Before the deal
- Know whose deal it is. In a home game the deal rotates: the player with the dealer button deals, and the button moves one seat left after each hand.
- Check the blinds are in. The small blind and big blind post before any cards come out.
- Use two decks with different backs if you can: one is shuffled while the other is dealt.
Shuffling and cutting
A riffle shuffle splits the deck in two and interleaves the halves. Mathematicians Dave Bayer and Persi Diaconis showed in 1992 that about seven riffle shuffles are needed to mix a 52-card deck well; fewer leave noticeable order. A common home routine: riffle, riffle, strip (pull packets off the top), riffle, then cut.
After shuffling, offer the deck to the player on your right to cut, or cut it yourself onto a cut card. Keep the bottom card hidden.
Dealing the hole cards
- Start with the player directly to your left (the small blind).
- Deal one card at a time, face down, clockwise around the table, ending with yourself.
- Go round a second time so everyone has two cards (four for Omaha).
- Pitch the cards low and flat across the table so they do not flip over.
Burn and turn
Before each set of community cards, discard the top card face down: the burn card. It protects against anyone having seen or marked the top card.
| Street | Burn | Then deal |
|---|---|---|
| Flop | 1 card | 3 cards face up |
| Turn | 1 card | 1 card face up |
| River | 1 card | 1 card face up |
Only deal the next street when the betting round is complete.
Dealing mistakes and how to fix them
- The first or second card is exposed: misdeal; reshuffle and deal again.
- A card is exposed later in the deal: finish dealing, replace the exposed card with the next card, and use the exposed card as the burn card.
- A player has the wrong number of cards: misdeal, if no significant action has taken place.
- The flop came out before betting finished: put the flop cards back into the deck, reshuffle the remaining stub, and deal a new flop without a new burn.
Agree these before the night starts; our house rules list includes them.
The dealer also runs the action
In a home game the dealer usually also keeps the game moving: says whose turn it is, makes sure bets are complete, and pushes the pot to the winner. With EasyPoker, the pot is pushed with one tap by the winner, and every phone shows the stacks, so the dealer only has to deal.