I say chest. Girlfriend says chest. She’s from Florida, my English is mostly southern. We both live in the midwest right now and have adopted certain dialectic idiosyncrasies already, like saying “pop.” We have decided this is charming, but I feel empty inside sometimes.
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I swap them depending on the general tone of the conversation… which, of course, is no help at all.
Before or after you’ve eaten them? I always have trouble with that one.
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heard both. seldom use the idiom, but I’d say “chest” before I’d say “vest”. almost age 42. Detroit area as a youth, Tennessee and Atlanta as an adult.
I think in the day when the idiom was new, a person with the money and leisure time to gamble would default to wearing a three-piece-suit? pure guess. but nobody really wears vests anymore. there’s maybe a current microtrend amongst the nattily-dressed crowd, but since the Kennedy admin, hats and vests (and then suits altogether) have been on the decline. So maybe that’s why I say “chest”?
oh and also, I’d say like @nimelennar and use “play” for the verb. but after reading @anon50609448 's thing, I think she’s right, the ones you’re holding are not the one(s) you’re playing when it’s your turn. but that doesn’t mean I will change, since I’m a firm believer that technically incorrect grammar is OK for idiom/when-you’re-talking-IRL (but not usually for writing unless it’s clear that it’s for effect or “voice.”)
interestingly, Nat the Cat says “vest” (after “play”) in his verse on Ice-T’s O.G. album. Which is a dope verse on an incredibly dope album. So, I’ve unquestionably heard that version the most via burning that album into my brain on constant replay, yet my natural impulse is to still go for “chest,” somehow. It can be assumed that Nat the Cat is late-fourties-ish and from South Central LA, for data-pooling purposes.
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Chest.
Mid 30s, British, grew up in Cumbria and SW Scotland and currently living in Oxford.
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Teamchest. Never heard/seen ‘vest’ used in this context before now. 43, Australian, white bread background of English, Irish, Scottish.
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My husband and I both use* vest. I’m from California (B & R); he’s originally from Philadelphia, but came out here at 14. We both think it’s evolved from a wild west saying. We’re both over 50. 
eta: we don’t exactly say anything 'cause we don’t play cards. But vest is what we’ve heard.
eta2: just liked everyone’s comments in this thread because I can.
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Chest, because I rarely wear a vest when playing cards.
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Play+vest. United States. That’s really as specific as I can be since I’ve lived pretty much everywhere but the south.
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Even strip poker?
Remember to keep an ace in the hole.
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noone ever wants to play strip poker with me. i am disappoint.
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Plus one for chest. A Brit in my 50s, and until not long ago I only heard vest used by Americans.
How about tempest in a teapot? It was always a storm in a teacup back when I were a lad; but it looks as if that’s another example of an Americanism actually appearing first.
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Well, the alliteration seems far superior.
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