User:Hans Adler/Glossary of card games

Playing cards

 * pack, deck: A complete packet of playing cards as sold or as used in a game. Some games are played with one pack consisting of several decks.
 * suit:One of usually four symbols into which most cards are divided. Most, sometimes all, cards are determined by their rank and suit.
 * rank:The number or other denomination (e.g. king) of a card. Most cards have a suit in addition to a rank.
 * numeral:A card which has a suit and whose denomination is a number.
 * ace:The numeral rank 1.
 * deuce:The numeral rank 2. In German-suited packs, which do not usually have more than 36 cards, the deuce typically replaces the ace.
 * court card, face card:A card which has a suit and whose denomination is a person rather than a number.
 * suitless card:A card without a suit. Typical examples are jokers and tarots.
 * joker:A suitless type of card that may come with a pack in varying quantities, and which is used for some games. Sometimes there are subtle differences between jokers which make it possible to distinguish between a "red" and a "black" joker.
 * tarot:One of a number of suitless cards in a tarot pack. A typical tarot pack has 21 tarots numbered from I to XXI, and an unnumbered tarot called the fool.

General notions

 * stock, talon:Cards that are not dealt to a player. The stock may serve as a widow, players may draw from the stock during the play of the hand, or the stock may not be used at all.
 * direction of play, game orientation:The orientation according to which activity during the game normally proceeds. Only relevant in games with three or more players.
 * deal:The phase in which the dealer deals the cards to the players.
 * dealer:The player who shuffles the cards and deals them.
 * elder hand, non-dealer:In a two-player game, the player who is not the dealer. This player usually begins the play of the hand.
 * eldest hand, forehand:The player who sits after the dealer in the direction of play. This player usually begins the play of the hand.
 * hand
 * The cards a player has been dealt. Players normally hold their cards so that only they can see them. Sometimes players may exchange some of their hand cards or draw new cards.
 * A phase of the game that falls between two deals.


 * round:A period of the game consisting of as many deals/hands as there are players, so that each player deals once.
 * game, rubber:A game is normally the smallest period after which scores are settled and players may join or leave. In Bridge and Whist this is called a rubber, and a rubber consists of a number of smaller units called games.

Trick-taking games

 * widow, blind, skat, kitty:Cards which initially are not dealt to a player, but may under certain circumstances be taken up by a player to improve his or her hand. This player must then discard the same number of cards. The terms are also used for the cards discarded in this way.
 * trick:A group of cards to which each player has added one card, starting with one player and continuing in the direction of play. A trick can be regarded as a subgame.
 * winning a trick:A trick is won by the player who added the best card, according to certain rules. Players usually collect the tricks which they have won face-down on a stack.
 * leading to a trick:Playing the first card of a trick.
 * heading a trick:A trick is headed by the player who would win the trick if no more cards would be added.
 * trump, ruff:A card that has special powers to head a trick. Often all cards of a specific suit are made trumps, but sometimes certain suitless cards or cards of a specific rank are also trumps. All trumps are regarded as members of the same (virtual) trump suit, even though they may be of different natural suits.
 * trumping, ruffing:Playing a trump to a trick.
 * plain suit:A suit whose cards are not all trumps.
 * slam:Winning all tricks.
 * following suit:Playing a card to a trick that is of the same suit as the card led.
 * renouncing:Not following suit because unable to do so.
 * revoking:Illegally not following suit although able to do so.
 * reneging:Legally not following suit although able to do so.

Contracts

 * contract:An undertaking to reach a certain objective in the play of a hand.
 * declarer:The player who undertakes to win a contract and typically gets some privilege such as deciding the trump suit.
 * soloist:A declarer who does not play with a partner.
 * opponents:All players other than the declarer or the declarer's partner if declarer has one.
 * null, misère:A contract in which the object is not to win a single trick.
 * ouvert:A contract in which the declarer must play with all cards face-up on the table.
 * bidding, auction:A process in which it is decided which player becomes declarer.

Card combinations

 * melding:Showing or announcing a card combination in order to score points.
 * set:A group of cards of the same rank.
 * flush:A group of cards of the same suit.
 * sequence, run:A group of cards forming a sequence of consecutive ranks. Often required to be also a flush.
 * marriage, bela:King and queen of the same suit.

Scoring and payments

 * pot:In games played for money or tokens, a physical object into which all players pay their stakes and from which winners are rewarded.
 * side-payment:A payment that does not involve the pot. May also occur in games that use numerical book-keeping rather than a pot.