Wikipedia:WikiProject Contract bridge/Manual of Style/Appendix 2: Referenced Manuals of Style

This article is a reference document and provides a summary of bridge style recommendations put forth by various sources. The article does not try to make specific recommendations for adoption by WikiProject Contract bridge of any particular style features - that debate is left for the discussion pages of Wikipedia:WikiProject Contract bridge/Manual of Style. Here we only summarize what others have put in their manuals of style.

Style recommended by Richard Pavlicek and the World Bridge magazine

Suit and card descriptions

Suit and Card Descriptions

Case	Denomination	Card Rank, Cards
When writing prose, i.e. sentence and paragraph structure	Pavlicek Use the following lower case words: notrump, spade(s), heart(s), diamond(s), club(s) Do not use the abbreviations NT, S or s, H or h, D or d, C or c World Bridge Use lower case for the suit names	Pavlicek Use the following lower case words: two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, jack, queen, king, ace; use the numeral 10, not the word "ten" When referring to a specific card, prefer "the heart three was lead" over "the three of hearts was lead". Other examples: "the heart queen fell", "the spade 10 was followed by the club king" Do not use the following words: deuce, trey or knave Optionally, when stating hypothetical holdings, use a lower case "x" when indicating the rank of an unknown or insignificant card or describing generic hand patterns Bridge World Use "two" rather than "deuce", "three" rather than "trey", "jack" rather than "knave" Use either "spade three" or "the three of spades" as convenient; be consistent or produce variety
	Consensus and recommendation Use the following lower case words: notrump, spade(s), heart(s), diamond(s), club(s) Do not use the abbreviations NT, S or s, H or h, D or d, C or c	Consensus and recommendation Use the following lower case words: two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, jack, queen, king, ace; use the numeral 10, not the word "ten" Do not use "T" for "10" Do not use the following words: deuce, trey or knave Use either "spade three" or "the three of spades" as convenient; be consistent or produce variety
When using symbols or abbreviations in diagrams, templates, tables or in-line text	Pavlicek Use the following solid colored suit symbols: ♠, ♥, ♦, ♣ Use "NT" for notrump Do not use the abbreviations S or s, H or h, D or d, C or c Do not use the suit symbol alone to indicate a suit, e.g. "West's signal called for a ♥ lead."	Pavlicek Use the numerals 1 through 10 or the capital letters J, Q, K or A Do not use "T" for "10" When referring to a specific card, use the designation for the denomination followed by a non-breaking space and the card rank, e.g. ♠ 8, ♥ Q. Use a non-breaking space to avoid separation between lines. This format is preferred when writing to a bridge audience. The space between the suit symbol and card rank is controversial and may be omitted. Pavlicek prefers to apply the use of the space because it looks better to him and is grammatically correct. Never mix text and symbol formatting, e.g. Use "♣ 4" but not "club 4" or "♣ four" For two or more cards, the card ranks should be separated by a hyphen, e.g. "holding ♠ 10-9, West led the nine" Optionally, when stating hypothetical holdings, use a lower case "x" when indicating the rank of an unknown or insignificant card or describing generic hand patterns
	Consensus and recommendation tbd	Consensus and recommendation tbd

Hand and deal descriptions

Hand and Deal Descriptions

Case	Hand	Deal
When writing text	Pavlicek When describing one hand in in-line text, use the format of the following example, "West, with ♠  A-K-5 ♥  Q-J-6 ♦  K-9-8-6 ♣  K-5-3 held a typical one notrump opening bid." The suits are listed in rank order, spades first There is a non-breaking space between the suit symbol and the card ranks and hyphens separating card ranks within a suit. The template {{BridgeHandInline}} was used to provide the foregoing hand result. For hand patterns, 4-3-3-3 means any hand containing only one 4-card suit and three 3-cards suits and 4=3=3=3 means the hand has four spades, and three cards in each of the other suits.	Deals are not presented in in-line text.
When using symbols or abbreviations in diagrams, templates, tables or in-line text	Pavlicek For a single hand, a four-line presentation is preferred, as follows: ♠ A K 4 3 ♥ 8 6 2 ♦ Q 10 ♣ J 9 6 5 There is a non-breaking space between the suit symbol and the card ranks and also separating card ranks within a suit. Present a partnership's hands rotated as West and East in diagram form similar to the following: ♠ 10 6 W             E ♠ Q 9 5 ♥ A Q 9 5 3 ♥ K 4 ♦ A J 9 8 3 2 ♦ K 7 5 4 ♣ — ♣ Q 10 7 3 Use a non-breaking space between card ranks and an em-dash to show a void. The template {{BridgeHandWE}} was used to provide the foregoing result. Refer to the Pavlicek Article for the precise form of his diagram.	Pavlicek A full four-hand deal is presented in diagram form similar to the following: South in 4♠ ♠ A K 4 3 ♥ 8 6 2 ♦ Q 10 ♣ J 9 6 5 ♠ 10 6 N W               E S ♠ Q 9 5 ♥ A Q 9 5 3 ♥ K 4 ♦ A J 9 8 2 ♦ K 7 5 4 ♣ — ♣ Q 10 7 3 West to lead ♠ J 8 7 2 ♥ J 10 4 ♦ 3 ♣ A K 8 4 2 Make South declarer unless reporting on a specific tournament hand where required for complete accuracy. Use a thin space between card ranks and an em-dash to show a void. The template {{BridgeHandNWES}} was used to provide the foregoing result. Refer to the Pavlicek Article for the precise form of his diagram. Similar diagrams to present partial deals may be used to display hands helds by any two or three positions.

