Short Suit
Definition
A fail suit in which you hold only one or two cards. Short suits are valuable: leading them creates a void quickly, and being short to a strong opponent (right-side seat) forces them to commit high cards early.
Short Suit in play
Holding only one or two cards of a fail suit is an asset: lead or shed it to go void quickly, and then you can trump in when that suit comes back around. Short suits also drive the short to half of position play. A singleton point card - a lone King, say - is ideal to lead early, since you dump a card and open the door to trumping later.
Example
“A singleton K♠ is a short suit — leading it dumps a point card and clears the way to trump in on later spade leads.”
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Related Terms
Long Suit
A fail suit in which you hold many cards (typically 3+). Long suits are weak on offense because the suit usually gets trumped before your low cards can win — but they can be useful for grinding out tricks once trump is exhausted.
Void
Having no cards in a particular suit. Being void in a fail suit is valuable because you can trump in when it's led.
Long Thru, Short To
A core position maxim: lead a fail suit your opponent is long in when you sit to their left ("through" the picker), and lead a suit they are short in when you sit to their right ("to" the picker). The goal is to force them to play their best card from an awkward seat.
Trump In
To play a trump card when a fail suit was led (because you have none of that fail suit). A way to win tricks you otherwise couldn't.