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Icy - A colloquial term for a hand which can easily make a certain number of tricks; cold; laydown.
 

IDAK or IDAC - A defensive bidding system against strong artificial club  See Conventions
 

Idiot Coup - A gambit offering a play for the opponent to make a poor play.
 

Idle - Inconsequential cards held that will not affect the outcome of play (as opposed to busy cards).
 

Idle Bid - Specialized small-step bids which may be used to convey a conventional information to one's partner, such as a Free Bid or control showing bid.
 

IIRC - Abbreviation for If I Remember Correctly
 

Illegal - Creating a situation not in conformance with the Laws of Bridge.
 

Illegal Call - An improper call during the auction, including a call which is insufficient, out of rotation, or otherwise not in conformance with the Laws.  See Law 25

Duplicate Decisions (Doubles),  See Director Tech File,  More
 

Illegal Card - See Law 52  61
 

Laws

Illegal Double -

After partner's pass out of rotation - See Law 30
Impermissible substitution for insufficient bid - See Law 27
In general - See Law 19
Inadmissible double - See Law 19  32  36
 

Illegal Play - See Law 60
 

Laws

Illegal Redouble -

After partner's pass out of rotation - See Law 30
Impermissible substitution for insufficient bid - See Law 27
In general - See Law 19
Inadmissible redouble - See Law 19  32  36
 

Illegal Unauthorized Information -  See Law 16

IMHO - Abbreviation for In My Humble Opinion
 

IMO - Abbreviation for In My Opinion
 

IMP - See International Match Points  See Law 78
 

Duplicate

IMP Pairs - An IMP Pairs event is played like a regular pair event but is scored in a totally different way. A basic score is set for each board—usually an average of all the scores compiled on that board. Sometimes the top and bottom scores are eliminated before the average is taken so that extreme scores will have less impact on the average. Then your score is algebraically compared with the average and translated into International Matchpoints (IMPs) according to the IMP formula. The IMP scale is printed on the ACBL convention card.
 

Laws

Bidding

Impossible Bid - An erroneous call which does not conform with the prior bidding or the Laws.

Impossible Negative - A 1D negative response to a strong 1C opening call, used when the responder has good values but a three-suited hand.
 

Improper Call - A call made when the player in obligated to pass according to the Laws.

       Duplicate Decisions (Doubles),  See Director Tech File, More
 

Improper Remark - Unnecessary verbiage used by a player which may provide unauthorized information of one's holdings to other players.
 

Impropriety - An violation of the Proprieties of Bridge Laws, including a breach of conduct and a failure to follow proper etiquette.  See Law 74
 

I/N - See Intermediate/Novice
 

Inability To Comply With Lead Or Play Penalty - See Law 59
 

Inadmissible Call - See Law 35  36
 

Inadvertent Call - See Law 25

See Duplicate Decisions,  Director Tech File,  More
 

Inadvertent Designation Of Card - See Law 45  47
 

Incomplete Call Of Card From Dummy - See Law 46
 

Intermediate Novice (I/N) - An ACBL program for newer players designed to make duplicate Bridge comfortable, fun, and educational.  Player rankings in tournaments are often structured by masterpoints: 0-5, 0-20, 0-50, 0-100. See Director Tech File - Intermediate-Novice Guide
 

In Back of - Referring to the player sitting behind (to the left of, over, or Left Hand Opponent) the player's hand under consideration.
 

In Card - To have an entry for transportation to the partner's hand.
 

Indemnity Points - See Law 84
 

In the Red - In the context of Chicago scoring, to receive a poor score.
 

Incomplete Hand - A situation where one player has less than 13 cards. See Law 14
 

Incomplete Pack - A deck of cards containing less than 52 cards. See Law 13
 

Incomplete Rubber - A agreement by Rubber Bridge players to curtail play before the completion of a Rubber.  A 300 point bonus is given for a a game and 100 points for a partscore.
 

Incorrect Card - A played card which does not conform to the Laws, such as a play out of rotation (Law 31) or a revoke (Law 61)
 

Individual - A variation of duplicate Bridge where each player changes partners after each round, requiring each player to maintain a personal score.
 

