The game is Stud8. Six players see the river with action on every street and the dealer deals a down card to the first four players before realizing he only has two left for the last two, which isn't enough since it's not allowed to run out the entire deck. He forgot to make sure there were enough cards ahead of time. For some reason the guy who runs the game says to shuffle the remaining cards with the burns and the dead cards and deal the last two guys cards. For some reason the dealer listens to him before they both realize that was a pretty bad idea.

How would you rectify this situation? Of course the dealer should have dealt a 7th street community card, but he didn't realize ahead of time there wouldn't be enough cards. He could have shuffled the last two cards with the burns to allow the final two players to get a random card, but it's too late for that since the stub and burns have been mixed unidentifiably with the muck. Players could return their down cards and deal the card which should have been the community card, but the 7th street down cards have already been mixed with the 3rd street down cards and aren't identifiable without relying on player accuracy/honesty.

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but it's a semi-private game where everybody knows each other pretty well (except for me as the newest guy)

Do we ever just deal the last two cards since it's pretty fubar already if we can't distinguish the burns from the rest of the muck?


There's no way I'm "so not okay with that" while being okay with trusting the honesty of the players to return their actual 7th card.

Players returning their down cards is horrible for the reason Lord Crispen mentions. We're left with several mediocre options, I'm not sure which is best. I'd probably opt for shuffling the remaining two cards with the burns.

Dealing the last card is bad because dealers often roll the deck or expose it during the cut.
Shuffling only the burns is bad because they could have marks that were visible and it's a 1 in 6 chance to get the possibly exposed bottom card.
Shuffling everything is bad because some number of those cards were definitely exposed as folded up cards. Also it gives those two players an opening to complain they were given folded cards which must mean they were bad ones.

Why do you feel the last option is so much worse than the others?

That's what I would suggest. While it's not ideal, the proper solution is already impossible. The rules in draw poker allow for the very last card in the deck to be dealt out only if it completes the last draw for the last player. Otherwise the last card is mixed in with discards and mucked cards from previous rounds. So I would say that using the last two cards, (ie the draw procedure) which completes the final round would be a logical solution to this situation.

In my room we don't deal a community card, we shuffle the burns in with the stub and give everyone a card. (We only go to community cards if even that is not enough.)

Even though shuffling in the discards is not right, once it is done I just go with that as the least problematic finish to the hand. There is absolutely no way you ask people to return downcards.

As much as I don't like this option. The last 2 players can receive a community card with the option of being all-in rather than facing action on 7th street.

Edit to add, if the stub(of 2 cards) is mixed with the muck, all you can do is deal. The ideal solution is to shuffle the stub in with the burns; this should have occurred before dealing 7th, since it didn't, it can be done before dealing the final 2. If the burns get mucked, give the final 2 player a community card.

At that point, just deal both players their 7th card and hope nobody really complains. If one of them does, give him the option of being treated all-in and not having to face river action.

Just terrible when the dealer screws up in a $18 pot.

Is dealing out the whole deck really that bad? (Serious question - it seems like a good procedural point, like burning the top card, but readily sacrificable in unusual situations like this.)

At this point it is too late. The muck has already been shuffled in so we must go with it. Before giving the last two players their cards I would offer them the opportunity to be all in for this hand if they want, but this is how we will complete the hand. As for what should have happened, the dealer should've shuffled the last 2 cards with the burn cards and then given each player their down card. Never trust players to give back a mixed in down card.

It depends. In LA they would say go ahead an deal the last card. In some states it is mandated by law not to deal the last card.

I have worked in rooms where you deal the last card. The world didn't end.

Borgata doesn't deal last card. It'd be reshuffle...mosr places use last card go finish action

With 2 cards and 2 players remaining on the final street, I'm dealing out the final 2 cards of the stub.