The Context Machine

Whoever is responsible for inventing Texas Holdem gave us a great game. In no other game have the forces of randomness and skill come together in such an elegant dance. It has been said by many people that Texas Holdem is the perfect poker game. While this is certainly a statement that is just as much about opinion as fact, there is truth that Texas Holdem poker is perhaps the single most popular poker game on the planet. While the way the cards are dealt and the fact that every player at the table is trying to make something work from the same set of cards, one of the unrecognized heroes of Texas Holdem is the burn card.

The burn card is the card that is discarded just before one of the cards on the board is flipped over. The reason this mechanic is so important to Texas Holdem is that it helps break up the odds of the game and bit which leads to a more competitive game. Imagine for a second, a Texas Holdem hand without burning the burn card. The chances of a pair increases dramatically, as does the chance of suited cards. The reason for this is that when cards are shuffled there is almost no way to make sure the cards are actually evenly split. This means that in Texas Holdem and any other card game, the chances of pulling cards that were next to each other exist. Thus the burn card helps control this chance and thus keep the game on a much more even playing field.

For a fun experiment play ten hands of Texas Holdem without burning any cards. Then after those ten hands, play the next ten hands of Texas Holdem with the burn card. Chances are you will notice a big difference in the outcome of not only each hand, but the total game as well.