Gambling terms, explained straight

Poker

Broke in poker

Broke in poker is a variant or misspelling of break, meaning to discard part of a made hand in draw poker and draw replacements in the hope of improving it.

Also called
Break
Applies to
Draw poker, especially when a player discards part of a made hand1
Example rule
In jacks-or-better draw, a player who breaks a high pair must keep the discarded card aside to prove openers1

Key points

  • A player breaks a made hand by discarding one or more cards to draw replacements and improve the hand1.
  • The term is used almost exclusively in draw poker variants1.
  • Broke is a common misspelling of the standard term break1.

Where this term is used

Poker Poker hands Explains the ranking of hand types in poker. Poker Omaha poker A community-card poker variant where players use two hole cards and three board cards. Poker Flush poker Covers the flush hand and its role in poker. Poker Quads poker Explains four of a kind, also called quads. Poker Poker hand rankings Lists the standard hierarchy of poker hands from high card to royal flush. Poker Check-raise bluff A check-raise bluff is a poker tactic where a player checks with a weak hand

Sources

  1. Glossary of poker terms - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Defines break in poker and explains the discard action in draw poker.

Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.

Written and maintained by Ellis Warrender, writer and maintainer.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Spotted an error? Tell me and it gets fixed and logged on the corrections page.