How To Deal Poker Cards
- Learn How To Deal Poker
- How To Deal Yourself Good Cards In Poker
- How To Deal Poker Cards Professionally
- How To Deal Blackjack Cards
- How To Deal Out Poker Cards
If you’ve never dealt in a home poker game before, there are certain rules of etiquette that you should know about beforehand.
The first thing is that, unless you’re using plastic cards (like the expensive Kem cards I recommend buying), you should break out a new deck of cards to deal with. If you’re hosting, that’s up to you. If you’re not, you’re probably not going to deal first.
But either way, the first thing you do with that deck of cards is shuffle it. You need to shuffle it seven times to get it fully randomized.
Dealer Training is the online poker dealer school, which teaches you how to deal poker like a professional poker dealer. It was created out of necessity. We needed trained dealers for our pub poker league. The procedure for two packs is as follows: While the deal is in progress, the previous dealer assembles all the cards from the pack he dealt, shuffles them, and places them to the left. When it is time for the next deal, the shuffled deck is passed. The Player’s cards will be compared to the Dealer’s cards in order to determine who has the best poker ranking. The object of the game, when playing this option, is to get a better poker hand ranking than the dealer, in order to win. The 3rd option requires 3 bets since it combines options 1 and 2 together.
Learn how to pitch cards like you see poker dealers do in casinos. A couple of benefits from learning this correctly include dealing more hands per hour. The first card or cards should be distributed to the first active player to the dealers immediate left. The next card or cards would then be distributed to the next player in turn in a clockwise rotation from the first player. This would continue until all active players have received the first card or cards for this rotation in.
There’s always a shuffled deck ready. Use one red deck and one blue deck so the cards never get mixed up.
Once you’ve shuffled that first deck of cards, you deal each player a card.
Just one at a time until the dealer is chosen.
This is to determine who gets to be the dealer first.
You get to decide what determines the dealer – you might decide that the first player to get an ace is the dealer. It could be the jack or any other card you like. Just make sure you announce it as you’re dealing the cards one by one, face-up.
Learn How To Deal Poker
Dealing continues from here as the game starts. The rest of this post will go into detail on how to be the dealer in your home poker game.
Dealer’s Choice
It used to be common to have dealer’s choice as the presiding rule at a home poker game. This just means that the dealer gets to decide which game is going to be played.
It’s more common now to host a Texas holdem game or an Omaha game, but I still like to host a home game with dealer’s choice.
If you’re the dealer, don’t spend a lot of time agonizing over choosing the game you think will give you an edge over the other players. Just announce something basic and get on with it. The worst thing you can do at a home poker game is to slow down the game for any reason.
You’re in Charge
In most dealer’s choice games, the dealer’s in charge. In fact, for the most part, the dealer’s in charge of most games and makes most of the judgment calls about various things. Recently, I was dealing a game, and someone else decided to step in to tell another player something.
I corrected him plenty quick, by the way.
“I got this,” I told him.
You do need to pay attention to how many players are at the table before announcing the game.
If you have any special rules, you need to announce and explain those, too. You might have been playing baseball (a variant of 7-card stud) since you were ten years old, but you can’t assume the other players know how to play that game.
It’s your job to explain it if they don’t.
That’s one of the reasons I suggest sticking with the basic games. Poker’s plenty of fun without coming up with a dozen variant rules for everyone to keep up with.
When you deal a poker game, you should always offer to let the player to your right (or your left, under some house rules) the opportunity to cut the cards. He should cut the deck toward you, although he can choose not to cut the deck if he wants to.
In the event of a misdeal, the dealer gets to make the judgment call, but you can expect input from the players. A lot of home poker games have specific rules in place for misdeals, too.
Dealing With Style
I suggest keeping it simple and just doing the basics – deal the cards one at a time to each player. Don’t turn them face-up unless they’re supposed to be face-up. Take your time to avoid a misdeal.
Some poker dealers love to spout off patter as they deal, and they have nicknames for all the face-up cards. Other dealers just blandly announce the cards as they’re dealt – ace of spades, queen of hearts, etc. Still, other dealers just keep their mouths shut.
It’s also customary to announce possible hands when you see face-up cards. “Possible flush” might be something you’d announce when dealing.
They’re also supposed to make sure that the players betting put their money in the pot, and they administer side pots when they come up. You also need to make sure that the discards get handled correctly. Remember, they go in the muck.
You can even learn sleight-of-hand tricks to deal with even more style. I know a card player who only uses one hand to deal. He uses the same hand he’s holding the deck with to distribute the cards.
That takes some practice.
The Final Deal
Eventually, someone – usually the host – will announce that you’re only going to play a certain number of more hands before calling it a night.
If you’re dealing the last hand, you should think about dealing a game that’s cool enough to make for a memorable final hand.