Laws

Individual Events -

Adjusted score - See Law 12  88  89
Indemnity points - See Law 88
Partnership - See Law 4
Penalties - See Law 89
 

Inference - To deduce holdings by other players based on a call or play
 

Laws

Inflection - The intonation, modulation, and associated tones when making a call.

Communication between partners - See Law 73  75
Correct manner of calls and plays - See Law 73
Deception - See Law 40  73
Emphasis -See Law 73
Gesture of player - See Law 73
Inflection - See Law 73
Mannerism of player - See Law 73
 

Laws

Information -

Accidentally received - See Law 16
Authorized - See Law 16
From change of call - See Law 16
From change of play - See Law 16
From exposed card - See Law 50
From lead out of turn - See Law 55
From misdistribution of cards - See Law 13
From pass out of rotation - See Law 30
Importance of - See Law 13
Unauthorized - See Law 16

Informatory Double - An early name for what is commonly referred to as a Takeout Double.  See Doubles
 

Laws

Infractions: Common infractions on Bridge Laws include:
 

1.	Bid Out of Rotation.  See Laws  27 - 29 - 31        Duplicate Decisions    More
2.	Contested Claims.  See Law 70        Duplicate Decisions    Director Tech File
3.	Change of Calls.  See Laws After opponent's infraction - 16 After disclosure of opponent's misinformation - 16 - 21 Bid out of rotation as - 31 Correction of inadvertent or illegal call - 25 Immediate - 25 Information resulting from - 16 Lead penalty for - 26 Pass out of rotation as - 30 Penalty in auction - 25 - 27 - 30 - 31 Remedy for opponent's infraction - 16 Duplicate Decisions    Director Tech File
4.	Improper Double or Redouble.  See Law 36        Duplicate Decisions
5.	Insufficient Bids.  See Laws 18 - 27        Duplicate Decisions
6.	Lead Out Of Turn.  See Laws Acceptance of - 53 During auction period - 24 Induced by opponent - 47 Misinformation affecting - 47 Opening - 48 - 54 Procedures following - 53 By declarer - 55 By defender - 56 Penalty - see Lead penalty Retraction of - 47 Duplicate Decisions   Accepted    Opening   Declarer   Defender    Premature  Simultaneous Director Tech File (Declarer)   Defender
7.	Hesitations - Laws   Duplicate Decisions   Director Tech File
8.	Unauthorized Information - Laws Director Tech File (Questioning Opponents)
9.	Exposed Card - Details   Duplicate Decisions   Director Tech File
10.	Penalty Card - Details    Duplicate Decisions   Director Tech File

In Front of - Referring to the player sitting before (to the right of, or Right Hand Opponent) the player's hand under consideration.
 

Inhibitory Double - In a competitive auction, a psychological double made to intimidate the opponents.
 

Inspection Of Tricks -  In duplicate Bridge, a player may examine all cards played to the current trick until the player has faced their own card down; once a card is face down, the player is not entitled to inspect other player's down-faced card.  However, before their side has played a card to a subsequent trick, either player may examine their own down-faced card on the prior trick.  At the completion of play, played and unplayed cards may inspected (players should only touch their own cards) to validate tricks won, settle a revoke, or a claim.  See Law 66
 

Insufficient Bid - A bid that fails to supersede the immediately previous bid is an insufficient bid  See Law 18  27

Duplicate Decisions
 

Insult - A 50 point penalty for doubling a contract which is made by the declarer.  The penalty is 100 points if the contract is redoubled and the contract is made.
 

Duplicate

Instant Matchpoint Pairs - A very special method of scoring is used for the Instant Matchpoint Pairs, a rare event—it is run only three times annually by the ACBL.  Identical hands are played throughout the ACBL (throughout the world in the Worldwide Pairs). As soon as the hand is played, the players can learn their Instant Matchpoint result by looking at the traveling score. All hands are scored in advance. A good-looking program book is distributed to all players at the conclusion of the game in which each and every hand is thoroughly analyzed by an expert.  
 

Duplicate

Instant Matchpoint Game - A game in which players are given their matchpoint score on each board immediately after playing each deal. ACBL hosts an annual ACBL-wide Instant Matchpoint Game at clubs each September and a school-wide Instant Matchpoint Game for participants in the School Bridge Lesson Series program each May.
 

