Rules of Poker · Chapter 6 · 2026 edition
Dealing errors include exposed cards, a four-card flop, and a card dealt before betting ends. This chapter covers the deal, corrections, and procedures for a deck that runs short.
Robert's Rules of Poker and the TDA use different tests for when a misdeal can still be called, and different corrections for a four-card flop. The relevant rules describe both procedures.
Before each hand the dealer shuffles the whole deck thoroughly. In a home game the dealer then offers the cut to the player on their right, who lifts part of the deck and puts it underneath; if that player declines, anyone else may cut. Each part should hold at least five cards. Card rooms with house dealers often skip the cut.
Source: pagat.com, Rules of Poker, "Preparation"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Glossary, "Cut".
Several rules depend on exactly when one hand ends and the next begins: how long a ruling on the last pot can be asked for, and when new tournament limits take effect. Robert's Rules marks the start of a deal at the first riffle of the shuffle.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 2, "Decision-Making" rule 5; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 15, "Tournaments" rule 10.
A worn or damaged deck is replaced, but players don't get to swap decks to change their luck. In TDA tournaments decks change at dealer changes, level changes or when the house decides, and a player can't ask for one. Robert's Rules, for cash games, lets a deck be changed but makes a new deck stay in play for at least a full round, and a new set of decks for at least an hour, unless a deck is defective, damaged or sticky.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 28; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 2, "Procedures" rule 22.
In games with a button, the dealer gives one card at a time to each player, clockwise, starting with the player on the button's left, so the button receives the last card of each round. That repeats until everyone has their starting hand. Stud games have no button; 7-Card Stud covers their deal.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 4, "Button and Blind Use" introduction; pagat.com, Rules of Poker, "The Deal and the Betting".
After the starting hands, the dealer takes the top card off the deck face down and sets it aside, unseen, before dealing each later round: before the flop, the turn and the river in Hold'em and Omaha, before each later street in stud, and before the replacement cards in a draw game. This is the burn card. It protects the next card: if the top card was marked, flashed or glimpsed, it never plays. The TDA is explicit that the burn is a security measure, not a way to preserve the order of the cards, and that exactly one card is burned per round, never more.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 40; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Glossary, "Burncard"; pagat.com, Rules of Poker, "The Deal and the Betting"; 58 Pa. Code § 637a.13(g)(1) (Pennsylvania five-card draw procedures).
If the dealer forgets to burn, or burns two cards, the mistake is corrected if it's noticed before anyone acts on that round. Once a player has acted on a board card, it stands. Either way, later cards should be the ones that would have come without the error: if two cards were burned, one goes back on top and serves as the next burn. When nobody could bet because a player was all-in, Robert's Rules lets the error be corrected on the last round until the pot is awarded, if the cards are still intact enough to tell which card is the right one.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 16; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 6.
Each player should check they have the right number of cards before acting. The TDA puts this among a player's own responsibilities: confirm the number of cards before substantial action (6.15). A player on the button who is a card short must say so at once; the missing card can be supplied, but if the button checks or bets holding too few cards, that hand is dead.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 2; TDA 2026, Rule 39.
A boxed card is one found face up in a deck of face-down cards. A single boxed card is treated as a meaningless scrap of paper: it is set aside and replaced by the next card. If the next card has already gone face down to another player and been mixed with their cards, the boxed card is replaced only after everyone else has had their card for that round. Two or more boxed cards in the starting deal make a misdeal.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 7; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Misdeals" rule 2(c); TDA 2026, Rule 37-A.
In Hold'em, Omaha and other button games, if the dealer exposes either of the first two cards of the deal, the hand is a misdeal. With two blinds those are the first cards to the small blind and the big blind. The dealer gathers the cards, reshuffles and redeals (6.16).
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 1; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Misdeals" rule 2(a); TDA 2026, Rule 37-A.
If the dealer exposes one hole card later in the deal, the deal carries on. The player can't keep the exposed card and has no choice about it. Once everyone has their starting hand, the dealer gives that player the top card of the deck in its place, and the exposed card becomes the burn card for the next round. If two or more hole cards are exposed, it's a misdeal.
Example: at $1/$2 Hold'em, the dealer flips the cutoff's second card face up, the queen of spades. The deal finishes, the cutoff gets the next card off the deck as a replacement, and the queen of spades is burned before the flop.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 1; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 13; TDA 2026, Rule 37-A.
A card the dealer flashes, so that it could be seen, is treated as an exposed card, and so is a face-down card dealt off the table. A card a player flashes is the player's own problem: it plays. A player who wants a ruling on whether a card was exposed should say so before looking at it.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 12; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 8, "Seven-card Stud" rule 11.
In a 7-Card Stud cash game, if the dealer turns up one of a player's first two down cards, Robert's Rules has that player's third card dealt face down instead, so they still have two hidden cards. If both down cards are turned up, the hand is dead and the player gets the ante back. In tournaments, Robert's Rules makes any down card dealt face up on the starting hand a misdeal. The rest of stud's deal is 7-Card Stud.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 8, "Seven-card Stud" rule 1; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 15, "Tournaments" rule 32.
Draw games treat an exposed card differently before and during the draw. On the draw itself, an exposed card can never be kept: the dealer finishes everyone's draw in order and then replaces it. Before the draw it depends on the game. In five-card draw high, Robert's Rules makes the player keep it. In lowball the player must keep a low card and gets a replacement for anything else: in limit ace-to-five, seven or lower is kept; in deuce-to-seven, a 7, 5, 4, 3 or 2 is kept and anything else, the 6 included, is replaced. The player never gets to choose.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 11, "Rules of Lowball" rules 8 and 9; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 11, "Ace-to-five Lowball" rule 3 and "Deuce-to-seven Lowball" rule 2; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 12, "Rules of Draw High" rules 4 and 8.
