Читать книгу The Times Beginner’s Guide to Bridge - Andrew Robson - Страница 11

The dealer chooses which of the two packs he wishes to deal. Before dealing commences, the opponent to the left of the dealer (LHO – West in the following example) shuffles the chosen pack and places it on the dealer’s left; meanwhile the partner of the dealer (sitting opposite) shuffles the other pack and places it on their right. The dealer then picks up the shuffled pack on their left, shuffles it again (this is optional) and passes it to the opponent on their right (RHO – East in the following example) to be ‘cut’. RHO cuts the pack by lifting (very approximately) half the cards, placing the top half on the table nearer the dealer and leaving the bottom half where it is. The cards are now ready to be dealt. The dealer takes the part of the pack furthest away from him and puts it on top of the closer part (known as ‘completing the cut’). He then picks up the pack (face down) and gives the top card (face down) to LHO, the next card to his partner opposite, the next to RHO, then one to himself, and so on in clockwise rotation, until all 52 cards have been dealt. The last card is always to the dealer.

After the shuffle, showing South as the dealer; the pack is cut by East

When the next deal occurs (after all 52 cards have been played and 13 tricks won), this is done with the other pack. The new dealer is to the left of the previous dealer (in clockwise rotation). As before, the pack to be dealt is placed on the dealer’s left, shuffled by the person on their left, then cut towards the dealer by the person on their right.

The next deal: West is the new dealer and South cuts the cards

Useful tip

Bridge etiquette can seem tougher than the real game, but master it and you’ll earn the respect of other players.

must know

It is poor etiquette to pick up your cards before the dealer has completed distributing all 52 cards.