Break ( poker )


1) Win all of somebody's chips. "Who broke Smiley?"

2) Miss. "I broke the hand when I caught a 10." That implies that the 10 was not the card the player wanted to draw.

3) Throw away part of a lowball hand (presumably with the intention of making a better hand,
because as it stands the hand is probably not a winner). "I knew he had me beat, so
I broke the 8, and came back on a 6, and beat a slick 7 for him."

4) Remove some chips from your stack, usually followed by [one's] stack or chips. In some clubs,
if you break your stack when it is your time to bet, that is considered a bet, and you must follow through,
that is, complete the bet. This is to prevent an angle shooter from putting chips into the pot to gauge another's
reaction and then withdrawing the chips without betting; in some clubs a bet is not considered complete until the
player has released the chips from his hand.

5) In lowball, to draw. (The implication is that if circumstances were different the
player could stand pat on the hand.) "You don't need any cards? Okay, I'll break."