 or fewer masterpoints.

General Convention Chart - The conventions listed on this General Convention Chart must be allowed in all ACBL sanctioned tournament play (other than in events with an upper restriction of 20 or fewer masterpoints and events for which the ACBL conditions of contest state otherwise) and at club-level events with multiple-site overall masterpoint awards. However, clubs have full authority to regulate conventions in games conducted solely at their clubs.

Mid-Chart - This chart applies to:

All NABC+ events with no upper masterpoint restrictions played at an NABC.

All unrestricted Flight A regionally rated events at an NABC.

Any bracket of a bracketed KO at an NABC which contains no team with a bracket designator (average masterpoints of the entire team or top two players) of less than 1000 points.

This chart (or any part) may apply to any sectionally or regionally rated event or tournament at sponsor's option provided that this has been included in tournament advertising. (The requirement for advertising does not extend to use in Flt. A or high brackets of KOs.)

When using a method permitted by the Mid-Chart but not by the General Convention Chart a pair is required to:

1. Pre-Alert the method(s)

2. Have a written description of the method(s) available for the opponents.

3. Except for those methods authorized by sections below with an asterisk (numbers 2, 3 and 9 under ALLOWED), have a copy of the approved suggested defense available for opponents. Approved defenses are available in the ACBL defense database at www.acbl.org.

A defense to a method which requires the above pre-Alert may be referred to during the auction by both pairs. To get a defense approved, a complete written explanation of the method and a complete written defense must be submitted to ACBL in 6575 Windchase Blvd., Horn Lake, Mississippi, United States,38637-1523, attention Chief Tournament Director.

In addition, a method may be approved experimentally for Mid-Chart events. In order to have a method approved experimentally, a complete description and suggested defense must be submitted to ACBL, attention Chief Tournament Director, as above.

Super Chart - This chart applies to all NABC+ events with no upper masterpoint limit played at an NABC in which contestants play segments (no change of opponents) of 12 or more boards. This chart (or any part) may be used at a sectionally or regionally rated event or tournament at sponsor's option in any event with 12-board or longer segments provided this has been included in tournament advertising.

Pre-Alerts are required for all conventional methods not permitted on the ACBL General Convention Chart. Description of, and suggested defenses to, such methods must be made in writing. A defense to a method which requires the above pre-Alert may be referred to during the auction by opponents of the convention user.

For NABC+ events in which this chart is permitted, pairs playing SuperChart methods must furnish the above descriptions of their methods to the Director-in-Charge of the event the day prior to the session in which they choose to play them.

Convention Card Collection - Work in Progress
This is a list of bridge players, pairs and teams, who have graciously offered and posted their completed Convention Cards to the Internet. These have only been archived here on this site. The appropriate URLs change often and therefore these Convention Cards are only archived for future reference on this site and for the interest of other bridge players. We thank the individual Webmasters for presenting this information and also the bridge players for allowing their Convention Cards to be placed and presented on the Internet. They are written in a .pdf file format, and, depending on your browser, will either be automatically opened by your browser or automatically downloaded to your computer and opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Convention Cards
The ACBL website offers the bridge player various methods of printing a convention card and even filling out a convention card online. The visitor can choose from the general ACBL convention card, the ACBL fat free convention card, and also the Standard American Yellow Card (SAYC).

Convention Card Instructions & How To Complete Your Convention Card
These articles appeared in the Bridge Bulletin beginning in August 2004 in consecutive and monthly order and provide instructions to the beginning bridge player as to how to complete and fill out a Convention Card, which is required at a certain level of tournament level. For the original articles please visit acbl.com by clicking on the above link. These articles were originally authored by Mr. David Lindop.

Convention Charts
In contrast to an individual convention card, each ACBL game is governed by a specific convention chart which states the conventional agreements allowed. There is a Limited Chart, a Mid-Chart, a General Chart, and a Super-Chart. Any deviation from these prescribed convention charts requires the review by and permission from the sponsoring organization.

Conventional Methods After 1 No Trump Overcall
When the opening bid is 1 No Trump by partner, followed immediately by an overcall by the competing opponent, the partnership must have a defense method against such defense methods. The attempt is made to list such defense methods as guidelines for any continuances.

Conversation
Conversation is carried on at the bridge table in the language of the bidding and the play of cards. Any other conversation during the bidding or play of the hand is either distracting, and therefore discourteous, revealing, and therefore improper and even illegal, or misleading.

