LAW 6 -THE SHUFFLE AND DEAL

  1. The Shuffle
    Before play starts, each pack is thoroughly shuffled. There is a cut if either opponent so requests.
  2. The Deal
    The cards must be dealt face down, one card at a time, into four hands of thirteen cards each; each hand is then placed face down in one of the four pockets of the board. No two adjacent cards from the deck shall be dealt into the same hand. The recommended procedure is that the cards be dealt in rotation, clockwise.
  3. Representation of Both Pairs
    A member of each side should be present during the shuffle and deal unless the Director instructs otherwise.
  4. New Shuffle and Re-deal
    1. If it is ascertained before the auction first begins on a board that the cards have been incorrectly dealt or that during the shuffle and deal a player could have seen the face of a card belonging to another player there shall be a new shuffle and deal. Thereafter Law 16D applies to the accidental sighting of a card belonging to another player’s hand before completion of the play of the board (but see Law 24).
    2. Unless the purpose of the tournament is the replay of past deals no result may stand if the cards are dealt without shuffle from a sorted deck1 or if the deal has been imported from a different session. (These provisions shall not prevent arrangements, where desired, for exchange of boards between tables.)
    3. The Director may require a new shuffle and a redeal for any reason compatible with the Laws (but see Law 22B and Law 86A).
  5. Director’s Option on Shuffling and Dealing
    1. The Director may instruct that the shuffle and deal be performed at each table immediately before play starts.
    2. The Director may himself perform the shuffle and deal in advance.
    3. The Director may have his assistants or other appointed agents perform the shuffle and deal in advance.
    4. The Director may require a different method of dealing or pre-dealing to produce the same wholly random expectations as from A and B above.
  6. Duplication of Board
    If required by the conditions of play, one or more exact copies of each original deal may be made under the Director’s instructions. When he so instructs there shall normally be no redeal of a board (although the Director has powers to order it).