Blair Rodman, recent winner of the $2,000 buy-in no-limit hold 'em event at the World Series of Poker and author of Kill Phil writes:
Yes, that's the established procedure -- I've never seen a game where they didn't burn the top cards. It's a system designed to protect players against a marked deck being in play: If that were the case, a cheater could know what the next card to come was before he bet. Or a dealer colluding with a player could know what the next card was and deal from elsewhere in the deck (e.g. second card, or from the bottom), to aid his partner or hinder an opponent.
When the top card's burned, it eliminates the opportunity for this type of cheating.