Convertible Bids
In certain bidding sequences one partner requests partner to pass or bid differently based on the holding. Such bids are sometimes features of and dependent on multi-purpose bids and/or openings. One partner, generally the responder, is requested to either pass with support or the other partner, who initiated the multi-purpose bid and/or opening, corrects to the intended suit. Such Pass or Correct bids are features of the Multi 2 Diamonds system, the Crash convention, and other. They are not to be confused with Preference Bids. See also: Paradox Responses and Pass or Correct Bids.

Coombs Gambit
Devised by Mr. Norman Coombs. This is a defense device against an Artificial Club and Artificial Diamonds opening. The specifics are unknown at this time.

Cooperative Double
A double that asks partner to judge whether it is better to pass or bid.

Cooperative Runouts After 1 No Trump is Doubled
This is a treatment, most likely devised and summarized by Mr. Jeff Goldsmith, to confront a certain bidding sequence.

Cooper Echo
The Cooper Echo was devised by Mr. Peter Cooper of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The concept behind the Cooper Echo is, simply stated, information passed to the partner of the declarer, or the dummy, that the contract will be made. This is the only information passed by the declarer, perhaps for the reason of assuring the partner that the contract will make. The Cooper Echo does not automatically establish a claim in any form by the declarer of a certain number of tricks and/or overtricks.

Cooper 2 Clubs Response System
Contributed by Mr. Ted Cooper in email messages illustrating his response method to a strong, artificial 2 Clubs opening bid.

Cooper Major Suit Response Method
This information has been contributed by Mr. Ted Cooper to this site via an email message dated September 10, 2016. The information was presented in a .jpg file format and is therefore a photograph. The interested bridge player can view the photograph, but a manual enlargement will be necessary. The photograph is presented without alteration.

Copenhagen Convention
This conventional method was originated by Mr. John Trelde and Mr. Gert Lenk, both of Copenhagen, Denmark. The concept is a system of jump overcalls, which promises a two-suited holding after the auction has been opened by an opponent in a suit on the one level.

Corn Cairdis Trophy
This trophy is awarded to either England or the Republic of Ireland in their annual friendly bridge match. The translation of the phrase Corn Cairdis is Cup of Friendship.

Correct
Adjust the contract to a different strain, having been offered a choice by partner. For example: Correcting is often equivalent to taking a preference between two indicated suits, as in the partnership sequence 1 Spade - 1 No Trump - 2 Diamonds. Correct is often used instead of prefer when the choice is offered implicitly rather than explicitly. For example, if opener bids 2 Diamonds, showing a Weak Two bid in either Spade or Hearts, a response of 2 Hearts asks opener to pass with Hearts or to correct to Spades.

Correction Period
This is the time specified by the sponsoring organization during which corrections to the score may be sought in a sanctioned event. After this period has elapsed, then no changes may occur.

Costa Rica: Asociacion Nacional de Bridge
The Asociación Recreativa Nacional de Bridge (ARNB) de Costa Rica is a non-profit association whose principal objectives are the development of Bridge in Costa Rica and its effective administration, equally from the point of view of a recreational activity as well as its competitive sporting aspect.

The ARNB is officially recognized by the World Bridge Federation (WBF) and also by Zone 5 of the WBF, the Central American and Caribbean Bridge Federation (CACBF). In both cases, it is recognized as the National Bridge Organization (NBO) for Costa Rica. This means the ARNB has the responsibility for duplicate games that have international sanction and for selecting players to represent Costa Rica in zonal and international competition.

Count
1. the number of cards held in each suit by an opponent;
2. to determine such numbers;
3. to add the number of possible or probable tricks, of winners, or losers.

Counter Trial - Short Suit Trials - Long Suit Trial and Short Suit Trial Combined - Long Suit Trials - Help Suit Game Try - Weak Suit Game Try
All designations refer to the same concept and conventional method, regardless of whether each explanation varies from another. As with some partnership agreements, one partner can show a hand willing to accept an invitation to game by bidding any other suit. This action is referred to as a Weak Suit Game Try. All of the above designations apply for this particular concept. This action can be used, for instance, when employing Reverse Drury or Limit Raises.

Counting Cards
It is each player’s responsibility to determine that the hand he is about to play contains exactly 13 cards. This determination should be made before he looks at the face of any card.

Counting The Hand
To deduce the distribution of the hidden hands from information gained during the bidding and early stages of play.

Count Signal (Length Signal)
1. a defensive signal to show whether a defender holds an even or odd number of cards in a suit;
2. a defensive signal to show exactly how many cards a defender holds in a suit.

