Burn cards
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In card games, a burn card is a playing card dealt from the top of a deck, and discarded (“burned”), unused by the players. This is often done in casinos to deter a form of cheating known as card marking, as well as to provide extra cards for use when an irregularity of play occurs. In poker, the top card of the deck stub is burned at the beginning of each betting round, so that players who might have been able to read markings on that card during the previous round cannot take advantage of that information (far less, at least; knowledge of a burn card might occasionally be marginally useful, such as knowing there is one less Ace in the deck, but far less so than having it in play).
Burn cards are almost always placed in the discard pile face down, so no players know what card was burned.
Sometimes a mis-dealt card (such as one of the down cards in poker that has flashed during the deal) will be used as the burn card–in those cases, the card should be immediately placed face up on the deck after the deal is complete.
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