When you’ve spent enough time using instant messaging, in message boards or anywhere near a chat group, you’ll notice that people online have developed their entire own language to communicate – and yes, there are still thousands of people who have no idea what the abbreviation like LOL means.

Even as someone who grew up in the age of the internet, I still find myself utterly baffled by many abbreviations and shorthands out there. (Some of them lead back to the dark parts of Urban Dictionary and should never be looked up in the first place, unfortunately.)

Online bridge players have their own form of shorthand. You’re bound to encounter a few of these terms on BBO – and here’s a quick reference list that can help you to demystify what people on the forums and groups are saying. Convention-specific abbreviations are right at the end.

I’ve collected these from a few lists online, and from conversations and forums where they’ve popped up.

Welcome to online bridge!

General Bridge Terms You’ll See Online

ACBL

American Contract Bridge League – and not to be confused with the American Bridge Association, an entirely separate organization representing the game.

AI

Authorized Information, or the data that’s allowed to legally pass between partners in a bridge game. Its opposite is UI, or unauthorized information. Alternative, it might mean Artificial Intelligence. 

ATB

Assign the Blame, a term that you’ll frequently notice when looking at bridge quizzes or puzzles where the goal is to point to the move or card where the game might have started going awry for one partnership or another.

Brb

Be right back in most forms of online conversation.

CC

Where you see it, the term CC means Convention Card – or elsewhere on the internet, it might refer to Creative Commons licenses.

F2F or FTF

This term refers to players getting together face-to-face, rather than meeting up online.

GIB

Goren-in-a-Box, referring to the bot that powers BBO. Elsewhere, gibbing means blowing something to bits in most first-person shooter games.

HCPs

Where this term appears, it’s used to refer to your hand’s High Card Points. Remember to count them carefully.

IMP

Online and in many bridge books, this refers to International Match Points (or Matchpoints, both are technically correct).

LHO

Refers to a Left Hand Opponent, with the opposite being a Right Hand Opponent.

MPs

Refers to the count of ACBL Masterpoints (or Master Points) to a player’s name.

NABCs

Used to refer to the North American Bridge Championships, one of the larger bridge tournaments of the year.

NAP

Short for North American Pairs and has nothing to do with the concept of power napping.

NT

Used to refer to No Trump, and seen in any form of bridge shorthand.

RHO

Means Right Hand Opponent as opposed to the opposite of a LHO, described above.

Rehi

This one is used to say “hi again” after a player has been away from the table, usually after saying brb first.

Std

Not nearly as worrying as when you spot this term anywhere else, it simply means Standard.

Spec

Spec is short for spectator – or in bridge terms, kibitzer.

TD

Used as short for Tournament Director.

Typ

A common online card term used to say, “Thank you, partner!” without the need to type all of that out.

UI

Unauthorized Information, any data or signals passed illegally between partners.

Vul

Used to mean vulnerable when it comes to bridge writings and online play.

WNT

This one’s common and short for Weak No Trump.

wdo

X or XX

Where you see an X or XX, it’s usually shorthand for double and redouble. Alternatively, the terms “dbl” and “rdbl” might also be used.

x or xx

Where the x is lowercase, it refers to cards that aren’t honor cards in a hand and usually gets used in bridge notation or onlinespeak. It can also be used as a placeholder. (KQxx)

Convention Specific

Bridge conventions are an entire language to the bridge player. Of course, it’s only natural that onlinespeak has evolved to include a few abbreviations for these, too. Here are a few of the common convention abbreviations you might see.

ACOL

Named for the Acol club.

CBS

Check-Back Stayman

DAB

Directional Asking Bid

DEPO

Double Even Pass Odd

DOPE

Double Odd Pass Even

JXF

Jacoby Transfers

J2NT

Jacoby 2NT

MSS

Minor Suit Stayman

RKC

Roman Key Card Blackwood

RONF

Raise Only Non Force

SAYC

Standard American Yellow Card

ST

Stayman

TXF

Texas Transfers