Dealer4 Beginner s Guide

Dealer4 Beginner s Guide written by Cad Delworth, Carlton Bridge Club, Edinburgh This is revision number 6, saved at 09:42:00 on 23 October 2011.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 2 Contents Introduction... 3 Do I Need To Read This Guide?...3 What Do I Need To Know In Advance?...3 What s In This Guide?...3 I Have A Question!...3 Starting Up... 4 The Office Desktop Computer...4 The Dealer4 Machine...4 The Laptop Computer...4 All Systems Go!...4 Know Your Enemy... 5 Automated Dealing 101...5 The Dealer4 Machine...6 Dealer4 Software...6 Dealmaster Pro Software...6 How To Use Dealmaster Pro To Create A Set Of Random Boards... 7 How To Use Dealer4 To Deal A Set Of Boards...12 Shutting Down... 14 The Laptop... 14 The Samsung Printer/Copier... 14 The Computer... 14

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 3 Introduction Do I Need To Read This Guide? You do need to read this Guide if you are creating sets of random deals for the purpose of dealing a matching set of boards and printing out either simple or advanced (i.e. with DDB analysis) matching handouts. What Do I Need To Know In Advance? All you need to use this Guide is: how to open and close a board; a rudimentary knowledge of Microsoft Windows; an understanding of basic Windows terms like click, drag, and double-click; and the ability to read and follow simple instructions literally. Some of the operations will be familiar if you ve used a dealing machine or board dealing program before, but it s not required. Anyone can deal a set boards and create the handouts by reading this Guide. What s In This Guide? I Have A Question! This Guide contains a complete, detailed explanation of how to create and deal a set of random bridge hands, including printing the handouts, using Dealmaster Pro and the Dealer4 board dealing machine: from setting up the laptop, to properly shutting down the laptop after you have dealt all the boards and printed the handouts.. The included screen shots show yo exactly what to do at every step. Although Dealmaster Pro has many other capabilities, such as producing specific types of hands to order and adding notes to them for teaching purposes, those are beyond the scope of this Beginner s Guide. If you need to learn any of these advanced features, explore the Dealmaster Pro Help. Please contact Cad Delworth if you have any specific questions about Dealmaster Pro or Dealer4, or if you have any suggestions or ideas about how to improve future versions of this Guide.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 4 Starting Up This section explains how to start everything up, ready to begin creating and dealing your set of boards. The Office Desktop Computer Because any deals you create need to be available to the ScoreBridge scoring program on the desktop computer, you first need to switch this on and log in to it as TD (see the ScoreBridge manual for details, if you don t already know how to do this). The deals you create later using the laptop computer are actually stored on the hard disk in the desktop computer, which is why you need to switch the main desktop computer on as well as the laptop computer. Note that you do not need to switch the desktop computer s printer on. Use the time while the desktop computer is starting up to get the laptop computer set up. The Dealer4 Machine Move this so that you have clear working space directly in front of the machine (where you will be inserting and removing boards later), and easy access to the card hopper at the right-hand end of the machine (where you will be adding packs of cards later). The Laptop Computer All Systems Go! Take the laptop computer bag from its usual location (ask a Board member if you don t know this) into the office. Take out the laptop and set it down to the right of the large Samsung printer. Do not switch it on yet! Take the wireless mouse out of the front pocket of the bag. Turn the mouse over and slide open the window on the base of the mouse so that its laser is glowing, then set it down on the right of the laptop. Plug both USB cables into the sockets on the left side of the laptop, (almost at the back of the laptop). The white plug connects the Dealer4, and the grey plug connects the Samsung printer/copier, which the laptop uses as its printer. It doesn t matter which plug goes into which socket. Note that the plugs only fit one way up: usually, the side with the fork symbol embossed on it should face upwards. If the plug doesn t fit the socket easily, do not force it: instead, turn it upside-down and try again. After you plug the USB plugs into the laptop, switch the Samsung printer/copier on. Finally, plug in the laptop s power supply. This is a small round hexagonal plug which plugs into the small round hexagonal socket on the left side of the laptop, (almost at the back of the laptop); just beyond and above the two USB sockets. Check that everything is connected, then open the laptop and hold down the silver power button just below the screen until you hear its fans start up. When the Vista welcome screen appears, click TD.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 5 Know Your Enemy This section introduces the principles of automated dealing, the Dealer4 machine, the Dealer4 software, and the Dealmaster Pro software. Automated Dealing 101 Automated dealing of bridge hands needs three things: 1. A purpose-built dealing machine. 2. Boards designed for automated dealing in machines (i.e. with hinged lids which can be opened and locked shut). 