Hand settings — To create specialized hands, you can enter the HCP and/or suit-length requirements for West or East (or both). For example, to give West 15-17 HCP and a balanced hand, enter West’s HCP (Min = 15, Max = 17) and the required lengths (Min = 2, Max = 5) for each of the four suits. You only need to fill in boxes that are pertinent; any box left blank is presumed to be zero for “Min” settings or the highest possible for “Max” settings.
Swaps — Checking “EW” will randomly swap the settings for the two
hands; hence, the settings you make for West will sometimes (at random) go to East, and vice versa. Similarly,
checking 
, 
or 
will
randomly swap the settings of the two suits indicated. For example, to specify a five-card or longer major
suit, enter only the spade length (Min = 5) and check the box. You can check multiple
suit-swap boxes, and checking them all will randomly permute the settings among all four suits.
Number of hands — By default, 4 pairs of hands will be created. You may instead select 8 or 16.
Output format — By default, the output will be in HTML, which is best for online viewing. You may instead select “TXT” for plain text, or “RBN” (Richard’s Bridge Notation) for a database format.
Seed — If you enter a seed (any number up to 12 digits) the sequence of hands can always be duplicated by that same seed. If the seed is left blank, the generator will be seeded randomly by an outside source and the hands cannot be reproduced.
Practice online! — A neat feature of this dealer allows two players to practice bidding by telephone or online chat. Both players must enter the same constraints (if any) and the same seed number. One player checks “West” and the other checks “East” — hence, each player will receive only one hand of each matching pair. After bidding the hands, each player can view the combined hands simply by unchecking “West” or “East” and clicking “Deal” again. Have fun!
Advanced settings — The minimum length setting of any suit may be followed by a letter (abcde) to affect the probability of longer lengths in the specified range. The letter ‘a’ will accelerate the chances, and so will ‘b’ but not as much. The letter ‘d’ will decelerate the chances, and ‘e’ will decelerate them even more. In effect, it’s a geometric scale (the midpoint letter ‘c’ is the same as no letter and does nothing). For example, the normal setting of (Min = 5, Max = 7) will average about 5.4 cards per deal; using ‘5a’ or ‘5b’ will increase this, and ‘5d’ or ‘5e’ will decrease it.
See also my Wheeler Dealer for creating full deals, and my article on Randomization Techniques if you are interested in how these programs work.