# How a Blackjack Dealer Runs a Hand, Step by Step The sequence a blackjack dealer follows from shuffle to settlement: cut card, burn card, the deal, the peek, player order and the draw rule, and why each step exists. Source: https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-dealer-procedures/ Updated: September 24, 2026 Publisher: 21 Trainer, makers of Blackjack Strategy: 21 Trainer, an educational blackjack trainer for iPhone (https://apps.apple.com/app/blackjack-strategy-21-trainer/id6759527695) > **Educational content, not gambling advice.** 21 Trainer and this article teach blackjack strategy and card counting as skills, using virtual chips only. No strategy or counting system guarantees winnings, and nothing here encourages real-money play. If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call 1-800-522-4700 (National Council on Problem Gambling). Watch a blackjack table for the first time and the motion looks improvised. Cards fly, players tap the felt, the dealer flips a hidden card, chips move. Sit down expecting to decode it in real time and the game feels like it is being run at you rather than around you. It is not improvised at all. A dealer runs every round through the same fixed sequence, in the same order, and once you know the skeleton the confusion drops away. You know when your turn is coming, why the dealer paused before anyone acted, and what the face down card is waiting for. Here is the round from shuffle to settlement. One hedge up front: exact procedures vary by casino and by jurisdiction, so treat this as the common skeleton rather than a rulebook for any specific table. ## Before the first card: shuffle, cut, burn A new shoe starts with a shuffle, by hand or by machine. A player is then offered the cut: they insert a cut card into the shuffled stack, the dealer completes the cut at that spot, and a cut card is then placed toward the back of the stack, where it will mark the reshuffle point. When it surfaces during play, the round in progress is finished and the shoe is reshuffled. How deep that point sits is called penetration, and our piece on [deck penetration](https://21trainer.app/articles/deck-penetration-explained/) explains why that placement carries more weight than it looks like it should. After the cut, the first card is burned: taken off the top without being shown. The burn is a long standing convention, commonly explained as protection for the integrity of the top card, and its handling varies by house. What matters to a new player is simply that it happens between the cut and the deal, and that no decision of yours is attached to it. Not every table follows this opening. At a continuous shuffling machine there is no shoe to cut and no reshuffle point at all: discards return to the machine after every round, which keeps the composition near neutral, as covered in [continuous shuffling machines](https://21trainer.app/articles/csm-continuous-shuffling-machines/). ## The deal, and where first base sits With bets posted, the deal begins at first base, the seat to the dealer's left, and moves clockwise around to third base at the dealer's right. One card goes to each betting spot that has a wager on it, then one card face up to the dealer, then a second card to each spot. In hole card games, the dealer's second card is dealt face down at the end of that second pass and stays untouched until the dealer's turn. The seating vocabulary comes straight from that order. First base acts first and third base acts last. If you are new and want extra time to think, first base is the wrong end of the table; if you want to see how other players play their hands before deciding your own, sit toward third. Not every game deals the dealer that second card. In no hole card games, common outside the United States, the dealer takes only the upcard at the deal and receives the second card after all players have acted. The difference changes strategy in specific ways, which our [European no hole card](https://21trainer.app/articles/european-no-hole-card/) piece walks through. ## The check for blackjack Between the deal and the players' turns, one interruption is possible. When the dealer's upcard is an ace, insurance is offered before anything else happens; when the upcard is an ace or a ten value card, the dealer checks the hole card for blackjack. If the two cards make a natural, the round ends there and then. If not, play proceeds. That check is called the peek, and its timing is the whole point: a dealer blackjack is revealed before any player doubles or splits. The details, and what changes at tables without it, are in [the dealer peek rule](https://21trainer.app/articles/dealer-peek-rule/). The insurance offer that precedes it against an ace is a separate side bet, and basic strategy declines it for the reasons in [our insurance explainer](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-insurance-explained/). ## Players act, then the dealer plays Once any check for blackjack is done, players act in the same order the cards were dealt, from first base to third base. Each player in turn hits, stands, doubles, splits or surrenders according to the rules at the table and their own judgment. Nothing about the dealer's hand changes during this phase; in a hole card game the hole card sits where it landed. When the