3. A computer with software to create sets of deals, and software to operate the dealing machine. Our chosen dealing machine is the Dealer4. This uses a small video camera and its built-in intelligence to literally recognise each card as it passes through. No special bar-coded cards are needed. The illumination LEDs light up bright green while the camera is operating. Unlike standard boards, boards for automated dealing store all four hands pointing in the same direction. Two clips allow the top of the board to be hinged up and opened to expose the four parallel pockets inside. The picture above shows a board in place inside the machine, and the support plate which holds the board firmly in place. Switches inside the machine sense when a board is correctly inserted. The machine will not deal any cards until the board is fully pushed home. The Dealer4 deals a board in a little under nine seconds, so a set of 32 boards takes ten to fifteen minutes to deal, including board swapping and card loading.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 6 Although the Dealer4 s own software can create random deals, we use Dealmaster Pro (DMPro for short) to create sets of random deals for tournaments, because DMPro contains DDB analysis. This means you can print copies of the hands which as well as the cards, points in each hand etc., also show best possible makeable contracts for each player as declarer. Once you have created and saved a set of boards using DMPro, you can load it into the Dealer4 software, which controls the Dealer4 machine and the dealing process. Like the machine itself, this is very easy to use. When the event using that set of boards is scored, the saved file containing the hands is attached to the web page created in ScoreBridge; so the results page on our Web site (and the Score Sheets page in ScoreBridge) shows the hand diagram on each traveller. The Dealer4 Machine Dealer4 Software The Dealer4 machine accepts boards in the long slot on the front, and cards in the metal hopper on the right (see the photos on the previous page). The machine is designed so it tilts slightly backwards this helps the cards drop cleanly into the board pockets. The machine s mains power adapter plugs into a small socket at the rear of the left-hand side of the machine, just above the white USB cable which connects the machine to the laptop. When the adapter is on, its small green power lamp lights up. To prevent wear, do not remove the mains adapter plug from the machine. A small LED lamp just above the Start button lights green when the Dealer4 is switched on and the Dealer4 program is in Deal mode. The lamp lights red if there is a misfeed or other problem during dealing. There is a card weight (made from several Jokers glued together), which is kept in the hopper when the machine is not in use You need to put this weight on top of the cards when there is only one pack left in the hopper; otherwise, the final dozen or so cards will misfeed. Please remember to leave the weight sitting in the hopper after you finish using the machine. This helps to protect the machine s camera and LEDs. The Dealer4 will only deal cards while the Dealer4 program is running on the laptop. This program is very easy to use, and is fully explained in the section starting on page 6. Dealmaster Pro Software Although its look and feel is somewhat quirky for a Windows program, Dealmaster Pro (DMPro for short), is not difficult to use for dealing random hands and then analysing those hands using DDB (the engine of which is built into DMPro). Unless you are an expert and experienced DMPro user, please follow the instructions in this manual to the letter and do not take any shortcuts. The instructions in this manual are genuinely the fastest way to create your set of boards and hand printouts, and we guarantee success if you follow the instructions literally and do not miss out any steps. Using DMPro is fully explained in the section starting on the next page.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 7 How To Use Dealmaster Pro To Create A Set Of Random Boards We assume that you have already connected everything and that you have started and logged in to the laptop and the desktop as TD. These instructions assume you are dealing 32 boards: if you are dealing a set of 48 boards, make the appropriate changes. 1. Open Dealmaster Pro by double-clicking its icon on the desktop. 2. If you see the Menu on the right when Dealmaster Pro opens, click Switch to standard Master Menu (bottom left of the Menu). The menu changes to the standard menu shown below. 3. Click Create Deals for club/tournament play. 4. Click 2. Use Big Deal deal generator. 5. Type anything into the Session Name (you will enter this properly later). 6. Change Number of deals to 32. 7. IMPORTANT! Make sure Print Hand Record is NOT TICKED. 8. Make sure Duplimate DUP file is selected. 9. Make sure Save Hand Record and File option as defaults is TICKED. 10. Click OK. 11. On this message box, click No.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 8 12. If Save in: (top of the Save As dialog) does not show Saved Dealt Hands, drop down the box and click Saved Dealt Hands (near the foot of the list). 13. Type a file name in Name of DUP. We suggest you use one of the following two name formats: If you are dealing boards for a specific event, use the format: yyyymmdd-event name-colour where yyyymmdd is the date of the event and colour is the colour of the board set. For example, your file name might be 20090707-russell 14-yellow x) If you are dealing a set of boards for general use, use the format: yyyymmdd-colour, where yyyymmdd is the date when you are DEALING the boards. For example, your file name might be 20090809-yellow x 14. Click Save. 15. Click Miscellaneous. 16. Click Import Deal Files (fifth button from the top). 17. Click Duplimate (DUP). DO NOT click Dealer4! 18. Click OK.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 9 19. On the Open dialog, drop down the Look in list, then click Saved Dealt Hands (near the foot of the list). 20. Click the name of the file you saved previously. 