How to Use BIDDING.EXE
You need a PC with any version of MS DOS or Windows. The program is composed of a single file BIDDING.EXE and does not require installation. Run it and answer a couple of questions:
Who will be the dealer? The program can deal random hands, or you may enter your favorite deal yourself and make computer prove how smart (or stupid) it is.
Not all random deals are interesting for bidding, so the computer dealer eliminates "plain" deals. You will be prompted to choose a value from 0 to 9, which sets strictness of elimination. If you are fond of bidding slams choose 9.
Finally, you are asked whether you wish to bid one hand (West or East), none or both. Assume that you chose West and computer deals.
You see your hand, a mouse driven bidding box, and a menu bar at the bottom. You may either click on a menu item or use the corresponding function key, e.g. F10 works for Quit. To bid, click in the bidding box or press e.g. 1n for 1NT. Obviously s = 
, h = 
, d = 
, c = 
. If you're hesitant on what your bid will mean click Ask or press either F2 or a key with a question mark (Shift is optional). Now bid and the program will explain you how it understands this bid. This guarantees that you're never misunderstood by your partner.
In the middle of bidding (and when it's done) you may press F1 for Info. This simulates a question about your bidding asked by invisible opponents. Press any key or click anywhere to clear out the answer.
Other options are:
Rebid (F3) allows you to start bidding from scratch.
New (F4) deals new hands. Previous hands are lost unless you remember them and are willing to become a dealer. In the latter case use Dealer (F5).
Auto (F6) allows you to give up and let computer bid both hands. This works after the deal is over too and lets you compare your bidding with computer-suggested. If you're curious reuse Auto again and you'll be allowed to change aggressiveness of computer bidding. Click within the right (positive) section to encourage computer go higher, or click to the left to make it more cautious. Well, the result may be bizarre.
WEBoth (F8) allows to set what hands do you wish to bid (West, East, none or both).
Random (F9) makes computer deal randomly until it finds the hands that fit precisely into the latest bidding. You may do the following trick. Click WEBoth to specify Both and enter the sequence of bids that you want to investigate (ignore the hands that are displayed). Now click Random and wait while computer displays the number of deals that were analyzed in order to find the appropriate one. It may require millions of deals. Is your computer fast enough? If not, click Cancel.
That's all, folks. Enjoy!