Auction descriptions

Auction Descriptions

Case	A Single Bid	A Single Other Call	An Auction
When writing text	Pavlicek Use the following lower case words: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Follow with the full word for the denomination, e.g. "North opened one heart, East overcalled two diamonds and South bid three notrump" When using a spelled-out bid as an adjective, always use the singular form and include a hyphen, e.g. "South overcalled the two-club opening"	Pavlicek Use the following lower case words: double, redouble, pass Do not use "No bid" or "no bid" Do not use "x", "X", "xx" or "XX" in text formats	Pavlicek Short auctions may be presented in in-line format. Abbreviate pass as "P" and omit the final "All Pass". Use a semi-colon to separate rounds of bidding. Example; "1 ♠ P 2 ♠ P; 4 ♠ World Bridge When an auction is in text, use em-dashes with spaces around them to separate calls; place the other sides' calls in parenthesis, e.g. one club — (double) — one heart — (pass) — one spade
When using symbols or abbreviations in diagrams, templates, tables or inline text	Pavlicek Use the numerals 1 through 7 for the level followed by a non-breaking space and either a suit symbol or "NT", e.g. 3 ♠, 4 ♥ and 3 NT Never mix text and symbol formatting, e.g. Use "4 ♣" but not "4 clubs" or "four ♣"	Symbols or abbreviations are not used except in a bidding table	Pavlicek Longer bidding sequences (more than five calls) should be presented in a table similar to the following: West North East South 1 ♦ Pass 1 ♠ Pass 4 ♠ Pass 4 NT1 Pass 5 ♥2 Dbl3 5 ♠4  All Pass 1 RKCB 3014 2 Two keycards without the queen of trump 3 Lead directing 4 Two keycards missing West (preferred) or South should always be placed in the first column to ensure that East is always to the right of West First letters are capitalized There is a space between the level and denomination designations Use "Dbl" for double, "Rdbl" for redouble and "Pass" for pass in a bidding table Use "All Pass" after the last non-pass call to end the auction in a bidding table Annotations, if desired, should be added in footnote style using numerals

Context descriptions

The presentation of each auction, hand, deal or play is in a context of a competition of some sort and includes the following variables:

• Event type
• Form of scoring
• Deal number
• Dealer
• Vulnerability
• Contract
• Declarer
• Opening lead

How or where in the text, tables or diagrams this information is given may vary. The following are Pavlicek's recommendations.

General

• Variables are typically arranged with the diagrams, e.g. use of the free corners in a deal diagram
• The layout design should be attractive, simple and unclutterd using minimal text and symbols
• Keep the same style throughout

Deal Number

• State as simply as possible
• Use a number and period only or a short label
• Recommended examples:

1.

Board 3

Deal 12

Form of scoring

• May be obvious and may not need to be stated
• Examples:

Matchpoints

IMPs

Rubber Bridge

Dealer

• State in two words
• Avoid excessive or cryptic wording, eg."Dlr: N" or "North is the Dealer"
• Stating the dealer may be redundant if a bidding diagram has been used
• Recommended examples:

North Deals

West Deals

Vulnerability

• State in two words
• "Vulnerable" is abbreviated "Vul" without a period
• Avoid excessive wording
• Recommended examples:

None Vul

N-S Vul

Both Vul

Contract and declarer

• Avoid labels such as "Contract"
• Use small "x" to denote a doubled contract (or "xx" for redoubled) separated from the bid by a space
• Stating declarer is unnecessary if South always made declarer
• Recommended examples:

6 ♥

4 ♠ x by East

1 NT xx by West

Opening lead

• Use simple short label
• Recommended examples:

Lead: ♠ K

Lead: ♥ 10

Layout

• The deal number, contract and declarer (if required) is placed in the upper left corner of the deal diagram
• The opening lead is placed in the lower left corner of the deal diagram
• The vulnerability is placed in the upper right hand corner of the deal diagram
• Alternaively, some information may be presented in the text leading up to the deal diagram or in a bidding table if provided

Play diagram

• Play diagrams should follow the exact order in which cards are played starting with the lead
• Number the tricks
• Showing direction of each leader is optional but preferred
• Cards are shown by suit and rank with a space between except when following to the suit lead, only the rank is given
• Do not show all 13 tricks; continue the play diagram only until the remainder becomes trivial and conclude with a summary statement such as "South wins the rest"
• Recommended example:

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	♥ 4	2	J	K
2. S	♠ 8	10	2	5
3. W	♥ 5	8	♦ 9	3
4. N	♠ 3	6	A	4
5. S	♠ 9	Q	♥ Q	7

Grammar, vocabulary and spelling

• American or British English spelling and grammar
• Use of spaces, hyphens and dashes
• Common errors or deviations from best practices

notrump versus no trump or no-trump

deal or hand

big or small for high or low

lead versus play

weak versus preemptive

psych versus tactical call

sluff or slough

ruff or rough

Yarborough or yarborough

lead (first card to a trick) or led (past tense of the verb "to lead")

• Capitalization
• Numerals
• Acronyms

References

• The Bridge World Manual of Style