A re-deal in Poker

A redeal in poker occurs usually when there is a misdeal, meaning that the dealer makes a mistake. This is necessary when the secrecy of cards is compromised or cards are dealt incorrectly.

Redeals are relatively uncommon in poker and there are a number of mistakes that can be made where there is no need for a full re deal of the cards. Of course this is a live phenomenon - i haven't seen a computer program make such a mistake... yet.

Reasons for a redeal in poker

There are a number of reasons why this might be necessary in a hand. The following are the common scenarios where cards might need to be re-dealt.

1) If the first or second hole card is exposed, this would compromise the hand and that specific card should be re-dealt. If the dealer exposes any subsequent card, it may or may not be kept depending on the scenario (this differs from casino to casino), but dealing should continue. At the end of the deal, the exposed card is normally traded for the first card on the top of the deck, and the bad card is burned before the river. If more than one hole card is shown, a misdeal has occurred and a full re-deal should take place.

2) If the dealer deals more than one extra hole card, the whole hand must be re-dealt. If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player an extra card and it isn't seen, (after all players have received their starting hands), the card will be returned to the deck and used for the burn card.

3) If the flop contains too many cards the hand must be re dealt.

4) If a dealer deals one card too many on board, it may stand as the burn card. If more than one card is dealt.

It very much depends on whether the mistake can be corrected without compromising players hands. Where this can be done, often the correction can be made. Where a players hand or the overall hand is compromised, a full re-deal is necessary.