|
A A |
"Bullets" or
"American Airlines" or
"Pocket Rockets" |
This is the best starting
hand in holdem. |
|
K K |
"Cowboys"or
"Ace Magnets"
or "King Kong" |
Ace Magnets because the ace
is the only card you don't
want to see. |
|
Q Q |
"Bitches" or
"Sigfried & Roy"
or "Four Tits" |
Unfortunately, the most
common nicknames for QQ are
derogatory. |
|
J J |
"J-Birds"
or "Hooks" |
JJ is considered the highest
medium pocket pair. |
|
T T |
"Dimes"
or "Tension" |
The chance of getting
overcards on the flop with
TT is almost 70%. |
|
9 9 |
"Phil Hellmuth"
or "Popeye's" |
Phil Hellmuth won the World
Series of Poker Main Event
in 1989 with this hand. |
|
8 8 |
"Snowmen" or
"Little Oldsmobile"
or "Dog Balls" |
Snowmen and dog balls look
like the number "8". 88 was
an oldsmobile model that's
smaller than the 98. |
|
7 7 |
"Mullets" or
"Hockey Sticks" |
Nicknamed because of
similarity to the shape of
the number 7. |
|
6 6 |
"Cherries" |
Nicknamed because of
similarity to the shape of
the number 6. |
|
5 5 |
"Presto"
or "Speed Limit" |
It's unconfirmed that the
nickname "Presto" for 55
came from the rec.gambling
newsgroup. |
|
4 4 |
"Magnum"
or "Sailboats" |
"'Did he fire six shots or
only five?' Now, to tell you
the truth, in all this
excitement I kind of lost
track myself. But being as
this is the .44 Magnum, the
most powerful handgun in the
world, and could blow your
head clean off, you've got
to ask yourself a question:
'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do
ya, punk?" |
|
3 3 |
"Crabs"
or "Treys" |
Nicknamed treys because
treys are 3 pointers in
basketball. Crabs because of
the similarity to the shape
of the number 3. |
|
2 2 |
"Ducks" |
Nicknamed ducks because of
the similarity to the shape
of the number 2. |
|
A K |
"Big Slick" or
"Walking Back To Houston" or
"Anna Kournikova" |
Ace King was famously
nicknamed after tennis
player Anna Kournikova by
Vince Van Patton during
commentary during an episode
of the WPT because the hand
"looks great but never wins". |
|
A Q |
"Big Chick" |
In Texas this hand is known
as Doyle Brunson. |
|
A J |
"Ajax"
or "Blackjack"
or "Jackass" |
Nicknamed Ajax and Jackass
for purely phonetic reasons. |
|
A T |
"Bookends"
or "Johnny Moss" |
It's speculated that Johnny
Moss is associated with this
hand because he began
playing poker at the age of
10. |
|
A 9 |
"Jesus/Chris Ferguson" |
Chris Ferguson beat TJ
Cloutier at the final hand
of the 2000 WSOP
Championship event holding
A9 against TJ's AQ. |
|
A 8 |
"Dead Man's Hand" |
"Wild Bill" Hickock held two
pair, Aces and Eights, when
he was fatally shot in the
back by Jack McCall on
August 2nd, 1876. |
|
A 7 |
"Slap Shot" |
Nicknamed 'Slap Shot' as a
hockey reference as sevens
are sometimes called hockey
sticks and aces are bullets. |
|
A 6 |
|
|
|
A 5 |
"High Five" |
A5 is a statistically better
hand than A6 because of its
ability to make a straight. |
|
A 4 |
"Transvestite" |
Called Transvestite because
you see the first ace, and
the 4 looks like another,
but it turns out not to be. |
|
A 3 |
"Baskin Robbins"
or "Ashtray" |
Nicknamed Baskin Robbins
because of their 31
different flavors of ice
cream. |
|
A 2 |
"Hunting Season" |
Aces are known as bullets
and twos are known as ducks,
hence hunting season. |
|
K Q |
"Marriage" |
...or "Divorce" if it
doesn't hold up. |
|
K J Suited |
"Kojak" |
Nicknamed 'Kojak' for
phonetic reasons. Nothing to
do with Telly Savalas. |
|
K J Offsuit |
"Kojak" or
"Bachelor's Hand" |
Nicknamed 'Bachelor's Hand'
because it is literally Jack
King off. |
|
K T |
"Katie"
or "Big Al" |
K-T sounds like Katie, "Big
Al" is a reference to a
Wisconsin poker player named
"Big Al" Emerson. |
|
K 9 |
"Canine"
or "Dog" |
K9 sounds like Canine. |
|
K 8 |
"Kokomo"
or "Kate" |
Called "Kate" for phonetic
reasons. |
|
K 7 |
"Columbia River" |
The Columbia River is famous
for its salmon runs. "King
Seven" sounds like "King
Salmon". |
|
K 6 |
"Kicks" |
Nicknamed "Kicks" (if
pig-latin is used) for
phenetic reasons.