Also known as: Count Discards
The concept is that when a player plays a high-low in a suit, this action shows an even number and playing low-high in a suit shows an odd number of cards.

Count Squeeze
A squeeze that operates on a player who does not guard a crucial suit in such a way as to give declarer a count of the suit, allowing him to drop an honor offside instead of taking a losing finesse.

Counting The Cards
Counting the cards is essential in playing bridge. It is the obligation of every player to determine that his hand contains 13 cards. Although there is no Law which states that each player must count the number of cards before looking at the face of the cards, Law 13 states that when the director determines that one or more pockets of the board contained an incorrect number of cards, if a player with an incorrect hand has made a call, the director shall award an artificial adjusted score, and may penalize an offender. If three hands are correct and only one hand is deficient, Law 14 applies. Under Law 13, if no such call has been made, then Laws 13A1, 13A2, and 13A3 apply.

Counting the Hand
Counting the hand is the simple act of deducing the distribution of the hidden hands from information gained during the auction and the beginning stages of the play itself. It is self-evident to bridge players that gaining this information as to the count of the hands, especially of the individual suits, of the opponents, and of the declarer, is sometimes crucial in making the contract. Since every hand contains 13 cards, it is only a matter of counting which constitutes the knowledge of how the cards of each suit are distributed among the hidden hands.

Coup
The definition of a coup in the game of bridge as a strategic tactic is defined as follows:

1.	a master stroke.
2.	the shortening of one's trumps to enable picking up an onside minor tenace in trumps without a card to lead for a finesse.
3.	more generally, any trump-shortening process aimed at creating a particular end-position.
4.	a special play maneuver by the declarer.
5.	to capture without loss or to reduce the trick-taking power of an opponent's trump holding by any combination of trump reduction and/or arranging effectively to lead a plain-suit card through that opponent in an ending.

Coup
A coup can be defined, relating to the game of bridge, as a master stroke, the shortening of your trumps to enable picking up an onside Minor tenace in trumps without a card to lead for a finesse, or a special maneuver by the declarer.

Coup en Passant
A coup en passant is the lead of a plain suit card to promote a low trump card behind a higher trump card to a winning position. It describes an action taken by the declarer to promote a trump card of lesser value than the trump card held by a defender.

Coup Without A Name
See: Scissors Coup.

Court Cards
Kings, Queens, and Jacks.

Courtesy Bid
A bid made with a relatively weak holding to keep the auction open for partner. This courtesy bid is generally made when the opening bid is 1 Club, and the responder is short in Clubs and has very little values. Sometimes called a Waiting Bid.

Cover
To play a higher card than one previously played to the same trick, usually applied when a higher card is played directly over an opponent's play.

Cover an Honor with an Honor
A guideline of play stemming from Whist, an earlier game similar to Bridge, that is sometimes, but by no means always sound, meaning that, if possible, one should play a higher honor than one played by right hand opponent.

Cover Cards
Values, usually honors, that are likely or certain to correspond to losers partner has counted in the losing trick count.

Covering Honors
When an honor is led and the next player follows with a higher honor, this is termed covering an honor with an honor. In general, it is correct for the second player to the trick to cover an honor in order to eventually establish a trick for himself or for his partner. However, if it has been determined that the lead of an honor is from a sequence, it is better to duck covering with an honor until the last of the sequentials is led. This procedure is also important if the suit has been blocked, and there is no other transportation possibility to cross over to take the remaining winning tricks, which then become worthless.

Cowan Cup, The
This is a competition conducted by the Scottish Bridge Union, East District. The winners of The Cowan Cup participate in the Carlton Bridge Club Invitation Pairs Championship, and are presented The Cowan Cup by Mrs. Jack Cowan for annual competition. The first tournament was conducted in the year 1938. The Cowan Cup is the East District Pairs Championship.

Crab
A colloquial term to describe any 3 of a suit, such as the 3 of Clubs / Diamonds / Hearts / Spades.

Crack
1. Slang: an expert player, partnership, or team.
2. As a verb: 1. to obtain bad results after a period of success; 2. to double; 3. to open a new suit during the play of the hand.

Cramped
A slang designation to signify auctions, in which the amount of bidding space has become limited, thereby making it more difficult to maintain a line of communication and to exchange information.

Cranberry Club Opening Bids
These opening bids constitute a simplified version of the Tangerine Club system and was developed by Mr. Jan Eric Larsson of Sweden, who developed the Tangerine Club system. Only the opening bids are shown.