A misdeal is a deal that must be stopped and dealt again. Robert's Rules and the TDA list much the same causes:
The last case differs between the books. Robert's Rules calls a misplaced button a misdeal; the TDA leaves it out of its misdeal list and deals with button mistakes under its button rule instead.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Misdeals" rule 2; TDA 2026, Rule 37-A; TDA 2026, Rule 36.
A misdeal has to be called early. Once enough players have acted, the hand is played out even if the deal was wrong, and the books measure "enough" differently.
The practical difference is two folds. If the first two players after the big blind both fold, Robert's Rules says action has begun and the misdeal is gone. Under the TDA two folds aren't substantial action, so a misdeal can still be called until someone puts in chips or a third player acts. A fouled deck (6.26) is the exception under both: it voids the hand whenever it's found.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Misdeals" rule 1; TDA 2026, Rule 38; TDA 2026, Rule 37-D.
After a misdeal the cards are gathered, reshuffled, cut and dealt again. The TDA calls the redeal an exact replay: the button stays where it was, no new players are dealt in and the betting limits don't change. A player who was dealt in the first time but wasn't in their seat still gets cards in the redeal.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 37-C; pagat.com, Rules of Poker, "Irregularities".
If, before the first betting round, the dealer deals one card too many, for example a third card to the first player in Hold'em, the extra card goes back on the deck and is used as the burn card. Two or more extra cards in the starting hands make a misdeal.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 11; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 2; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Misdeals" rule 2(d).
The button, being dealt last, may be given its missing card to complete its hand, and the TDA allows two cards in a row to the button for this. Any other player a card short before action begins is a misdeal (6.14(d)). Once there has been substantial action, a hand with the wrong number of cards is dead, with exceptions in some games: at stud a hand missing only its last card may be ruled live, and in draw games a short hand before the draw can be filled at the draw.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 37-B; TDA 2026, Rule 39; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Misdeals" rule 2(e); Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Dead Hands" rule 1(d).
When the dealer turns four cards for the flop, both books start the flop again, but by different methods.
The TDA's method keeps three of the four exposed cards on the board; Robert's method can bring a completely different flop.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rules 3 and 7; TDA 2026, Rule 41-A.
If the dealer flops before the pre-flop betting is finished, those cards can't be used, even if every remaining player then folds, and nobody gets to accept or refuse them. The betting is finished first, then the flop is fixed: under Robert's Rules the exposed cards are mixed back into the deck, which is shuffled and cut, and a new flop is dealt without a burn. The TDA sends premature cards to its Recommended Procedures (RP-5), a separate part of the TDA's rulebook.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rules 5 and 7; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 15; TDA 2026, Rule 41-C.
If the turn card is dealt before the flop betting is over, Robert's Rules aims to keep the board as close as possible to the one that should have come.
Robert's Rules itself notes, in its explanations section, that the method is a compromise and that reshuffling straight away would be fairer.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 8; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 16, "Explanations" discussion 4.
If the river card is turned before the turn betting is over, the card is taken out of play, the betting is finished, and the deck, with that card shuffled back in, is cut and a new river is dealt, as for an early turn (6.21).
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 8.
Whenever the stub has to be reshuffled in the middle of a hand, for an early card, a fouled stub or a draw that runs short, the cards are shuffled face down so no one sees them. If the stub is spoiled, for instance dropped by a dealer who thought the hand was over, the hand is still played out with the deck put back together as fairly as possible.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 41-D; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 17.
Eight players in a 7-Card Stud hand need more cards than the deck holds if nobody folds. Robert's Rules handles it in steps:
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 8, "Seven-card Stud" rule 15; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Glossary, "Common card".
In a draw game, a player may ask for more cards than are left in the stub. The player gets whatever the stub still holds, and then the discards are shuffled together to make a new stub for the rest. The drawing player's own discards stay out of that reshuffle, so nobody can draw back the cards they just threw away. Pennsylvania's rules go a step further and also leave out the discards of anyone who hasn't drawn yet. Rooms differ on smaller points, such as whether the burn cards go in, so a home game that plays draw games with many players should settle them in advance.
Source: New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Badugi rules (2011), N.J.A.C. 19:47-14.12C(f); 58 Pa. Code § 637a.13(g)(2) (Pennsylvania five-card draw procedures); Asian Poker Tour, Poker Rules, "2-7 (Deuce to Seven)".
A deck is fouled if it holds two of the same card, such as two kings of hearts, or a card that doesn't belong, such as a joker in a game without jokers, or a four in a short deck. When that's found, play stops and every chip bet on the hand goes back to whoever put it in, however far the hand had gone. A card with a different-colored back has the same effect if it turns up during the hand; found in the stub, the hand stands. One or more cards simply missing from the deck doesn't void a hand.
Robert's Rules adds a warning: a player who knows the deck is defective must say so, and one who keeps quiet and bets hoping to win anyway may lose the refund.
Source: TDA 2026, Rule 37-E; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rules 3, 4, 5 and 10.
Keeping your cards safe is your job. Keep a hand or a chip on them, keep them where the dealer can see them, and don't let them drift toward the muck. If an unprotected hand is fouled or the dealer kills it by mistake, you have no redress: the TDA says no refund of called bets, though any part of your bet nobody called comes back.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Irregularities" rule 2; TDA 2026, Rule 2; TDA 2026, Rule 67-A; Mount Airy Casino poker room house rules (2020), rule 4.
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