W
- Waiting bid
- A bid that enables the bidder to obtain more information before making a commitment. For example, some players use 2♦ over a 2♣ forcing opening bid as a waiting bid rather than as a negative response.
- Waive
- To condone an irregularity. In duplicate bridge, a waiver is an improper action.
- Wash
- (Slang) Push.
- Wasted values
- Duplicated values.
- WBF
- World Bridge Federation.
- Weak jump overcall
- A jump overcall used to preempt the bidding.
- Weak jump shift
- A jump shift used to preempt the bidding.
- Weak notrump
- A 1NT opening bid on a balanced hand with, usually, 12-14 HCP. The bid has mild preemptive value; compare with strong notrump. To show a strong notrump, the weak notrump user opens with a suit and rebids in notrump.
- Weak two bid
- An opening bid of two of a suit to indicate a relatively weak hand with a long suit.
- Whist
- A predecessor of contract bridge.
- Wholesale
- A count or total that obscures cards' identities. A bid of 5♥ in response to Blackwood shows two aces wholesale, without announcing which aces they are.
- Wide open
- (Said of a suit) Without a stopper.
- Wide-ranging bid
- A bid made within a wide range of strengths and shapes, the opposite of a limit bid. An example from Acol is an opening bid of one of a suit which may be made with anything from 10 HCP (plus some shape) to 22 HCP (with a shape unsuitable for a 2 bid, such as 4-4-4-1). Such bids are limited only by the failure of the bidder to make a stronger or weaker bid; thus an Acol opening bid of one of a suit is limited by the fact that the opener failed to pass, to make a 2 level opening bid, or to make a pre-emptive opening bid.
- Winkle
- A squeeze without the count that forces the defender to choose between a throw-in and an unblock, each of which is a losing option.
- Winner
- A card that can take a trick on a given hand.
- Wire
- (Slang) Improper knowledge of a deal, prior to playing it.
- World Bridge Federation
- The international governing body for organized bridge.
- WBU
- Welsh Bridge Union.
- Wolff signoff
- After a jump rebid of 2NT by opener, responder's bid of 3♣ as a puppet to 3♦, after which responder can sign off with a weak hand.
- Work count
- The assignment of the numbers 4, 3, 2 and 1 as points to represent aces, kings, queens and jacks in the process of hand evaluation. Named for Milton Work.
- Working card
- A card that is useful to a partnership, given the mesh of the cards in the two hands.
- Wrongside
- (Verb) To place the contract in the less favorable hand for the partnership. See Antipositional.
Read more about this topic: Glossary Of Contract Bridge Terms