Dealing a hand (and fixing mistakes)
3 min read · Updated 2026-09-26
In most home games the deal rotates with the button, so everyone deals sooner or later. A clean deal keeps the game fast and avoids arguments. You don’t need fancy shuffles — just a consistent routine.
Shuffle
- Keep the cards low and face down so nobody glimpses the bottom card.
- Riffle shuffle several times, then cut. Four riffles is the usual minimum; seven mix a deck thoroughly.
- Offer the cut to the player on your right, or cut yourself onto a cut card.
- With two decks, the next dealer shuffles the spare deck while you deal.
Deal
- Check the blinds are posted.
- Starting with the small blind, deal one card at a time clockwise, until everyone has two (four in Omaha). The button gets the last card.
- Keep the cards low and slide them across the felt; don’t flip them in the air.
- Wait until preflop betting is over before touching the deck again.
Burn and turn
Before each round of community cards, burn the top card face down, then deal the new cards face up:
| Round | Burn | Deal |
|---|---|---|
| Flop | 1 card | 3 cards |
| Turn | 1 card | 1 card |
| River | 1 card | 1 card |
Burn cards protect against marked cards and accidental glimpses of the top card. Keep them separate from the discards in case you need to reconstruct the deck after a mistake.
When something goes wrong
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| The first or second card of the deal is exposed | Misdeal: gather the cards, reshuffle and deal again |
| A later hole card is exposed by the dealer | Finish the deal, then give that player the top card of the deck as a replacement; the exposed card becomes the first burn card |
| Two or more hole cards exposed | Misdeal |
| A player got too many or too few cards | Misdeal, as long as no betting has happened yet |
| A player exposes their own card | Their problem — the hand goes on |
| The flop is dealt before betting finished | Put the flop aside, finish the betting, reshuffle those cards into the deck and deal a new flop without a new burn |
| A card is found face up in the deck | Put it aside and carry on with the next card |
Note — Misdeal ≠ new blinds: After a misdeal, the button stays where it was and the same blinds are used for the redeal.
Dealer habits worth copying
- Announce the pot size when asked — and in pot-limit, when someone wants to bet the pot.
- Push the pot to the winner only after the hands have been read.
- Say “action is on you” when someone hasn’t noticed it’s their turn.
- If you’re playing the hand you’re dealing, take your time — dealing isn’t a reason to rush your own decisions.