Rule 40 · TDA 2026
40: Burns After Substantial Action
Dealing Rules
TDA text 2026
The burn card is to protect the stub, not “preserve card order”. If SA occurs and a hand is killed due to the wrong number of cards, all cards of the killed hand are mucked and randomness applies to further dealing (See also RP-14 Randomness). The stub is treated as a normal stub and one and only one card is burned off the stub for each subsequent street. The burn is always one card per street, never more. See Illustration Addendum.
Illustration Addendum
Rule 40:
Rule 40: Burns After Substantial Action
Example 1-A: THE 50-100. SB / BB in seats 1 and 2. Pre-flop, initial cards dealt to all players. SB / BB in seats 1 and 2. Seat 3 (UTG) folds and Seat 4 calls, completing substantial action with 2 actions with chips. Seat 5 then realizes they have only 1 card and the hand is dead because SA has occurred. The dealer will burn only one card and then put out the flop. The dealer will not burn 2 cards to “return to the original stub order”. Example 1-B: Same game and initial deal. Seat 3 (UTG) folds and Seat 4 calls, completing substantial action. Seat 5 then realizes they have 3 cards and the hand is dead because SA has occurred. The dealer will burn one card and then put out the flop. The dealer will not consider Seat 5’s third card as the burn and put out the flop without a burn off the stub.
Poker Tournament Directors Association
Source: PokerTDA.com ↗ · The original source prevails if this guide differs