Crane - Barry Crane System Notes
These Notes on the bidding system and bridge strategy of Mr. Barry Crane have been compiled by Kerri Sanborn, a longtime bridge partner of Mr. Barry Crane, and contributed to this site by Mr. Marvin French of San Diego, California, to whom we are indebted for its preservation and presentation on the Internet. The file is a .pdf file, which will automatically be opened by your browser without being downloaded automatically to your computer.

Crane - Barry Crane and The Eleven Commandments
Throughout his career as an expert bridge player the famous and sometimes infamous Mr. Barry Crane became known by several several distinct monikers such as The Pope and The Hideous Hog. Mr. Vince Remey has written and posted to the Internet a remembrance of his association with Mr. Barry Crane, which is no longer active. A .pdf file of this article is preserved on this site for future reference.

Crane Bidding System
Mr. Joshua Crane devised, developed, and promoted this bidding system, which was a system created in the early stages of the evolution of the game of bridge. He was an all-round talent in the sports world. He was proficient as a racquet ball player, riding horses / ponies playing the game of polo, sufficiently talented on the tennis court, a tried and true yachtsman, and also an expert player at the new game of duplicate bridge, which had evolved from auction bridge.

Crash
1. Slang: bump.
2. All uppercase acronym for Color, Rank And SHape, an artificial defense to show two-suited hands against Big-Club openings. Double shows black or red suits; One Diamond shows either Major or Minor suits; 1 No Trump shows round or pointed suits. This method was devised by Mr. Kit Woolsey and Mr. Steve Robinson. The original published articles describing the Crash method appeared in The Bridge Magazine in March 1976, March 1983, and August 1986.

Crash Over One No Trump - Crash over 1 NT
The Crash convention was devised by Mr. Christopher (Kit) Woolsey and Mr. Steve Robinson, and was originally devised as a means to enter the auction with weak two-suited holdings after an artificial 1 Club opening by the opponents. However, it was soon discovered that a slightly altered version could easily be employed against a No Trump opening by the opponents. This conventional defense method is generally used against a No Trump range of 15-17 high card points. As with the original conventional method the designation of Crash is a formation of color, rank, shape. The overcalls are intended to communicate at least one of these features.

Crash Defense Method Variant Over 1 No Trump
This modified version of the Crash conventional method employed following a 1 No Trump opening by an opponent was devised and developed by Mr. Robert Scaramuzzi. The developer indeed presents two modified versions of the original concept.

Altered Crash Convention - Version Roberto Scaramuzzi
This variation of the Crash conventional method, also designated as Altered Crash, is attributed to Mr. Roberto Scaramuzzi, of Los Angeles, California, United States, (Department of Mathematics, Louisiana State University). This information was uploaded to a chat board on February 1, 1995. This version of the Crash conventional method has been altered to defend against a strong, artificial 1 Club opening bid.

Crash Convention - Three Suited Version
The idea behind the Three-Suited Version of the Crash conventional method adds the possibility that the overcaller, or intervenor, to show a three-suited hand for competing against a strong, artificial 1 Club opening.

Crash Convention - Transfer Version
The idea behind the Transfer Version of the Crash conventional method is to make certain that the overcaller, or intervenor, with the stronger holding become the declarer as opposed to the advancer.

Extended Crash
The origin of this variation is unknown. This variation of the Crash conventional method is also designated as Original CRO, for Color, Rank, and Odd. It is similar to the original Crash conventional defense method, but it includes the bid of 2 No Trump to show a specific Minor and a specific Major suit.

Note: Other variations of the basic concept are named, perhaps colloquially, Kosher and Shaker. Any additional information about the origin or make-up of these variations would be greatly appreciated.

Modified Crash Convention
This version of the Crash conventional method was employed and popular in England. The version is employed in combination with the TWERB convention method, which is an acronym for Two-Way Exclusion Relay Bidding.

Super Crash Convention
The first publication of the Super Crash conventional method appeared in the August 1986 issue of the Bridge World magazine, authored by Mr. W. D. Bennion. The developer of this variation of the Crash conventional method is Mr. Charles Galloway. This variation of the original Crash conventional method is devised to show either a one-suited holding, a two-suited holding, or a three-suited holding after the opponents begin the auction with a strong, artificial 1 Club opening. This version adheres to the original version as developed and devised by Mr. Kit Woolsey and Mr. Steve Robinson, but adds two additional bids.

Crashing Honors
The deceptive play of a suit by the declarer resulting in the defense wasting two high honors on one trick.