Often, this involves coming up with a game where you can get a lot of money into action. You might announce that the ante for the final hand is double, and bet sizes are double, too.
Or you might announce a game that just builds large pots by its very nature.
The Cards Talk
“Cards speak” is the standard rule in any home poker game. This just means that the cards are what determines who has the best hand, NOT what the player announces.
If a player has a straight flush, but he just announces a straight, his straight flush still plays.
It’s your job as the dealer to recognize the hands and point out who the actual winner is if someone is confused about the strength of his hand.
Some Hosting Advice
Being the host isn’t the same thing as being the dealer, but here are some tips for the host nonetheless:
You’re looking for five to seven players usually, and you should tell them in advance when the game starts, where you’re playing, and what the stakes are.
Traditionally, at my home game, I serve frozen pizza and little smokies sausages in barbecue sauce. I usually have some cheese cubes and crackers available, too. I’ve played in other games where beer was served and hot sandwiches in a crockpot, like meatballs or barbecue.
I usually tell people to buy in for at least $50 and bring an extra $5 to apply toward snacks. With seven players on hand, that’s $35 to budget for snacks. Heck, with that kind of money, you can even buy soda pop.
There’s no shame in asking people to bring a dish to share, either.
When Should Your Game Be?
The best night to host a home poker game is Thursday night. Here’s why:
On Monday, you’re recovering from both the first day of the workweek AND from the weekend. So are the other players.
If you play on Tuesday, you don’t have anything to look forward to later in the week.
Wednesday are reserved for church for some poker players – believe it or not.
Thursday is the best day. It’s late enough in the week for people to be ready to do something fun. Also, most people get paid on Friday. So, even if they lose money, they’ll get more money the next day.
How To Deal Yourself Good Cards In Poker
Friday is okay, but a lot of people go out on dates on Friday night. This limits the number of players who will show up.
You should host your game at a regular time and a place every week if you want it to become successful.
Conclusion
Dealing and hosting a home poker game is more involved than some people think. I’ve covered what I think are the most important basics above.
But I also know that a lot of people do it differently.
What changes would you make to this guide to dealing a home poker game based on how you do it in your home game?
Let me know in the comments.
In hold'em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (holecards), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card. The board cards are community cards, and a player can use any five-card combination from among the board and personal cards. A player can even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand ('play the board'). A dealer button is used. The usual structure is to use two blinds, but it is possible to play the game with one blind, multiple blinds, an ante, or combination of blinds plus an ante.Rounds of Betting
How To Deal Poker Cards Professionally
- Opening deal- Each player is dealt two cards face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.
- First round of betting- Starting with the player to the left of the big blind, each player can call the big blind, raise, or fold. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot.
- The flop- The dealer burns a card, and then deals three community cards face up. The first three cards are referred to as the flop, while all of the community cards are collectively called the board.
- Second round of betting- Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.
- The turn- The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fourth card face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as the turn card, or fourth street.
- Third round of betting- It follows the same format as the second round, but the size of the bets have usually doubled in limit games.
- The river- The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fifth and final card to the community cards. This fifth card is known as the river card, or fifth street.
- Final round of betting- It follows the same format as the second and third rounds.
- The showdown- Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands, with the bettor or last raiser showing first. The highest five-card hand wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands.)
How To Deal Blackjack Cards
How To Deal Out Poker Cards
- These rules deal only with irregularities. SeeButton and Blinduse for rules on that subject.
- If the first or second hole card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results. The dealer retrieves the card, reshuffles, and recuts the cards. If any other holecard is exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. The exposed card can not be kept. After completing the hand, the dealer replaces the card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burncard. If more than one hole card is exposed, this is a misdeal and there must be a redeal.
- If the flop contains too many cards, it must be redealt. (This applies even if it is possible to know which card is the extra one.)
- If the flop needs to be redealt because the cards were prematurely flopped before the betting was complete, or the flop contained too many cards, the board cards are mixed with the remainder of the deck. The burn card remains on the table. After shuffling, the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop without burning a card.
See Explanations,discussion #2, for more information on this rule. - If the dealer turns the fourth card on the board before the betting round is complete, the card is taken out of play for that round, even if subsequent players elect to fold. The betting is then completed. The dealer burns and turns what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card's place. After this round of betting, the dealer reshuffles the deck, including the card that was taken out of play, but not including the burn cards or discards. The dealer then cuts the deck and turns the final card without burning a card. If the fifth card is turned up prematurely, the deck is reshuffled and dealt in the same manner.
See Explanations,discussion #2, for more information on this rule. - If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player an extra card (after all players have received their starting hands), the card is returned to the deck and used for the burn card. If the dealer mistakenly deals more than one extra card, it is a misdeal.
- If you are playing the board, you must so declare before you throw your cards away; otherwise you relinquish all claim to the pot.