Hold Up (bridge)
In the card game of contract bridge, to hold up means to play low to a trick led by the opponents, losing it intentionally in order to sever their communication. The primary purpose is to give as many tricks to opponents as needed to exhaust all the cards in the suit from one of their hands. If that hand regains the lead, it will not be able to put the partner on lead to cash its tricks. Hold up is one of basic techniques in play.
While mechanically identical, a hold up is in a suit played by the opponents while a duck (or ducking) is a manoeuver in one's own suit. Nevertheless the terms are used interchangeably with duck or ducking more common.
Read more about Hold Up (bridge): Rule of Seven
Famous quotes containing the word hold:
“It isn’t that I want to hold the children here, it’s just that I worry about what our life will be like. I don’t know what we’ll talk about, just the two of us, after all these years.”
—Anonymous Parents. As quoted in Women of a Certain Age, by Lillian B. Rubin, ch. 2 (1979)