Cracow System, The
This bidding system was very popular in the southern city of Cracow, Poland, during the 1980s. Among its adherents were Mr. Kwiecien, Mr. Pszczola, Mr. Krzysztof Martens. No information available about this variation at this time.

Crawling Stayman
The designation of this conventional method is sometimes also referred to as Creeping Stayman. The concept behind this conventional method is the employment of two other conventional methods in the partnership agreement of Non-Forcing Stayman and the Jacoby Transfer method. It is mainly employed when the responder has a weak holding and decides that the partnership has a better chance in a suit contract rather than in a No Trump contract.

Crazy Bridge
This variation of the game is called Crazy Bridge and can be played with three or more players. Crazy bridge resembles standard bridge, the game of Spades and other card games, in which players compete for tricks or groups of cards. The short-term goal is to take the exact amount of tricks that you bid. If you do this successfully, then you will achieve the long-term goal of having the most points, which is the object of the game. An outline of the scoring can be found online at this source. This information has also only been preserved and archived on this site in .pdf file format for future reference.

Crazy Diamond Opening Bids
These opening bids are from a bidding system used in The Netherlands and was developed by Mr. and Mrs. Arie van Heusden, (aka Willie), Mr. Jaap Kokkes, Mr. Kees Kaiser (WBF Code: NED&500602), Mr. Bob Kaiser, and co-bridge players and has been published in the book by Mr. Gerrit Jan R. Forch with the title Bieden voor Gevorderden.

Creeping Stayman
See: Crawling Stayman

Crimson Death Bidding System
Developed by Mr. Brad Coles (aka: Redgrover) and Mr. David Appleton. Dated: April 19, 1999. As described by the authors: This is a red system, which is based around a Marston-style Forcing Pass System and uses the Green-Appleton-Coles-Kalnins version of symmetric relays. This system contains transfer one level suit openings, all of which are forcing. The concept of opening points is adhered to in some situations; they are the sum of high card points and the two longest suit lengths. This material has also only been preserved and archived on this site in a .pdf file format for future reference.

Crimson Death Opening Bids
Developed by Mr. Brad Coles (aka: Redgrover) and Mr. David Appleton. Dated: April 19, 1999. As described by the authors: This is a red system, which is based around a Marston-style Forcing Pass System and uses the Green-Appleton-Coles-Kalnins version of symmetric relays. For the complete bidding system please visit the website of Mr. Brad Coles.

Criss-Cross
1. In bidding, an interchange of meanings between bids in two suits;
2. In bidding, bidding the weaker of the two suits under consideration;
3. In bidding, using bids in more than one suit artificially;
4. In playing, a form of squeeze in which the entry to each hand is unaccompanied by small cards.

Criss Cross Jump Shift
See: Criss-Cross Raise

Criss Cross Raise
In general, those partnerships using the Limit Raises method in responding to a Minor suit opening encounter bidding problems, if the responder also holds opening values, balanced distribution, and no other suitable bid after the Minor suit opening by partner. Several solutions have been invented and devised, but one is the Criss Cross Raise, or Criss Cross Jump Shift, as it is sometimes called. The bidding sequence is: 1 - 2, which shows 1. opening values, and 2. a forcing raise in Clubs. The bidding sequence: 1 - 3 shows 1. opening values, and 2. a forcing raise in Diamonds.

However, when the hand of the responder contains opening values, is unbalanced, and contains a singleton, a Splinter bid is normally used if there is no other suitable bid. A different solution to this problem has been the conception of the Inverted Minor Suit Raises or more simply Inverted Minors. The obvious disadvantage of the Criss Cross Raise is that the application of a weak jump shift is lost, and that is why most partnerships will sooner employ the Inverted Minor Suit Raises. When employing Inverted Minors, the Criss Cross Raises are used to show Limit Raises in the Minor suit of the partner with less than opening values.

Criss-Cross Squeeze
See: Simple Squeeze

CRO Preemptive Bids
The origin of these preempts, generally on the two level, are unknown. The concept of a partnership being able to show or indicate a two-suited holding is as old as the game itself, and the variations are numerous. The Color-Rank-Other (or Order) preemptive bids can therefore be altered, customized, varied according to the individual partnership agreement. Caution: classified as a Brown Sticker convention.

Croatian Bridge Federation - Hrvatski Bridge Savez
Founded in the year 1991 the Federation was established on September 6, 1991, under the name Croatian bridţ allianc. The Federation is a full member of the Croatian Olympic Committee and respects the Olympic Charter and all legal acts. The Federation is a non-profit entity, and is entered in the Register of Associations at the Ministry Administration of the Republic of Croatia.