last player finishes, the dealer turns the hole card face up, or in a no hole card game deals the second card, and plays by the posted rule: draw on 16 and below, stop on 17 and above, with the treatment of soft 17 printed on the felt. That one line, stand versus hit on soft 17, is a real rule difference with real cost, compared in [S17 versus H17](https://21trainer.app/articles/s17-vs-h17/). Most of what the felt tells you before you sit, including the payout and the doubling rules, is collected in our guide to [reading the blackjack felt](https://21trainer.app/articles/reading-the-blackjack-felt/). Once the dealer's hand is complete, the round is settled, the chips move, and the next round begins with a new deal, or with a fresh shuffle if the cut card has come out. ## Face up or face down One visible difference between tables traces to the dealing equipment. In shoe games, the standard multi deck arrangement, player cards are dealt face up and players never touch them. Every decision is signaled with the hands: a tap for a hit, a wave for a stand, the conventions explained in [blackjack hand signals](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-hand-signals/). Face up cards plus fixed signals keep the whole table observable, which is what the house wants. In hand held games, typically single and double deck, the player cards are dealt face down and the player picks them up, with one hand only. The one hand rule serves the same game protection purpose as the no touching rule at shoe tables: the cards stay in view and are handled one consistent way. Face up or face down does not change the strategy itself, though the single and double deck games that use hand held dealing have their own charts. ## Why the procedure is so rigid Every step above exists for the same two reasons, as dealer training guides present them: consistency and game protection. A fixed order of operations makes each round identical in shape, which keeps the game easy to follow and to review. The cut card fixes when the reshuffle comes, the burn takes the top card out of play, the peek settles a dealer natural before players act, and hand signals leave a clear record of each decision. None of it is decoration. For a player, the payoff is simply orientation. Knowing the sequence tells you when your decisions are coming, why the dealer paused, what the face down card is doing there, and which parts of the round you can safely ignore. If you are starting from zero, the full beginner's path, including how a round flows and what the vocabulary means, is in [learn blackjack from zero](https://21trainer.app/articles/learn-blackjack-beginners/). And the next time a table looks chaotic, look again. It is running the same beats it ran the round before: deal, check, players act, dealer draws, settle, with a shuffle, cut and burn at the start of each new shoe. The confusion fades quickly once the sequence is familiar. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which direction does a blackjack dealer deal? Clockwise from the dealer's perspective, one card at a time to each betting spot with a wager on it, starting at first base, the seat to the dealer's left, and moving toward third base at the dealer's right. Players then act in the same order once the initial cards are out. Exact procedures vary by casino and jurisdiction, but this order is the common one. ### Why does the dealer burn the first card after a shuffle? The burn, one card taken off the top without being shown, is a long standing dealing convention commonly explained as protection for the integrity of the top card after the shuffle. From a player's point of view it is simply part of the restart sequence: shuffle, player cuts, burn card, then the deal. Handling of the burn varies by house. ### When does the dealer check for blackjack? In hole card games, when the upcard is an ace or a ten value card. With an ace showing, insurance is offered before the check. If the hole card completes a blackjack the round ends immediately; if not, players act. In no hole card games there is nothing to check, and the dealer takes the second card only after all players have finished acting. ### Why can't you touch your cards in a shoe game? In shoe games the player cards are dealt face up, so nobody needs to handle them, and keeping hands off the cards removes a whole category of disputes and integrity concerns. You signal hit, stand, double or split with hand motions instead. In hand held games the cards are dealt face down and you may handle them, with one hand only, for the same protective reasons. ### What does the dealer do after all players have acted? The dealer turns over the hole card, or in no hole card games draws the second card, then plays by the rule posted on the felt, drawing to at least 17. Whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17 is printed on the table, and it is one of the rule differences that changes correct strategy. Once the dealer's hand is complete, the round is settled. ## Keep reading - [The Dealer Peek Rule and Why It Matters](https://21trainer.app/articles/dealer-peek-rule/) - [Blackjack Hand Signals and Why Dealers Require Them](https://21trainer.app/articles/blackjack-hand-signals/) - [European Blackjack and the No Hole Card Rule](https://21trainer.app/articles/european-no-hole-card/)