rules
How to deal a hand of poker.
Dealing is one job with two halves. The first is mechanical: shuffle, cut, and put the right cards in the right places in the right order. The second is refereeing: keep the action in turn, keep the bets countable, and fix what breaks the moment it breaks. The first half takes an evening to learn. The second half is what makes a table run well. Everything below is no limit Texas Hold'em, because that is what almost every home game deals.
before the first card
One full deck
Fifty two cards, no jokers, and the same deck every hand. Everything that was folded, burned or shown in the previous hand goes back in before you shuffle. A deck that is missing a card gets discovered on somebody else's river, which is the worst possible moment.
The shuffle
Wash the cards face down across the table first, so the order of the last hand is genuinely gone, then riffle, box the deck, and riffle again. Shuffling is not decoration. It is the only thing standing between the hand you are about to deal and the hand that just finished.
The cut
After the last shuffle the deck gets cut, every hand, without exception. In a card room the dealer cuts it themselves and places a cut card underneath so the bottom card cannot be read. At home, offer the deck to the player on your right and let them cut it.
The button
A disc marks which seat is nominally the dealer. It decides who posts the blinds, who receives the first card and who acts last, and it moves one seat clockwise after every hand so that all of those jobs travel around the table evenly.
The button is the part people underestimate. It is not a courtesy badge, it is the reference point the whole hand is measured from, and where each seat sits relative to it decides who pays, who receives first and who speaks last.
one hand, start to finish
Shuffle and cut
before anything elseCollect every card, wash them face down, riffle, box, riffle again, and cut. Never deal from a deck that has not been cut, and never start a hand while somebody is still counting the pot from the last one.
Post the blinds
before the first cardThe player to the left of the button posts the small blind and the player to their left posts the big blind. Both go in before any card is dealt, because a hand that costs nobody anything is a hand nobody has to play. If the game uses an ante, it goes in at the same moment.
Deal the hole cards
two each, face downStart with the player to the left of the button, which in a full game is the small blind, and go clockwise. One card at a time all the way around, then a second lap, so every player ends with two face down cards. Deal low and flat across the felt so no card shows its face on the way over.
Run the preflop betting
first roundThe first player to the left of the big blind acts first. Say the amount to call out loud, take each player in turn, and leave the bets in front of them until the round is finished. The round ends when everyone still in the hand has put in the same amount or folded.
Burn, then spread the flop
three cards, togetherTake one card off the top face down and set it aside out of play, then deal three cards and turn them face up together. The burn card exists because the top card has been sitting in view since the cut, and because a bent or marked back would otherwise tell somebody what is coming.
Burn, then the turn
a fourth cardOne burn, one card, face up beside the flop. Exactly one burn per street, never two and never none, and the burn pile stays face down next to the deck where anyone at the table can count it.
Burn, then the river
the fifth and last cardThe third burn of the hand and the last community card. Five cards on the table, two in every hand still live, and nothing further is coming. Then run the final betting round the same way as the three before it.
Call the showdown
cards face upIf two or more players are still in, the cards go face up. The last player who bet or raised on the river shows first. If there was no bet on the river, the first player to the left of the button shows first and the rest follow clockwise. Nobody has to show a hand they are giving up.
Read the board, push the pot, move the button
ending the handSay the winning hand out loud before you move any chips. The cards speak: a hand lying face up is worth what it is worth, even if its owner names it wrongly. Then collect the losing hands into the muck, push the pot to the winner, and move the button one seat clockwise.
what the middle of the table ends up looking like
Flop, after one burn
Turn, after a second burn
River, after a third burn
Three burns and five community cards, in that rhythm, every hand. Deal the flop as one motion rather than three, and keep the board spread in a straight line so every player can read it without leaning.
Two players changes exactly one thing, and it catches new dealers out every time. Heads up, the button is the small blind: the other player gets the first card, the button acts first before the flop and last on every street after it. What ends a betting round, and what the minimum raise is when somebody puts one in, is on the page about betting rounds.
when something goes wrong
Everything in this table has the same shape: stop, say what happened out loud, and fix it in front of everyone. The mistake almost nobody makes twice is trying to repair something quietly while the hand carries on.
