Preferans glossary
All-pass (raspasy)
Play with no trumps and no contract that starts when all three players pass in the trade. The aim is to take as few tricks as possible, and the suit of the first two leads is usually set by the talon cards (unless the convention switches this off, as Rostov does). Suit classification and the order of play are covered in the article on how to play all-pass.
Amnesty (amnistiya)
A step in the final scoring: each player's heap is reduced by the smallest heap among the players, to make the count simpler. Not used in the Rostov convention.
Card ranking (starshinstvo kart)
The order of card strength within a suit: from the seven (lowest) to the ace (highest). The trump suit keeps the same order, but any trump beats any card of another suit.
Closed whist (vist stoya)
Whist with cards closed: each defender plays for themselves without showing their hand to partner. Also called playing "in the dark". If both defenders whist, ordinary contracts are played in the dark only; on misère, however, the cards are usually opened so the defenders can plan how to catch it.
Consolation (konsolyatsiya)
Extra whists that all defenders get (including those who did not take part in the play) when the declarer goes down.
Contract (kontrakt)
The declarer's commitment to take a certain number of tricks with the chosen trump suit or with no trumps. For example, a "6 spades" contract means the declarer intends to take at least 6 tricks with spades as trumps.
Declarer (igrayushchiy)
The player who won the trade and with it the right to take the talon and name the contract. The other two players become "whisters", or defenders.
Defender (vistuyushchiy)
Either of the two players who did not win the trade in this deal; also called a "whister". Their job is to stop the declarer from taking the number of tricks named in the contract.
Discard (snos)
The two cards the declarer throws away from their twelve (ten in hand plus the talon), keeping ten cards to play. Nobody but the declarer knows the discard.
Doubleton (dublet)
Two cards of one suit in a hand.
Endplay (vpustka)
A playing technique: you deliberately give an opponent a trick at a moment when they have no safe lead left, so they are forced to lead into a "fork", a combination like ace and queen against king and jack, where the tricks depend on who leads first. For the endplay to work, the opponent is first stripped of every side card they could use to get out.
Finesse (impas)
A term from bridge; in preferans people more often say "prorezka". You lead a small card into a suit where an opponent holds a face card, to make them choose what to play. Whichever of the two opponents plays last is in the winning position: they choose their card already seeing the previous player's.
Going three down (ukhod bez tryokh)
Under some rules, the declarer's right to end a deal that is sure to be lost early, taking only the penalty to the heap without starting the play, and so without paying direct whists to the defenders.
Gusarik
A version of preferans for two players, where a "dummy" plays the third hand. The full rules are in the article on gusarik.
Half-whist (polvista)
Under some rules, one defender leaving the whist on six and seven contracts after the other defender has already passed, with half the trick obligations.
Hand (ruka)
A player's position at the table relative to the dealer: "first hand" leads first both in the trade and in the play, followed by "second" and "third hand". Why this affects the contract you declare is explained in the article on what to keep in mind when you declare a contract.
Heap (gora)
The part of the score sheet where penalties go: for a failed contract, for tricks taken in all-pass and for other breaches.
Kabalny misère (kabalny mizer)
Under some rules, a convention where misère can only be declared straight away, with no right to take part in the normal bidding for contracts. SmartPref does not use this restriction: misère follows the normal trade rules.
Lead card (zakhodnaya karta)
The first card played to each trick. Its suit must be followed by every player who holds cards of that suit.
Leningrad
A preferans convention with strict all-pass (a growing penalty progression, a harder exit) and a soft whist (gentleman's, half-responsible). It is compared with the other two conventions in the article on the difference between Sochi, Leningrad and Rostov.
Mariage (maryazh)
The King and Queen of one suit in the same hand. Such a pair usually brings one trick: the Queen becomes the highest card of the suit as soon as the Ace and King have left the game.
Mill (melnitsa)
A layout and technique where the defenders ruff the declarer's high cards with small trumps, passing the lead back and forth between their hands, several tricks in a row. Slang names include "helicopter", "carousel" and "sawmill". It is especially painful for the declarer when the defence whists in the dark.
