Distribution assesses the number of cards in a suit as dispersed around the table or in an individual player’s hand. For example: 5-4-3-1 ‘distribution’. This is also the hand’s ‘pattern’ or ‘shape’.
A hand or deal with a lot of distribution will have more than the average number of singletons or voids.
On the preceding deal, South’s distribution is 3-4-3-3, North’s is 2-3- 3-5 and East’s is 2-3-4-4. The spade distribution is 6322 while the heart and diamond distributions are 4333; the club distribution is 5431.