If you go to any pub poker games, or if you are playing with a small group of people, then you will often find yourself on a ’self dealt’ table. This means there is no dedicated dealer, and the players will take it in turn to deal the hands as the button rotates around the table.

Here are a few things to look out for, and what are the most common when it comes to playing pub poker games in London that are self dealt.

The dealer is the person who has the dealer button in front of them, and this moves clockwise one place with every hand, so that all plays have to deal in rotation.

Shuffling of the cards after a hand is normally done by the person in the small blind, to the left of the dealer.

The cards are then cut by the person in the cutoff, that is to the right of the dealer. This is done so that no one person shuffles, cuts and deals - which reduces the risk of cheating (which is very low anyway).

Most places provide you with a ‘cut card’ - this is a piece of plastic the same size as a playing card, usually of a bright colour that is placed at the bottom of the deck. The person who is cutting the cards should cut them onto the cut card. The aim of the cut card is to prevent bottom dealing, and also to prevent any of the players from seeing what the bottom card in the deck is should the dealer accidentally flash the bottom of the deck.

When dealing you place a card in front of each player, starting with the small blind and going clockwise, with yourself receiving the last card. Keep going around in rotation until all hole cards are dealt (this varies depending on the type of game you are playing: Texas Hold’em would end after two cards apiece are dealt, Omaha would be 4, etc)

After the initial round of betting takes place, you will need to ‘burn and turn’, which you should do in the following steps:

1) Knock on the table. This will let all players know you are about to deal the flop, and if you happen to be about to do this prior to the action at the table finishing, the players can stop you.
2) ‘Burn’ the top card of the deck by placing it face down on the table. Make sure to keep this away from any players’ live cards.
3) Turn over 3 cards face up on the table. This is the ‘flop’ and the first 3 out of 5 community cards.

After another round of betting commences, you burn and turn again. Once more, knock on the table, burn the top card and then turn over just 1 card so it is face up beside the other 3. This is the Turn card.

After another round of betting commences, you burn and turn the final card. Again, knock on the table, burn the top card and then turn over 1 card is it is face up on the table beside the other 4. This is the River card, and the last community card to be dealt.

After any betting is completed, players show down their hand to see who wins.

Once the winning hand is defined, push the pot to the winning player and bring in the cards making sure not to expose any of them. Push the cards to the next small blind (who was just the big blind) and move the dealer button left one place.

Get ready to cut the cards onto the cut card once the shuffle is done.

As long as you pay attention to what is happening at the table, you have nothing to fear. We all make mistakes, especially when we are first learning to deal - and people will be unhappy with any mistakes you make that may cost them money, but you will learn from them and get better at it, and grow in confidence.

It’s also a great idea to practice shuffling at home.

Tips:
> Always keep the deck of cards in plain view. Never put them below the height of the table.
> Pay attention to who has and who has not folded. You do not want to take someone’s cards away from them if they haven’t folded!
> If you turn a card over by accident when dealing, continue the deal as if that card had been face down. After the deal is complete, give the person who you misdealt to an additional card, retrieving the one that was face up. Make sure everyone at the table knows which card was exposed, and then use the card as the first burn card. Therefore, nobody will be at a disadvantage.
> If you turn over two cards by accident when dealing - stop - this is a misdeal. Retrieve all cards, give them to the small blind to reshuffle and then you will need to start the deal again.
> Make sure the blinds and any antes are in the pot before you start to deal. Take antes from in front of people in rotation making sure each person has paid them (don’t just pull them all in and then realise someone has not put in an ante).
> Keep the deck in your hand when dealing, don’t place it on the table and spread them out. The whole point of the burn card is to stop anyone using a marked card that may come out and to ensure the cards coming out on the flop, turn or river are always kept secret until they are dealt. Spreading them out means you may as well forget about a burn card.
> Keep cards low to the table when dealing so no one can see the underside of any cards being dealt.
> If a pot is split, and there is an extra chip left over that can not be split between the players, it goes to the person nearest the dealer (in a clockwise rotation).
> Whoever forces the action must show first in a showdown. i.e. if everyone checks on the river, the person nearest the dealer - i.e the person who checked first - shows first. If someone bets and is called, the person who made the initial bet, or raise, shows first.