In poker games with blinds, chopping the blinds is a custom that may occur when all other players fold to the blinds before the flop. The blinds then remove their bets, ending the hand.
Chopping the blinds is a common occurrence in live ring games, whereas it is not allowed in tournament play (the small blind must raise, call or fold and cannot reclaim their bet), and is seldom, if ever, possible in play on the internet.
Why players chop.
Players generally chop for one of two reasons.
In higher limit games, players tend to be tighter, and it is more common for everyone to fold to the blinds. In this case, chopping would occur so frequently that it would be pointless. Furthermore, higher limit games are much more likely to be short-handed. Finally, the rake in higher limit games is usually much smaller in comparison to the size of the pot, and if a collection is taken instead of a rake, this removes the economic reason for chopping. For all these reasons, chopping is much more common in lower limit games than in higher limit games.
Ethics of chopping.
While chopping is a very common practice, some players feel it is antithetical to the nature of poker, especially in short-handed games. Mason Malmuth gives the following reasons why he believes chopping damages a poker game:
Many of these reasons overlap. For example, players who know each other tend to chop more often. This sometimes encourages these players to chop on future betting rounds, when everyone else has left the pot. This can be very confusing for other players, as it can give the illusion of partnership and collusion, even if such collusion is unintended.
General etiquette.
There are some general guidelines that have developed in regard to chopping the blinds, which are as follows:
The important point is that a player's chopping policy should be made "public" and should be "consistent" whenever they play. If a player decides to deviate from his or her usual chopping policy for a single hand or a single session, this should be publicly announced. Players who constantly change their chopping policy from session to session, or worse, from hand to hand, in order to secure an advantage, are generally considered to be engaging in unethical behaviour.