Misère (mizer)
A special contract: a commitment to take no tricks at all. It is played without trumps and can only be outbid by a contract of 9 spades or higher. How to force the declarer to take a trick is covered in the guide to catching a misère.
Misère without the talon (mizer bez prikupa)
A misère declared without taking the talon, to outbid a nine. A nine without the talon in turn outbids a misère without the talon, and a ten outbids any of these bids.
Open whist (vist lyozha)
Whist with the cards open: if one defender has passed, the other may lay both defending hands face up and play for themselves and their partner. Also called playing "in the light".
Parada
A technique against a defender's trump honour that cannot be finessed: the declarer first shortens their own trumps by ruffing side suits, then leads another suit so that the defender has to play their trump honour under a higher trump. Here a card of another suit does the job of the finesse.
Pool (pulya)
The part of the score sheet where the declarer is credited for a contract made. The same word also means the whole game of preferans. The Russian "pulya" also means "bullet", but here it has nothing to do with weapons: it comes from the English "pool", a shared fund.
Promotion (promotsiya)
Raising a card's rank. Winning an extra trump trick on the defenders' lead: a queen with a small card does not usually take a trick on its own, but with a lucky layout and the jack of trumps with the other defender, the combination can be turned into a trick.
Rostov
A convention where the talon is not opened in all-pass until the end of the play, and the penalty for tricks taken in all-pass is written straight away as whists rather than to the heap.
Run-out (raskrutka)
The informal name for playing out a long suit methodically: you lead it again and again, drawing out the opponents' high cards, after which your remaining small cards become winners. People also say "run out a misère": a series of leads that takes away the declarer's chance to get rid of dangerous cards.
Set (podsad, remiz)
The declarer falling short of the number of tricks named in the contract. It is penalized with an entry to the heap, and when the hand is whisted, also with direct whists to the defenders.
Singleton (blanka, singlet)
The only card of a suit in a hand.
Sochi
The basic preferans convention with no progression and no complicated exit from all-pass, with a "greedy" and "responsible" whist and a mandatory "Stalingrad".
Squeeze (skviz)
A technique that forces an opponent to discard the card you need: they are left with one guarding card in each of two suits, and a lead in a third suit makes them give one of them up. It is rare in preferans and appears in a simplified form; the term and the whole family of such techniques came from bridge.
Stalingrad
A rule that makes whisting compulsory on a contract of 6 spades (or on any minimum contract, depending on the exit from all-pass). Since both defenders whist, the play is in the dark. Stalingrad is usually played in the Sochi convention, but not in Leningrad or Rostov; there is more in the article on the difference between conventions.
Suit ranking (starshinstvo mastey)
The order for comparing contracts of the same level: spades rank below clubs, clubs below diamonds, diamonds below hearts, and "no trumps" ranks above a contract of the same level in any trump suit.
Talon (prikup)
The two cards left over after the deal; the player who wins the trade takes them and turns them face up. What to expect from the talon when you size up your hand is covered in the article on the value of the talon.
Tierce (terts, triplet)
Three cards of one suit in sequence, for example King-Queen-Jack.
Train (parovoz)
A run of tricks on misère that the declarer is forced to take one after another because of a bad layout. The longer the "train", the more disastrous the misère is for the declarer. The four-card example shows why the declarer cannot give up the lead.
Trick (vzyatka)
Three cards, one played by each player in turn; the player with the highest card of the trick, trumps included, takes them (more in the rules of preferans).
Trump (kozyr)
The suit the declarer names with the contract. Any card of the trump suit beats any card of any other suit, whatever its rank.
Underbidding (perezaklad)
Deliberately declaring a contract well below the real strength of your hand, so that the defenders fall short of their tricks and write a penalty to their heap while the declarer profits. Groups often agree on penalties for exactly this tactic; see the article on underbidding for more, with the real numbers worked out.
Void (renons)
Having no cards of some suit. If you have none of the suit led, you may play a trump or any other card.
Whist (vist)
A defender's decision to play against the contract instead of passing. The same word means the points a defender gets for each trick taken against the declarer. It also names the final points that are calculated from the pool.