Four Cards on the Flop? Mix Them, Randomly Burn One

In a tournament using the 2026 Poker TDA rules, a four-card flop is corrected by mixing those four cards face down and having the floor randomly select one as the next burn card. The other three become the flop. The dealer does not simply remove the fourth card or shuffle the whole remaining deck. TDA Rule 41-A, in the September 7, 2026 version, specifies this procedure.

For a beginner, the immediate action is simple: point out the extra card, pause play and ask for the floor—the staff member responsible for rulings. Do not check, bet or fold while the correction is being resolved.

The correction, step by step

Assume an otherwise valid Texas hold’em hand, with preflop betting complete and four cards dealt as the flop:

1. Call the floor.
2. The dealer mixes the four flop cards face down. Only those four cards are mixed for this correction.
3. The floor randomly selects one card as the next burn card. A burn card is set aside rather than used as a community card.
4. The remaining three cards form the corrected flop. Play continues under the floor’s direction.

The rule applies whether the four cards were exposed or not. It also applies even if someone believes they know the “door card,” meaning the first card exposed when the flop was spread. Remembering the apparent order does not replace the random selection. A four-card flop does not, by itself, cancel the hand or return the preflop bets: the specified remedy repairs the board rather than starting the hand again. TDA Rule 41-A

A worked example: why a useful card can disappear

You hold A♣ K♣, and the dealer spreads:

6♦ 5♦ 4♥ K♦

You cannot treat the king as a guaranteed part of the board. After the four cards are randomly mixed, any one can be selected as the burn card. Assuming an equally random selection:

• Probability the king is removed: 1 ÷ 4 = 25%.
• Probability the king stays on the flop: 3 ÷ 4 = 75%.

Those percentages describe the correction only—not your chance of winning the hand.

This situation occurred at the 2026 WSOP in Event #11, the $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller. PokerNews reported that Ricky Landais’s A♣ K♣ was all-in against Bobby James’s A♦ 9♠ when the dealer spread those four cards without a burn. The random correction removed K♦, leaving 4♥ 6♦ 5♦. The turn and river were 8♥ and 7♣; James made a nine-high straight and Landais finished 22nd. PokerNews’s account of the hand

The unfavorable result did not make the random-selection procedure incorrect. Neither player gets to choose which card stays.

Similar errors have different remedies

Do not apply the four-card rule to every dealing mistake:

Error	Correction under the 2026 TDA rules
Four cards dealt as the flop	Mix the four face down; the floor randomly selects one as the next burn; keep the other three.
Three-card flop, but no burn card	If no action has occurred, mix the three face down, select one as the burn and complete the flop with the next card from the remaining deck. If any action—even one check—has occurred, the original three stand.
Flop dealt before betting is complete	A separate premature-card procedure applies; do not use the four-card correction alone.

These distinctions come from TDA Rule 41 and Recommended Procedure 5.

Cash games and home games

TDA rules are tournament rules, not an automatic rulebook for every cash game. However, the 2026 WSOP live-action cash-game rules for the Las Vegas series also use the scramble-four, randomly-select-one procedure for a four-card flop. WSOP live-action Rule 167

At another cardroom, ask the floor which house rule applies. For a home game, agree on the correction before play starts rather than voting after everyone sees which card helps them. Keep your hole cards protected and leave the board cards for the designated dealer to handle.