Goulash

Ever have one of those days when the points are too evenly distributed, nobody bids, and you're throwing in hand after hand after hand? It's frustrating, but this isn't one of those bridge blogs where we just gripe all the time -- we offer solutions!

Goulash is a delicious Hungarian beef stew -- it's gulyás in the old country -- seasoned with a ton of paprika. For unknown reasons, it's also the name of a casual technique I learned from the estimable Mr. Jaffe to spice up dull passed hands. After the fourth pass:

1. Everybody group the cards in their hand by suit. Probably you've already done this.
2. Without shuffling, stack the four hands back into a deck.
3. Somebody cuts that deck to the next dealer.
4. Dealer deals out the deck, not one card at a time, but in groups: first 4 to everybody, then 5, then 4.
5. Now, somebody should have a biddable hand. Goulash dealing typically results in freakish distribution.