Crockford's Club
A famous, proprietary Club located in London, England. The Club was founded by Mr. William Crockford in the year 1827 and the form of business was gambling of any form. Later the Club was primarily a bridge club, to which the elite of England belonged. However, in December 1961, the Crockford's Club once again became a gambling establishment and was the headquarters of the chemin-de-fer in England, which is a card variation of the game of baccarat.

Crockford's Bridge Club
Not to be outdone by the elite in England, Mr. Ely Culbertson founded a Club in New York, New York, United States, in the year 1932 and named it after the famous Crockford's Club in London, England. This Crockford's Bridge Club was famous for its wonderful cuisine and modern, expensive decorations and furnishings. There was also a sister club in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The membership included many of the social elite of the bridge world, where they could gather among themselves. The Crockford's Bridge Club remained in existence between the year 1932 and the year 1938 when it ceased operation.

Crocodile Coup
Also sometimes referred to as the alligator coup this is a defense technique which is a defensive, threatening action by the opponents to prevent the declarer from following through with his intended endplay, which would normally fulfill the contract or provide the declarer with an additional, perhaps undeserved trick.

Crooked Deck - We could not resist.

Cross
To enter the opposite hand, more commonly applied to the declarer than the defenders.

Crossruff
A line of play through which ruffing tricks are made in both partnership's hands, whereby the trumps cards are used separately.

CROTS Defense Method
The source for the information regarding this defense method is from Callahan's Call, a website located in Australia. This concept for a defense method represents a modification of Super Crash, which was authored by Mr. W. D. Bennion in an August 1986 issue of the Bridge World magazine. The concept itself was developed by Mr. Charles Galloway.

Crowhurst Convention
This concept was devised by Mr. Eric Crowhurst of England, where the Acol bidding system is the established norm. In the Acol Bidding System an opening of 1 No Trump indicates a definite point range from generally 12 to 14 points, as opposed to the point range of 15-17 points generally played in Standard American.

Crowhearts Convention
This variation, as an alternative to the Crowhurst conventional method, is authored and presented online by Mr. David King. He maintains that in practice there are very few 12-14 balanced hands, on which the Crowhurst convention is applicable. The article is in a .pdf file format and will be opened automatically by your browser. This information has only been archived and preserved on this site in .pdf file format for future reference.

Crowhurst Acol Opening Bids
These opening bids are generally employed in southern England and are part of the Acol bidding system. Mr. Eric Crowhurst was born in 1935 in Reading, England, and who was a contributing editor for many bridge-related publications and also the author of several bridge books.

Crowhurst Against No Trump Opening Bids
This is a concept employed as a defense mechanism against an opening bid of 1 No Trump by an opponent. This concept is attributed to Mr. Eric Crowhurst. This particular defense mechanism has also been referred to as Revised Pottage and Multi-Landy.

Crowninshield Cup
This trophy was presented by Mr. Frank Crowninshield for a British-American bridge competition. The competition consisted of two matches. It was contested only once in 1949. The members of the unofficial American team were: Johnny R. Crawford, George Rappe, Samuel M. Stayman, and Peter A. Leventritt. The members of the first English team for the first match were: Maurice Harrison-Gray, the Captain, Kenneth W. Konstam, Terence Reese, and Boris Schapiro, who totaled 2,950 points. The same American team, which won with 2,620 points, played against the following members of the English team in the second match: Ewart Kempson, the Captain, Rixi Markus, Kenneth W. Konstam, Leslie Dodds, Edward Rayne, Jordanis T. Pavlides, and Graham F. Mathieson. Both matches consisted of 96 boards, and England won with a total of 330 total points.

Mr. Alan Truscott of The New York Times as publisher of the bridge column reported on the Crowninshield Cup on February 29, 1964.

Mr. Benjamin Jay Becker (aka B. Jay Becker), in the Reading Eagle, of Reading, Pennsylvania, United States, published his bridge column about the Crowninshield Cup on Monday, March 24, 1958.

Cruise Ship Bridge
Several cruise ships are sanctioned by the ACBL on an annual basis to offer bridge games. These sanctioned bridge games award masterpoints and are directed by a certified bridge director. In the case that a cruise ship does not have this type of arrangement with ACBL, then an individual may apply to ACBL to run sanctioned games on specific cruises providing the cruise line approves the bridge activity in writing. These bridge clubs on cruise ships have become very popular and many members look forward to playing bridge at sea. Many expert bridge players appear as guest speakers on selected cruises and provide instructional sessions.