| What happened | What the dealer does |
|---|---|
| You flash a hole card while dealing | Finish the deal, give that player the next card off the top, and use the exposed card as the burn for the flop. Two or more exposed cards is a misdeal. |
| A misdeal | The deal is void if the first or second card comes off face up, if a player gets the wrong number of cards, if a card goes to an empty seat, or if the deck turns out to be fouled. Call it before the betting starts. Once players have acted on their cards the hand stands. |
| The flop appears too early | Take the three cards back, mix them into the rest of the deck, reshuffle and cut, then spread a new flop once the preflop betting is actually complete. The card you already burned stays burned. |
| A later community card appears too early | It cannot stay on the board. Remove it from play, finish the betting that was still running, and replace it from the deck. Rooms differ on which card replaces it, so a home game should agree on that before the night starts rather than during a pot. |
| A player bets in two motions | Stop it as it happens. That is a string bet: the bet stands at what went in on the first motion. If the player named an amount out loud before touching chips, the spoken amount is the bet, because a number said out loud is binding. |
| A player acts out of turn | Hold the action and say whose turn it actually is. An action out of turn is not binding if the action in front of it changes. If it comes back around unchanged, it stands. |
| A player throws chips into the pot | Ask for bets to be placed in front of the player in a stack you can count. Once chips are mixed with the pot nobody can prove what went in, and you are left guessing. |
| The pot does not divide evenly | Split it as far as it goes and give the odd chip to the first player clockwise from the button. Say it out loud so nobody has to wonder where it went. |
Three of those rows are really the same rule seen from the dealer's chair: information belongs to whoever paid for it. That rule is also where most of the unwritten rules at the table come from, and reading them from the players' side makes them much easier to enforce from yours.
The one that gets loud is a pot with somebody all in, because it is never one pot after that. Work out the layers before you push anything, and if you are not sure how they stack up, the page on all in and side pots has it worked through step by step.
the dealer at a real table
What a poker dealer is actually paid for.
In a card room the dealer is not a player. They sit in a fixed seat, take no part in any hand, and the button travels around the table in their place. Handling the cards is the visible part of the job and the smaller one. The rest is running the game: announcing the action, keeping players in turn, keeping bets in front where they can be counted, putting out the board, reading the hands at showdown, pushing the pot to the right player, and taking the house rake.
What a dealer does not do is settle arguments. A disputed ruling goes to the floor manager, and the good ones stop the hand and call rather than talk a player round. Pace matters too: a table that runs cleanly plays more hands per hour, and the players feel the difference long before they can name it.
Dealers in a casino move from table to table on a rotation, and in most rooms they are tipped out of the pots they push. What counts as usual differs per room and per country, so watch a round before you decide what to do.
At home there is nobody in that seat, so the job goes one of two ways. Either the button deals, and the work moves around the table with it, or one person deals every hand and sits the game out. Dealing while you play is harder than it looks, because you are shuffling and counting in the same minutes you are supposed to be thinking. If your table argues about rulings more than once a night, write the house rules down: what counts as a misdeal, who decides, and what happens to the odd chip are the three that come up. There is a list of the ones worth agreeing in advance.
next
Dealing is the easy half of running a poker night.
The two things that decide whether an evening finishes are the blinds going up on time and everyone starting with a stack they can actually bet with. The tournament clock handles the first, in the browser, with breaks and antes and no account. For the second, the chip distribution calculator works out which values to use and how many of each every player gets.
questions about dealing
How do you deal poker?
Shuffle and cut the deck, take the blinds from the two players left of the button, then deal two face down cards to each player one at a time, starting to the left of the button. Run a betting round. Burn one card and spread three face up for the flop, run a betting round, burn and deal the turn, run a betting round, burn and deal the river, and run the last betting round. If two players are still in, the cards go face up, the best five card hand wins, and the button moves one seat clockwise for the next hand.
Who gets the first card?
The player to the left of the button, which in a full ring game is the small blind. Cards go one at a time clockwise from there, two laps around the table. Heads up, where the button is also the small blind, the other player gets the first card and the button gets the last.
Why do dealers burn a card?
Because the top card of the deck has been exposed to the table since the cut, and because a card with a bent corner or a mark on the back is only worth anything if the players know it is next. Burning removes the card everybody could have been watching, so nobody gains from having watched it.
How many cards do you burn in a hand of Hold'em?
Three. One before the flop, one before the turn, one before the river. There is no burn before the hole cards, because nothing has been on top since the cut yet. The burned cards stay face down beside the deck and take no further part in the hand.
What is a misdeal?
A deal that has to be taken back and started over, usually because the first or second card was exposed, a player received the wrong number of cards, cards went to a seat that is not in the hand, or the deck was fouled. A misdeal has to be called before players start acting on their cards. After that the hand stands and you fix what can still be fixed.
Does the dealer play the hand?
In a casino, no. The dealer is a house employee in a fixed seat who takes no part in the hand, and the button moves around the table in their place. In a home game there usually is no separate dealer, so whoever has the button deals, or one person deals every hand and sits the game out.
What does a poker dealer actually do?
Shuffle, cut, deal, and then run the game: announce the action, keep the betting in turn, keep bets in front where they can be counted, put out the board, read the hands at showdown, push the pot, take the house rake, and call the floor when there is a dispute. The refereeing is the larger half of the job and the part that takes practice.
Back to all poker rules.