Card Dealing Terminology: The Burning Cards Flopping in Your Pocket

This is the first article in a quick series to describe the terminology or slang that has been created to name the cards dealt during Texas Hold ‘em.

Texas Hold ‘em deals out seven cards to players through out the course of a hand (one round of play). As the cards are dealt to players they can bet at several stages. Names are given to the dealing of cards, with a different name for each stage.

Keeping Your Cards in Your Pocket
Its never appropriate to keep your cards in your pocket, however the term does come up in Texas Hold ‘em. Initially players are dealt two cards up front that are dealt face down. When holding these cards, the players are refer to the cards they have in their ‘pocket.’ As an example if a player is initially dealth a pair of Aces, they would possibly say after the hand is played out, “I was holding pocket Aces!”

Burn Cards to warm up Your Hand
After everyone has received their first two cards, have assessed what they have in their pocket, and have completed the initial round of betting, the dealer will now proceed to ritualistically Burn a card.

Actually, I’m joking there is no actual fire. The dealer takes the first card on the top of the deck at this point and discards it. This is referred to as the Burn card. The purpose of the burn card is to prevent cheating elliminating the possibility of a card being palmed to the top of the deck.

In the next installment we’ll cover ‘The Flop‘ and determine if there are Cards Gasping for Air Flopping like a Fish on the table or if that is just a myth. . .

Related Posts

« Previous Post | Next Post »

1 Comment to “Card Dealing Terminology: The Burning Cards Flopping in Your Pocket”