Dealer forgot to burn a card

[Zetack]

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This lead to some drama at our usually non-dramatic game this week: 17 players, down to 4 (all in the money), actual cards are insignificant I believe (3 of the 4 players in the hand, two of them all in pre-flop), but the dealer failed to burn a card before the flop, then burns and flips the turn, then burns and flips the river (giving one guy with pocket 3's a set of 3's and the winning hand. A player then notices that the burn cards were short one, and the dealer (not in tourney anymore) admits he may have forgot to burn pre flop. He says "I know I burned before the river, I peaked at it and it was an Ah, and I know I burned before the turn, I looked at it too." he was right, we flip the two burn cards over and he was correct. the only other down cards in the muck were from the lone folder. The dealer then says that because there could have been no action post flop anyway, he was going to back the cards up and reconstruct the community cards correctly, in doing so takes the river 3 and makes it the pre-river burn card, and the guy with pocket 3's loses (to a pair made on third street, which now is second street).

How should this have been handled?

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I prefer the board to stand as is. But the rule does adress an all-in on the river, and that rule could be extrapolated to all streets, calling for readjustment of the cards. Again, as I said, I prefer to let the board stand. In no case should the deck be reshuffled and a new board dealt.

See the rule:

16. If the dealer fails to burn a card or burns more than one card, the error should be corrected if discovered before betting action has started for that round. Once action has been taken on a boardcard, the card must stand. Whether the error is able to be corrected or not, subsequent cards dealt should be those that would have come if no error had occurred. For example, if two cards were burned, one of the cards should be put back on the deck and used for the burncard on the next round. On the last round, if there was no betting because a player was all-in, the error should be corrected if discovered before the pot has been awarded, provided the deck stub, boardcards, and burncards are all sufficiently intact to determine the proper replacement card.


Edit: NEVER MIND! I changed my mind, after looking at the hold em specific rule which is slightly different than the general rule. The board should be constructed with the correct cards.

Hold Them specific rule:

6. If the dealer fails to burn a card or burns more than one card, the error should be corrected if discovered before betting action has started for that round. Once action has been taken on a boardcard by any player, the card must stand. Whether the error is able to be corrected or not, subsequent cards dealt should be those that would have come if no error had occurred. For example, if two cards were burned, one of the cards should be put back on the deck and used for the burncard on the next round. <font color="red"> If there was no betting on a round because a player was all-in, the error should be corrected if discovered before the pot has been awarded.</font>