Deals with no obvious opening bids

There has been some discussion about deals with no hands containing 12 points. This is disappointing for learners, but it should be seen as being just part of the game. Such boards are not usually passed in at all tables. We should at least allow others a chance to make bad decisions.

X-Club hands are dealt totally randomly with no restrictions on what the programme throws up. This is in accord with Law 6E(4) which allows the use of a dealing machine "to produce the same wholly random expectations as from Laws 6A and 6B" (which describe The Shuffle and The Deal).

Attached below is a copy of a letter that the Queensland Bridge Association forwarded to all clubs. It states in quite strong terms that non-random deals are "totally illegal". This is confirmed in a recent e-mail from Ari Guersen:

From: chiefdirector@wc.net.nz
To: secretary@nzbridge.co.nz
Subject: RE: Dealing Machine settings - from Queensland Bridge Assn website
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:40:05 +1300

Indeed the Queensland people are correct.

Law 6 makes it clear that no result may stand if the cards are not randomly dealt (unless the purpose of the event is to replay past deals)

Arie Geursen
Chief Director