'Burning Cards'

[I_Fold]

I've been playing for about 6 months now -which makes me new and therefore ignorant of some of the etiquette of Hold'em.

The people I play with, when it's their turn to deal, always burn 3 cards when dealing the Flop, River and Turn. They says it's to prevent counting cards.

I find it annoying as I know that one of those burnt cards is the card I need.

Is burning cards a standard practice?

Thanks.

[MasterShake]

Card burning is very much part of the game. It has nothing to do with counting, but with reading marked cards. If there is a mark on a card, then by mucking it, nobody will know what the next card will be. You burn one card before the flop, one before the turn and one before the river.

[Fat Tony]

only burn one card, not three before the flop, turn, and river. i don't know where they got the idea that you're supposed to burn three.

[Underbelly]

No, it's only one. Try watching the WPT or something.

[JohnnyCache]

You can't really "Count" cards per se in poker - it's one more measure to keep the dealer from shuffling a card to the top of the deck, or second-dealing the top card around

[K-rug]

what Johnny said. Unless you're really good then it doesn't matter. But yes:
Burn, deal the flop, burn, deal the turn, burn, deal the river.

[JohnnyCache]

Although, it's worth saying, there's nothing particularly game-ruining about burning three cards. . . it shouldn't make a difference in the least.

[Underbelly]

It's odd, however, that you assume that one of those three cards is the one you need. How do you know that the forth, fifth and sixth cards are the ones you need. It really doesn't make a difference but the games is actually played with one burn card not three.