Is there a difference in odds in Texas Hold Em when the dealer uses the top 5 cards as their hand?

Question

I'm at a Tribal Gaming Casino where the dealer uses a shuffling machine that kicks out the top five cards as his hand. After he receives his hand he deals out the cards for the gamblers as usual. Does this dealing technique change the odds? In Vegas they don't deal like this and I've done better there. Is it how it's shuffled or is it just me?

Answer 1

You are clearly talking about a Texas Hold'em table game, as opposed to a real poker game where players play against each other.

There are dozens of poker/Texas Hold'em based table games in casinos these days.  We'd have to know which specific game you were talking about before we could answer you about odds.

I just read your extra bit.  Hmm.  Now I really don't know what you are talking about.  I've never seen a shuffle machine used in this way, and I've played poker in Vegas, Atlantic City, Indiana, the UK, and Canada.  So that's a new one on me.

When shuffle machines are used typically the dealer takes the cards out of the machine, and then deals as normal, burning and doing everything he normally would.

If you are talking about a real poker game, I don't know why you are talking about 'his hand.'  The dealer does not have a hand, they just deal the cards to the players.

Like I said, I'm confused, you need to elaborate.  Or I need some sleep, one of the two!

Answer 2

If the casino is honest, and the deck is a fair, 52-card deck, and the shuffling machine is shuffling the cards randomly and the dealer is dealing the cards from the shuffling machine in order, then the order that the cards are dealt shouldn't make any difference.  But if the casino is dishonest, it would be easier for the house to cheat by dealing the top 5 cards to the dealer, because 5 good cards could be stacked on top.  I don't know if it is possible for the dealer and/or the shuffling machine to stack the cards, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility.

Answer 3

The reason that the flop, turn and river has burn cards is essentially to help prevent cheating.  If a player has marked the cards (for example, bent the corner of the aces when he gets them dealt to him), then without burning cards, he would know the next card off the deck during the previous round of betting.  So, if he had an AK, and knew that an ace would be the turn card, he would have a big advantage during flop betting.

However, since the top card on the deck is never used as the dealer's community cards, there is less advantage to marking the deck.

As to your specific question, no.  The odds of a hand do not change depending on whether the community cards are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and fifth cards in the deck or if they are the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th cards, which is what happens when the dealer burns cards.

That said, poker players are very superstitious about the cards that are meant to go to them and so the rules of poker concerning irregularities are designed to keep the cards in the order they were "meant" to be dealt.  For example, if a card is exposed during the deal, you do not give that player the next card.  Instead you skip that player and deal out all of the cards that everyone else was supposed to get in the order they were supposed to get them.  Then you give the player missing a card the "burn card" and the exposed card replaces the burn card on the top of the deck.  This also insures that the flop, turn and river cards are the same cards that would have been dealt had the irregulaity not occured.

P.S.  The situation you have described sounds a lot like a casino game where the players play against the house instead of traditional poker, where on of the players at the table always wins the pot.  For house-based games, the dealing process is different, but again, the odds don't change.

Answer 4

Using a shuffling machine should not alter the odds in any way.  However, I have some information for you:

The dealer should not be getting a hand, and in Texas Hold Em, NO player gets five cards.  The deal is as follows:

Dealer deals two cards, face down to each player.  Betting takes place.  The dealer burns one card, then deals three cards face up on the board.  Betting takes place.  The dealer burns one card, then deals one card face up on the board.  Betting takes place.  The dealer burns one card, then deals one card face up on the board.  Final round of betting takes place.

Answer 5

No, that would not change the odds at all. Burn cards are a tradition that hearken back to shadier days when dealers and players were not 100% honest, and dealers would load the deck to give a specific player a certain hand. Burning cards was a method to prevent cheating. In modern casinos, it has no practical function, so it's really not necessary at all.