Shuffle and Deal Texas Holdem
As you become a serious poker player, you will want to know how to shuffle and deal Texas Hold'em. In a home game, you probably won't deal exactly as a professional dealer would, but you can do your best to emulate their techniques. After practicing these steps and tips, you will be able to effectively shuffle and deal at your home games.Dealing efficiently will cause fewer problems and arguments among friends.
Steps
- Shuffle before dealing the cards. The first thing a professional dealer would do is fan out the deck and inspect the cards to see they are all there. Next turn the deck face down and mix them up. You are also checking to see that all the cards are the same color on the back. Now push them together and shuffle the cards.
- After shuffling twice "strip" the deck. Hold the deck in one hand. Use your other hand to take off the top 1/3 of cards and set them on the table. Then take the middle section and place it on top. Finally set the bottom third on top of the others. Then shuffle the cards normally again.
- Cut the deck onto the 'cut card' and get ready to deal.
- After the blinds are posted, deal each player two cards face down. Start with the person clockwise of the dealer button, and deal one card at a time around the circle, until every player has two cards.
- Note: There will be four betting rounds. During each round, move all folded cards into a "muck pile" under the hand in which you hold the deck (the "stub"). When each round is complete, the dealer moves all the chips in to a pile at the center/right (or left, if the dealer holds the stub in the right hand) of the table. (The "pot") Betting always begins with the player seated clockwise of the dealer, and continues until all players have either folded or called the total bet, including all raises.
- Round 1 (Preflop): Betting starts with the player clockwise of the Big Blind. Each player must either: 1. call the amount of the Big Blind as a minimum, 2: fold their hand, or 3: raise the bet, in accordance with predetermined table rules.
- Round 2 (The Flop): The dealer takes the top card from the deck and "burns" it, face down, under the pot. (This is a matter of protocol and does not truly affect the randomization of the cards.It does help prevent players from marking the cards and cheating.) The dealer then places three cards face up on the table. Another betting round commences.
- Round 3 (The Turn): The dealer once again burns a card and places another card face up on the table. Another betting round commences.
- Round 4 (The River): The dealer burns a card again and places the fifth and final card face up on the table. This will be the last betting round before players reveal their hands.
- The Showdown: After betting/checking on the river, any players left in the pot have to either show their hands or fold them. Traditionally, the last person to bet or raise will show first...IF there was betting on the last round. If everyone checks the final round then the player to the left of the dealer button is first to show.
- Whoever has the best hand wins the pot. Announce what the winning hand is and kill (muck) all the losers. Push the pot to the winner. Leave the 'Board' and the winner's hand face up while pushing the pot. Don't go too fast in this phase. Make sure everyone sees who has the winner so there are no arguments. Anyone at the table, whether in the pot or not, has the right to correct the dealer. It is not personal, it just helps to avoid mistakes.
Tips
- Remind the players to place their bets in front of them and not in the center of the table. This makes it easier to keep track of bets. Once a betting round finishes, the dealer can move all the chips to the middle of the table.
- There are 4 betting rounds in Hold'em and 3 burn cards.
- The basic shuffle is: shuffle,shuffle, strip (also called Box), shuffle. This is used all throughout the poker industry. If you don't use the strip then shuffle five or more times.
- If you don't want to perform all of the fancy shuffling techniques, that's OK. Just be sure to give the cards a good shuffling at least four or five times.
- To speed the game up it is helpful to play using two decks that have different color backing. While one hand is being played with one deck, the other deck is being shuffled by the next dealer.
Warnings
- One other thing to be aware of in home games is players palming chips. Whoever pushes the pot to the winner should automatically turn their palms face up to show that they did not take any chips. This should be standard practice even among friends. Professional dealers are required to do this in all live games. In tournament play the professional dealer would have no reason to take tournament chips, but at a home game it prevents any question about honesty.
- Burning a card before the flop, turn and river cards are revealed is a precaution devised to prevent cheating. The concept of burning cards developed as many professionals playing for high stakes would often subtly mark the back of certain cards, giving themselves additional information about what card was on top of the deck (and hence next to be played). Similarly in games where the dealer is playing, it is also good practice to have someone other than the dealer shuffle the cards, and someone else to cut the cards. This effectively eliminates many methods of trick shuffling/trick cutting/bottom dealing.
- All cards should remain on the table and in plain view of everybody at all times. This prevents players from hiding, switching, or marking cards.
Things You'll Need
- A regular deck of 52 cards.
- Poker chips.
- A Dealer Button. While not necessary, it is a handy tool for tracking who has the deal next, whose turn it is and where to start dealing. If you don't have a dealer button, a silver dollar or any large coin works very well.
- A cut card. This can be useful for both cutting the deck and preventing the bottom of the deck from being exposed. Additionally, it serves to prevent players from dealing off the deck's bottom to cheat. If you don't have a cut card, you can easily make one by taking two jokers from a different-colored deck, and taping or gluing them face to face, to make a colorful and reasonably attractive cut card.
