In a cash NL game held yesterday, I was the dealer. Unfortunately, I made a mistake. The player to act first placed a bet right after the flop. I remember he had a caller then. A player was in the hand, however his cards were concealed behind his hand and it was an honest mistake, I forgot he was still in the hand. Turn card came and I flipped it over before he made a move. Just few seconds after, he announced that he was going to call and therefore the hand continued.

Any comments about what happened? Base on the rules, was everything acceptable?

Thanks!

Landon Woffer
Landon,

If I were there, I would have let it go with the way it happened. In a casino, it is the call of the floor person. Some may let it go at his word and others may require that you pull back the turn and burn and turn a new turn. Then you take the old turn card, put it back in the deck, shuffle it, and then burn and turn the river.

I hope you are not so busy for I have three questions for you. Thank you in advance.

1. Assume that I’m the dealer but unfortunately I’m out of the hand and then there’s player 1 and 2. Player 1, at some point, revealed his cards and announced he has a pair. But without knowing, he has a straight instead. Player 2 has a higher pair and then made some efforts to win over the pot. Personally, do you think it was just right to call the straight as the winning hand as after all I’m the dealer? Or instead I’ll just wait for some things to happen as the decision was for both players to make?
2. Do you burn the cards during the dealing of two hole cards right after the deck is cut?
3. Do you know any rule about who cuts the cards during a game?

Thanks again!

Bill Stull
Bill,

1. In Holdem games, cards speak. This means that it is the dealer’s responsibility to call the hand and award the pot. Other players can assist. The only difference in this is if you have a home game where the rules require you call your own hand. In that even, you are not allowed to help. In casinos and professional games, the rule is cards speak.
   
2. You do not burn card before dealing each player their hole cards.
   
3. In a holdem game, the dealer is supposed to cut the cards. However, in many home games it is customary to have the player on your right cut the cards.

I love to play .50/1.00 NL Holdem with some of my closes friends. Typically, we pass around the deck and let everyone at the table deal and then use the deck as the “dealer” button. However, there was a problem at some point, several of my friends can’t deal well. Therefore, I started dealing every hand and eventually used a real dealer button. Also, I then started to play in the game, but some wanted me to deal with every hand as for them I was quick, fair, and doing good. Well, I must admit, I also had some misdeals or improper flops and I don’t know why they find me good as long as dealing is concern.

As time pass, I tried to become better. I also tried to familiarize myself to some things I used to be of no knowledge about. First, I tried seeking out possible answers as to what’s the best way to shuffle for a home game. Well, a number of times, I just do a standard bridge shuffle. And I have read 7 times makes it total randomized, however on televisions, play with all the cards in their hands till it is randomized. Second, I tried to find the answer to the question on my mind, when you have a full table of 10, where is the standard place to put fold cards. And then the last, something about if people are allowed to fold out of turn. Unfortunately, till now, I haven’t yet found any answer for all of my questions. Hope you can help me.

Thank you very much. By the way, I love your site and it’s been a great help to me.

Warm regards,
Gunnar Lundmark
Gunnar,

What you see dealers do is wash the deck. The spread out the cards and wash them around with their hands. This is not part of every shuffle and deal. This can be done, but is time consuming. A player may request it once a round.

When shuffling, the dealer usually takes the cards, shuffles at least three times. Does some mini cuts where it looks like they are quickly stacking the deck in thirds. Then they shuffle a time or two more and then cut the deck onto the cut card. There are some variations in this but most dealers do similar.

At a table of 10, if you are not playing, put the muck pile directly in front of you as to not interfere. If you are playing, put the muck pile slightly to your right side.

Players are not allowed to fold out of turn. If they do, they receive a warning. They do not receive their cards back however.

I’m just curious because so far you haven’t mentioned stuff about cutting the deck. Now I want to ask, what if a player cuts the deck, what is considered acceptable? Once I encountered a player who believes on cutting the deck by taking one card off the top of the deck and then afterwards place the card on the bottom. Does he makes sense on this one? What’s your opinion?

Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Donnie Watts
Donnie,

That player is being cute by doing that sort of cut in most cases. A proper cut of a deck is to take the upper half of the deck and place it on the cut card, and then take the lower half and place it on the cut card.