Burn card
Also: burn
A card discarded face down by the dealer before each community card is dealt. It is a security measure, not a rule of the game: burning protects against a marked or inadvertently exposed top card giving anyone information.
In hold'em and Omaha one card is burned before the flop, before the turn and before the river — three in total. Burn cards are never shown and play no part in the hand, but they are kept separate from the muck so that a dealer can reconstruct the deal if a mistake is discovered.
Procedures around a missed burn vary by room, and most house rules treat a card dealt without burning as a misdeal or require the card to be replaced, which is why the dealer's rhythm is deliberately mechanical.
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Full glossaryFrequently asked questions
How many cards are burned in a hold'em hand?
Three — one each before the flop, the turn and the river.