Glossary of Contract Bridge Terms - F

F

Face

1) (Noun) The front of a card; the side that displays its suit and rank.

2) (Verb) To turn a card so that its face is visible to other players.

Face card

A king, queen, or jack. (Compare with honor.)

Factoring

The adjustment of matchpoint scores to correct for dissimilar conditions. For example, a game played with a Mitchell movement might have an extra N-S pair, causing a bye round for N-S. The top is therefore lower for N-S pairs than for E-W pairs, and the N-S scores are multiplied by a fraction (or "factor") to make them commensurate with the E-W scores.

Fall

To be captured by a higher card. See drop.

False preference

A return to partner's first-bid suit despite a longer holding in the second suit. Usually intended to give partner an opportunity for another bid.

False sacrifice

See Phantom sacrifice.

Falsecard

A card played with the intention of deceiving an opponent as to one's true holding. Also, the act of making such a play.

Fast arrival

A style of bidding under which the fewer bids used to reach a contract (usually said of game contracts), the weaker the bidder's hand. Fast arrival holds that 1♠ - 2♦; 2♠ - 4♠ is weaker than 1♠ - 2♦; 2♠ - 3♣; 3NT - 4♠. Compare with slow arrival.

Fast rubber

A rubber completed in two games. See slow rubber.

Feature

An honor or shortness in a suit. Conventional bids such as splinter bids or D-I are intended to show or elicit features.

Fert

(Slang) Short for "fertilizer", a very weak opening bid. A systemic Treatment in strong pass systems.

Field

All the players in a bridge event, as in "with the field" to refer to an action that most players will take, and "against the field" for an unusual action.

Field a psych

Deciding correctly that partner has psyched in the absence of a call that reveals the psych. Sometimes used when that decision is made on the basis of unauthorized information or an undisclosed partnership understanding.

Fillers

Mid-rank cards that strengthen a suit. See body.

Final contract

The last bid made on a hand.

Finesse

A technique that attempts to gain a trick or tricks by taking advantage of a favorable lie of the opponents' cards.

Fit

1) A long suit (usually 8 cards or more) in two combined hands, that might be used as trumps.

2) Two hands that are productive together (i.e., that have at least one fitting suit and few wasted values). Compare with Misfit.

See also Moysian fit and Golden fit.

Fit-bid

A bid in a suit that shows length and strength in the bid suit plus a fit for partner's suit. Jump shifts in competition are often defined as fit-bids. Compare with Fragment bid and Mixed (definition 2).

Five-card majors

An agreement that an opening bid in spades or hearts promises at least five cards in the suit. The alternative agreement is four-card majors.

Fix

1) (Noun) An undeservedly poor result, usually caused by an opponent's error or eccentric play that happens to turn out well.

2) (Verb) To be the victim of a fix: "We were fixed on Board 8."

Flannery

A conventional opening bid of two diamonds (some prefer two hearts instead) to show 11-15 HCP with 5 hearts and 4 spades.

Flat

1) Flat hand: A hand that lacks distributional features such as a singleton, a void, or a very long suit. Often, 4-3-3-3 distribution.

2) Flat board: A deal in duplicate bridge that results in scores across the field that are identical, or nearly so.

Float

1) To be followed by two or three passes. For example, West's spade bid "floated around" to South in 1♠ - (P) - P.

2) To fail to cover the card led, usually by two consecutive hands. "South floated the ♠Q to East."

Flower movement

An adaptation of the Howell movement in which the players, rather than the boards, progress regularly from table to table. Also known as "Endless Howell."

Follow suit

To play a card of the same suit as the one that was first led to the trick. Failure to follow suit when one can do so constitutes a revoke.

Force to

To bid with the intention of causing the bidding to proceed to a particular level. For example: "In this auction, 2♣ forced to game", or "My reverse forced to the three-level."

Forcing bid

A bid that, by partnership understanding, requires the bidder's partner to make another bid. A forcing bid is not necessarily a strong bid. It is legal to pass partner's forcing bid, and players occasionally do so if they believe it advantageous on a given hand, but it is damaging to partnership confidence.

See also Game force, Grand slam force and One round force.

Forcing defense

The lead and subsequent continuation of a suit that the defenders believe declarer will have to ruff in the long trump hand. The strategy is to shorten declarer's trump holding so as to leave the defenders in control of the hand. See Tap.

Forcing notrump

An agreement that a 1NT response to a 1♥ or 1♠ opening is a forcing bid.

Forcing pass

1) A pass in a competitive auction that requires partner either to make another bid or to double or redouble the opponents' current call. Experienced partnerships often have agreements about the meaning of bidding immediately in contrast to making a forcing pass and then bidding over partner's double (pass and pull).

2) An initial pass when playing a strong pass system.

Fork

A tenace.

Fouled board

A board whose cards are not distributed as they were when first played, due to returning the cards to their slots erroneously.

Four-card majors

An agreement that an opening bid of 1♥ or 1♠ promises at least four cards in the suit bid. The usual alternative is five-card majors. The four-card major agreement was standard during the first four decades of contract bridge, but has since given way to five-card majors in "standard" systems such as 2/1 game forcing and Standard American. It is used in the Blue Team Club and EHAA.

Four-deal bridge

See Chicago.

Fourth

1) A player needed to complete a table, usually said of rubber bridge.

2) Of four-card suit length: for example, Q987 is referred to as "queen-fourth."

Fourth hand

The fourth player with an opportunity to bid, or to play to a trick.

Fourth suit forcing

1) The initial use of a bid of the fourth suit as forcing to some level.

2) An agreement that the partnership's bid of the fourth suit, in addition to its forcing nature, is possibly artificial.

Fragment

A holding of three or even two cards in a suit, thus not long enough to suggest as a trump suit. A partnership may treat the bid of a fragment as a means of implying shortness in another suit (see fragment bid). A fragment may also be bid after the single raise of a major as a help suit game try.

Fragment bid

A second-round jump bid (usually a double jump) that by agreement shows a fit with partner's last-bid suit and shortness in another suit. Under this agreement, in 1♣ - 1♥; 3♠ the bid of 3♠ is a fragment bid, showing a fit for hearts and a singleton or void in diamonds. The suit of the fragment bid is often three cards long. Compare with splinter bid.

Freak

(Also, "freak hand.") A hand with a very long suit or suits. Most would regard a hand with two six card suits as a freak.

Free bid

A bid that is made when a pass would still allow partner to make a bid. Normally used of a bid that is made after partner has opened the bidding and RHO has overcalled. Compare with Negative free bid.

Free finesse

A position in which a player leads up to an opponent's tenace, solving that opponent's possible guess. The term is normally used when the player is forced to make that lead.

Frozen

A frozen suit is one that neither side can play without damage to its own holding in the suit. Declarer can sometimes duck the defense's lead to freeze the suit. See example at right.