Cudgels
The Club suit.

Cue
Slang: a cuebid.

Cuebid
1. a bid indicating a particular value or general strength, but not naming the strain desired for the final contract;
2. a bid in a strain previously bid by the opponents;
3. to make a bid satisfying either case 1 or case 2.

Note: The subject of cuebids has not yet been totally explored. Every bidding system uses cuebids, and the interpretations are many, although most all experts agree that all cuebids are completely artificial. They are used to show control in the suit of the opponents, used to show voids and stoppers in the suit of the opponents. The meanings of the many different cuebids must be taken in perspective from the viewpoint of the opener, the responder, and from the defenders.

Cuebids - Cue Bids - Cuebidding
A cuebid is a forcing bid made by a player in a suit, in which the player cuebidding cannot wish to play. The cuebid may be initiated and/or employed in certain and defined bidding parameters to communicate certain information about the holding and the desire to show continue, force, show, or tell particular details about the holding. Such an action may occur either in a contested or an uncontested auction.

Cuebid As A Light Takeout
An immediate cuebid of an opponent’s opening bid is a weak takeout bid for the other three suits. This method reserves the takeout double for stronger hands having greater defensive values.

Cuebid Double
A double that sends the same message a cuebid would have sent had the intervening opponent not bid. For example: 1 Club - 1 Spade - 2 Clubs — Double used with the same fundamental meaning as 1 Club - 1 Spade — pass - 2 Clubs. This concept was devised by Mr. Marshall Miles, who used the following example:

	North 4 107543 K1082 1043
West J10653 A6 Q96 A92		East KQ9 KJ98 3 J8765
	South A872 Q2 AJ754 KQ

West	North	East	South
			1
1	2	Double	Pass
2	Pass	Pass	3
Pass	Pass	Pass

The double of East is the equivalent of cuebidding 2 Diamonds. East could not cuebid because the immediate opponent bid the suit first. Because East has only 3-card support in Spades, East uses the cuebid double instead of bidding directly 3 Spades, which in the method employed by Mr. Marshall Miles, would show an invitational raise with at least 4-card support.  To use this method, the defenders give up either the natural penalty double or the responsive double. However, Mr. Marshall Miles states that the cuebid double will come up more often and be more useful. Employing this method, South’s bid of 3 Diamonds promises either additional values in shape or additional values in strength.

Culbertson Count
The method of distributional count was published by Mr. Ely Culbertson, a pioneer in the development of the game of bridge, in 1952. His method included, when opening the auction in a suit, counting each card over three in any suit as 1 point in the event that the fourth card does not count in the trump suit. Only when the opening suit has been raised by the partner does the fourth card count 1 additional distributional point. If the opener holds six or more trump, then 2 additional distributional points are added.

Culbertson Four-Five No Trump
This conventional method was designed and developed by Mr. Ely Culbertson in the year 1934 and was published in his book Contract Bridge Complete: The Gold Book of Bidding and Play in the year 1936. This conventional method, with a bid of 4 No Trump, could be introduced or initiated by either partner at any time during the auction, preferably after a trump suit has been either established or inferred.

Culbertson-Lenz Match
This bridge match was called the Bridge Battle of the Century. It took place between December, 1931 and January, 1932.

Culbertson Opening Bids
Mr. Eli Culbertson devised a standard version of opening bids to support his methods. The opening bids of his version is outlined below and pertain only to the opening bids.

Culbertson System
One of the early Contract Bridge bidding systems, the basis of standard bidding in America, and elsewhere. The Culbertson System was revised over the years to incorporate the concepts developing in the bridge community. The original concept was printed in his book, Blue Book, printed in 1933. It dealt with forcing bids, Limit Raises, Weak No Trump openings, Weak Jump Overcalls. In 1936, Mr. Ely Culbertson published a second book called the Gold Book, the content of which became standard bidding for over 15 years, after which the Goren bidding system became popular.

Culbertson Trophy
Any of a number of trophies donated by Ely and Josephine Culbertson, all of them for minor events. In 1962, the name was given to the World Pair Championship trophy, first contested in Cannes, France.

Culbertson Two Bid
This is the traditional use of an opening two bid in a suit to show a hand which can almost guarantee game, or even slam. This is also referred to as the Forcing Two-Bid, the Demand Bid, or Strong Two. It formed the foundation of the Culbertson system. However, during the evolution of the game of bridge, this method has been abandoned in favor of Weak Two Bids, the Acol Two Bid, etc.

