A burn card is a playing card dealt from the top of a deck, and placed aside unused by those playing a card game. This is often done in casinos to deter cheating, to provide extra cards for use when an irregularity of play occurs, or for other reasons. In blackjack for example, several cards are burned after the shuffle to make card counting more difficult. 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.