Dealer error on 4th street, might be a probability question

[PokerEveryDay]

Dealer goes to burn and turn but realizes there are still people in the hand that haven't acted yet. He already turns the card over so it must be reshuffled in the remaining deck.

At the clubs I play at when this happens, the dealer will wait to put the turn card back in the deck after he burns and puts the river card face down next to where the turn card would be. Then he proceeds to reshuffle the pre exposed turn card and then when ready will continue play.

If the dealer forgets to burn for the river card and reshuffles the pre exposed turn card people get fussy, why I ask? You don't know what the river is. In the long run it's all the same, right? So my question is, does it really make a difference if the dealer doesn't burn for what would be the river card for that particular hand?

To me this is like people playing BJ that complain when the guy to the right of them doesn't play right and took their card. In the long run it doesn't matter what the guy to the right of you does. What do you guys think?

[Mr Rick]

I agree totally. I would like to see the exposed turn card reshuffled for the turn and river because that reflects true probabilities and it is patently unfair for the last person to make a decision on the turn knowing that the exposed card only has half the chance of appearing on the board as the rest of the cards in the deck. Nobody else on the turn had that information when they were betting.

But unfortunately at Foxwoods their policy is the same as you described. Because it keeps intact the river card.

[jjshabado]

This or something similar was discussed not to long ago, and somebody knowledgable made the point that a lot of rules are made to keep 'gamblers' happy. That is, the players that don't really understand probability or long run. This, of course, is a good thing.

You're completely right though.

[PokerEveryDay]

I guess since it keeps the gambler's happy and it doesn't matter which way you do it then it's no big deal. When it becomes an issue with a player then you know who the sucker is.

This came up where the dealer reshuffled the pre exposed turn card before burning for the river and a player said now there has been two mistakes made. When he explained to me why, he said I just don't understand....LOL