Insurance Bid - To make a sacrifice call when it is apparent opponents will otherwise obtain a significant score.
 

Intentionally Misleading Call Or Play - See Law 40
 

Interest Showing Bid - After partners found a game-going fit, a bid of a new suit in a helper suit may be made to explore slam.
 

Interference - To make a call (often preemptive) intended to make it difficult for opponents to accurately find the optimum contract.
 

Interior Sequence - A broken series of cards in a suit, missing the second highest card of the sequence, as: Q 10 9 8,  K J 10,  A J 10 9.
 

Intermediate Cards - Useful non-face card holdings, as the ten, nine, and perhaps the eight of a longer suit; also called Spot or Pip cards. 
 

Intermediate Jump Overcall - A skip bid over opponents call, showing at least an opening hand and a solid six card suit.
 

Intermediate Pairs - Only new and inexperienced players are eligible to play in the Intermediate Pairs. Upper masterpoint limits vary.
 

International Bridge Academy - An academy formed to support the study of bridge as a science.
 

International Bridge Press Association - A worldwide Bridge writers organization, responsible for articles and tournament reporting.
 

International Match - An competitive inter-country Bridge event.
 

International Match Points - A method of scoring duplicate events using a scoring table to determine the difference between player results of each board; the difference corresponds to a adjustment factor used to lookup the IMPs earned for a given board.  See Example
 

Internet Bridge Terms - A shorthand sequence of abbreviations to quickly and simply relay messages during online play. See Details
 

Intervene - To make an overcall over opponent's call.
 

Intervener - The player making an intervening call.
 

Intra Finesse - To make successive finesses against both opponents.  See Finesse
 

In the Money - To become eligible to win an award in a contest; scratch.
 

Inverted - The opposite meaning of the traditional call or carding signal.  Some of the more common inverted uses are Inverted Minors and Upside Down Count and Attitude.
 

Jargon

Laws

Inverted Hesitation  - A sarcastic expression indicating a player made an unnecessary pause, indicating values or a decision when in reality their bid or play was straight forward.  One of the most egregious forms of an inverted hesitation would be to make an unnecessary pause before playing a singleton or otherwise worthless holding during bidding or play.  See Laws:

Accidentally received information - See Law 16
Action by partner - See Law 16
As extraneous information - See Law 16
Adherence to proper procedures - See Law 74
Annoyance of opponent - See Law 74
Communication between partners - See Law 73  75
Deception -  See Law 40  73
Emphasis -  See Law 73
Gesture of player - See Law 73
Hesitation - See Law 73
Inadvertent variation in manner or tempo - See Law 73
Intentional deception - See Law 72  73
Intentional variation in manner or tempo - See Law 73
Mannerism of player - See Law 73
Prearranged unsanctioned communication - See Law 73
Speed - See Law 73
Tempo, variation in - See Law 73
Variation in manner - See Law 73
Variation in tempo - See Law 73

See Duplicate Decisions

See Director Tech File, More
 

Inverted Minors - See Conventions
 

Invisible Cuebid - See Conventions
 

Invitation - A call soliciting partner to make a bonus-awarding bid (game or slam) with maximum values.
 

Iron Duke - Holding a trick-taking card (usually an honor), often in opponent's suit.
 

Laws

Irregularity - An incident which does not conform to the Laws.

Limitations on rights of dummy - See Law 43
Procedure following - See Law 9
Rights of declarer - See Law 9
Rights of defenders - See Law 9
Rights of dummy - See Law 42

Also see common Infractions
 

Irregular Pass Causing Damage - Situations where a Director awards an adjusted score when an opponent's pass damages the Non Offending Side. See Law 23,  Duplicate Decisions,  Director Tech File
 

Isolate - A play which removes a threatening card from the opponent's hand, such as an entry to their partner's long suit.
 

Isolate The Menace - See Squeeze
 

Italian Discards - See Conventions
 

Italian Systems - The Italian world-class teams developed several popular and successful systems, including the Italian Blue Club and Super Precision system.  Also see Precision Systems
 

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