21. Click Import file. 22. If you are dealing boards for a specific event: Type the event name in Session Name (example: Russell 14). Change Session Date to the date of the event (example: 07/07/2009). If you are dealing a set of boards for general use: Leave Session Name blank. Make sure the Session Date is the date you are DEALING the boards. 23. In section C, make sure Print North, South, East, and West hands is TICKED. 24. Click OK. 25. On this message box, click Yes. 26. Make sure Compute Makeable Contracts and Determine best opening leads are BOTH TICKED. 27. Click OK. This starts DDB hand analysis, which takes 5 10 minutes to run. NOTE to experienced users: If you wish, you can start dealing the boards while the analysis is running.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 10 28. Make sure Three across (18/page) is selected. 29. Make sure Format 1: Standard Header is selected. 30. In the Standard Header box, type the colour of the board set (and for example, use YELLOW X for the yellow board set with crosses on them). 31. Make certain the Samsung printer is switched ON. 32. Click OK. 33. Make sure Print HCP for each deal on Hand Record, Show Printer Dialog, and A4 paper (not 8.5 11) are all TICKED. 34. Click OK. 35. Make sure Samsung SCX-4x28 Series PCL 6 is selected (showing as Name). 36. Click OK. 37. Change Number of copies to 2 (one plus a spare!). 38. Make sure Collate is TICKED. 39. Click OK. After you see the Printing in Progress box appear and disappear, the sheets print out. 40. On this message box, click No (unless you need to print the sheets again for any reason, such as a paper jam). 41. Put one set of the printed sheets into an envelope, and mark the envelope with the file name you used and the colour of boards (including any X or Y on the boards: YELLOW-X for example). DO NOT seal the envelope yet! 42. Click exit.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 11 43. Click Close Dealmaster Pro. 44. Use the second set of printed sheets to make double-sided copies of the handouts. See the sheet of instructions for the Samsung copier for full details of how to make double-sided copies. 45. Insert the double-sided copies into the envelope containing one set of the master copies, then seal the envelope.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 12 How To Use Dealer4 To Deal A Set Of Boards We assume that you have created a set of boards using Dealmaster Pro as described on the previous pages, that you have connected everything, and that you have started and logged in to the laptop as TD. 1. Open Dealer4 by double-clicking its icon on the desktop. 2. On the Dealer4 menu, click File, Load. 3. Make sure the folder selected (at the top of the dialog) is Saved Dealt Hands. 4. Select (click) the correct file name in the list. 5. Click Open. 6. If you see a message box reading Format does not support board numbers, click OK. 7. On the Dealer4 menu, click Deal. You see the window on the right. 8. Take the WEIGHT out of the Dealer4 machine s hopper. 9. Take the cards out of boards 31 and 32 and load these FACE DOWN into the hopper. (This ensures that all packs receive equal use.) 10. Take the cards out of board 1 and keep them nearby. 11. Insert board 1 into the slot at the front of the Dealer4 machine. 12. Press the Start button on the front of the Dealer4 machine. 13. Check on the screen that all 52 cards were dealt correctly. Look in the four panels labelled North, East, West, and South, and make sure each shows 13 (cards dealt) and is green. 14. If there was a problem or error message: Card(s) caught on the flip plate: Free the card(s) and click Continue. Message box Card feeding error is shown: Click Cancel; remove the pack being dealt from the board (and if necessary, from the hopper); check the previous board is correct; re-insert the pack at the BOTTOM of the hopper; deal the board again. Finally, check that the problem board, AND the boards before and after it, all contain DIFFERENT deals.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 13 15. Place the pack of cards which came from board 1 into the TOP of the hopper, FACE DOWN. 16. Remove board 1 from the machine and close it. 17. Take the cards out of board 2 (keep this pack nearby). 18. Insert board 2 into the slot at the front of the machine. 19. Press the Start button on the front of the Dealer4. 20. Check on the screen that all 52 cards were dealt correctly. 21. Repeat these last five steps until you have dealt all 32 boards. Remember to put the WEIGHT on top of the cards in the hopper before you deal the final board (board 32). 22. When all boards have been dealt, you see the message box below. 23. Click No (click Yes only if you need to deal duplicated board sets). 24. Click File, Exit to close the Dealer4 program. 25. Place the dealt set of boards in the bottom drawer of the large filing cabinet, then place the envelope of printouts on top of the boards.

Dealer4 Beginner's Guide 14 Shutting Down The Laptop This section explains how to shut down and put away the computer equipment after you finish dealing boards. To shut down the laptop: 1. At the bottom left of the desktop, click Start, click the red power button, then click Switch Off 2. WAIT until Vista has shut down and the computer has switched itself off. 3. Unplug the power supply and the two USB plugs from the laptop. 4. Turn the wireless mouse over, slide the window shut (this switches the mouse off), then put the mouse back in the front pocket of the laptop bag. 5. Close the laptop and put it back in its bag. Return the bag to its usual location, and put all keys away properly. NEVER put the laptop away until you have PROPERLY shut down Vista as explained above. The Samsung Printer/Copier The Computer Switch the Samsung printer OFF using the small black rocker switch on its left-hand side, towards the back. Close down the desktop computer (see the ScoreBridge manual for full details of how to do this).