Culberton Webster Contract System, The
This contract system is contained and explained in the publication The Culbertson-Webster Contract System, authored by Mr. Ely Culbertson and published in 1932 by the Frederick A. Stokes Company of New York, New York, LC: 32034795. Additional information is not available. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Culwood Blackwood
This conventional method was developed by Mr. Thomas Bigelow after Mr. Easley Blackwood developed and popularized the original Blackwood convention. The designation derives from the combination of the two words Culbertson and Blackwood, thus Culwood. This method is a variation based on a combination of the Culbertson Four-Five No Trump conventional method and the original Blackwood convention, which is an artificial bid asking for Aces.

Cumulative Score
In tournament bridge, when an event is scheduled for more than one session of play and there is no elimination of players from the event, the winner of the event is decided by cumulative score, meaning the total of the scores made in each of the sessions.

Cuppers
This is a colloquial designation for an inter-collegiate bridge event involving competition between two or more colleges and universities, which are normally located within the borders of the United Kingdom. The bridge event is sponsored by the bridge members of the colleges and universities and is conducted as a Teams-of-Four Knockout Event. The designation itself refers to a cup of tea or the act of making a cup of tea. The euphemism of taking a cup of tea is employed as a means of meeting other like-minded persons with a commonality, such as bridge. For instance the Cambridge Univerisity Bridge Club conducts Cuppers generally on an annual base. The first prize is the Cuppers Trophy.

Currified Precision Opening Bids
This is the documentation on the Internet of Mr. Neill Currie as presented by Mr. Tony Melucci, who was declared King of Bridge in the year 1995, at the included links. The system has been developed by both Mr. Neill Currie and Mr. Tony Melucci.

Currified Precision
This is the documentation on the Internet of Mr. Neill Currie as presented by Mr. Tony Melucci, who was declared King of Bridge in the year 1995, at the included links. The system has been developed by both Mr. Neill Currie and Mr. Tony Melucci.

Curse Of Scotland
The Nine of Diamonds. Although there are various explanations, none are authoritative.

1.	in the once popular round game Pope Joan, the card was called the Pope, the antichrist of Scottish Reformers.
2.	the card was the chief card in the game Cornettte, introduced into Scotland by the unhappy Queen Mary.
3.	another reason given is that Butcher Cumberland wrote orders for the Battle of Culloden, 1746, on the back of this card.
4.	the order for the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692 was presumably signed on the back of this card.
5.	the dispositions for the fatal field of Flodden, 1513, were drawn up on it by James IV of Scotland.
6.	it has been reported that it is derived from the nine lozenges that formed the arms of the Earl of Stair, who was especially loathed for his connection with the Massacre of Glencoe and the union with England in 1707.

Curtain Cards
Written record of a deal used to avoid errors in duplicate bridge. In Europe, the bridge players make a record of each hand after they have played it on the first round. This written record is then placed with the cards into the pocket of the board. This written record is, or can be, used by succeeding players to check to see whether these particular cards are the same cards that were originally dealt into that particular hand.

Cut
1. place a packet of cards from the bottom of the deck on top;
2. choose partners, by picking, often called cutting, cards from a deck;
3. Slang: ruff;
4. in tournament bridge, the score required to qualify for the next round.

Cut In
Slang: enter a game already in progress at the end of a rubber or chukker.

Cutthroat Bridge
A term applied to a three-handed form of bridge, and to a four-handed game with flexible partnerships.

Cyclic Movement
A movement in which contestants follow each other in a regular sequence or series. When a move is called, each contestant moves to a position previously occupied by a given other contestant, whose name or number is known in advance. The Howell Movement for pairs is a typical cyclic movement.

Cyprus Bridge Association (Website) - World Bridge Federation
Member of the European Bridge League and the World Bridge Federation and Member of the Cyprus Sport Organisation. A form of Bridge was introduced and played in Cyprus in the early 20th Century. After World War II, the game of bridge became popular and this resulted, in 1960, in the establishment of the Cyprus Bridge Association (CBA). The aims of CBA are the regulation and promotion of the game of Bridge in Cyprus. CBA is also the organisation for the representation of Cyprus Bridge in the international arena. Address: 5 Kastorias Str., P.O. Box 25467, 1076 Nicosia, Cypress - Tel/Fax: (357) 22516221 - E-mail: mailto:shoshilo@cytanet.com.cy">shoshilo@cytanet.com.cy.

Czech Bridge Federation (Website) - World Bridge Federation
This official website for the Czech Bridge Federation is both in Czech and in English.