If you’re planning to put together a home poker game for your buddies, you need to understand the basics of poker dealing. After all, there are quite a few things to think about when dealing poker games, and you need to ensure you know what’s expected of you before taking a seat at the table.
So, in this article, we run through the basics that you need to be aware of to ensure you can host a successful game of poker with your friends, which usually involves the popular Texas Hold’em game format.
The basics of dealing poker games
The key to dealing a poker game is not trying to get too clever. Stick to the basics and ensure that you deal properly and fairly with everyone at the table, and you shouldn’t have any issues. So, here are the basic steps that you need to follow to get your home poker game off on the right note:
Shuffle
Shuffling the cards is a crucial first step when dealing a poker hand, as it randomises the order of the cards and prevents players from knowing which cards will show.
When shuffling at home, you should hide the bottom card and perform at least four riffle shuffles and a cut before dealing a new hand. There are often arguments at the poker table when a shuffle hasn’t been performed well, so make sure you take this first step seriously.
Deal
If you’re playing Texas Hold’em, you deal the cards to the player to the left and move around the table (deal one card at a time and go around twice). You should deal two cards to every player at the table.
Make sure you place two cards down in front of each player without the other players seeing them, and you have done your job correctly.
Manage the pot
As the dealer, you’re responsible for managing the action during the betting rounds, and you need to ensure each player has bet the correct amount to remain in the game. We found the best guide at Poker.Org, but read on for the basic info you need.
Before the flop, you must ensure that the action begins with the player sitting to the left of the big blind, and you should monitor all subsequent bets when the betting round commences.
When playing with friends, this should be relatively straightforward, but you should always pay special attention to the chips that are being placed in the middle of the table so that communication about how much players need to bet is clear.
Once the flop, turn and river are dealt, the betting round begins with the player sitting closest to the left of the dealer button and following clockwise around the table.
Flop, turn and river
With bets placed and the game in motion, it’s time to deal the community cards. Your first job here is to burn the top card of the deck before revealing three community cards. The reason for this is to ensure that. Players can’t identify cards by picking up markings on cards, and it prevents marked cards from becoming an issue during home games. Plus, it’s standard poker practice and something you should always remember to do.
After the flop betting round, you burn a card and deal the turn card for another betting round. If no one has yet won the pot and at least two players remain involved, you burn and produce the river card.
Award the pot
Once any river betting action concludes, your responsibility as the dealer is to determine which player has the highest hand and push the pot in their direction.
Of course, in a home game, players are likely to award themselves the pot on a winning hand practically but to save any disputes, you should make sure that you announce the winner at the end of every hand.
Once the hand ends, place the cards together in the deck and pass them to the next dealer, and your job is done. You’ll feel like an expert who deals at the World Series of Poker or WPT World Championship.
More information about dealing poker games
If you’ve never dealt a poker hand before hosting a poker game at home, it’s a good idea to practice before hosting your friends, as it’s important not to make any mistakes when people are playing for money.
The above steps should be enough to get you started and will ensure that your game of poker flows well around the table.