|
|
K 5 |
"Seattle Special" |
The nickname refers to the
Seattle TV channel 5 based
in King county, Washington,
United States. |
|
K 4 |
"Fork" |
4K sounds like Fork. |
|
K 3 |
"King Crab"
or "Sizzler" |
Because of their specials on
Alaskan King Crab? |
|
K 2 Suited |
"Big Fritz"
or "Donald" |
'Big Fritz' is an
unconfirmed reference to
German poker player Andreas
Fritz. 'Donald' is a
reference to Donald Duck. |
|
K 2 Offsuit |
"Donald" |
'Donald' is a reference to
Donald Duck. |
|
Q J |
"Maverick" or
"Oedipus Rex" |
Taken from Maverick TV show
theme song, "Livin' on jacks
and queens. Maverick is a
legend of the west." Also,
"Oedipus Rex" refers to a
play by Greek playwright
Sophocles referring to an
incestuous mother and son. |
|
Q T |
"Quint"
or "Robert Varkonyi" |
Robert Varkonyi won his 2002
WSOP Championship bracelet
holding QT and making a boat
over Julian Gardner's flush. |
|
Q 9 |
"Quinine" |
Queen Nine sounds like
Quinine, an early
anti-malarial drug. |
|
Q 8 |
"Kuwait" |
Nicknamed "Kuwait" for
phonetic reasons. |
|
Q 7 |
"Computer Hand" |
Calculations tell us that
this is the average hand. |
|
Q 6 |
"PB&J" |
That's short for "Peanut
Butter and Jelly". |
|
Q 5 |
"Granny Mae" |
Nicknamed because granny can
be a queen and May is the
fifth month of the year. |
|
Q 4 |
|
|
|
Q 3 |
"San Fransisco Busboy" |
|
|
Q 2 |
'Daisy' |
'Daisy' is a reference to
Daisy Duck. |
|
J T |
|
Preflop, Jack-Ten is 50% or
better against a low pocket
pair because of the
overcards and the ability to
make a straight. |
|
J 9 |
"TJ Cloutier" |
Scotty Nguyen won the '98
WSOP with this hand when the
board came 89988 and induced
a call from Kevin McBride by
saying the memorable line,
"You call this one and it's
all over, baby". |
|
J 8 |
"Jeffrey Dahmer" |
Jeffrey Dahmer ate Jack. |
|
J 7 |
|
|
|
J 6 |
"Jack Talley" |
Jim Bechtel won the '93 WSOP
with J6. The board didn't
help either player and the
winning hand was jack high! |
|
J 5 |
"Motown" |
The Jackson Five released
their albums through the
record company 'Motown'. |
|
J 4 |
"Flat Tire" |
Answer to the question
"What's a jack for?". |
|
J 3 |
|
|
|
J 2 |
Heckle and Jeckle |
Nicknamed "Heckle and Jeckle"
after twin cartoon jaybirds
(2 Jays) that first appeared
on television in 1946. |
|
T 9 |
"Countdown" |
Countdowns usually start at
ten...nine... |
|
T 8 |
"Tetris" |
|
|
T 7 |
"Bowling Hand" |
The 7-10 split in bowling is
a famously tough pin setup. |
|
T 6 |
"Sweet" |
Nicknamed so as a reference
to 'Sweet Sixteen'. |
|
T 5 |
"Woolworth"
or "Merfs" |
"Woolworth" comes from
nickel and dime (10 and 5).
"Merfs" is a draw poker game
where tens and fives are
wild. |
|
T 4 |
"Broderick Crawford" |
From show "Highway Patrol"
where he used to say 10-4
all the time. |
|
T 3 |
"Fast Connection" or
"Weinberg" |
"Fast Connection" refers to
the T3 telecommunications
connection. |
|
T 2 |
"Doyle Brunson" |
Doyle Brunson won his 1976 &
1977 WSOP Championship
bracelets holding T2. |
|
9 8 |
"Oldsmobile" |
98 was an oldsmobile model
that was bigger than the
smaller 88 model. |
|
9 7 |
|
Mel Judah beat Paul Phillips
with 97 offsuit in the final
hand of the Bicycle Casino's
"Legends of Poker", to kick
off the second season of the
WPT. |
|
9 6 |
"Big Lick"
or "Railroad" |
Sexual reference to "Big
Slick". |
|
9 5 |
"Dolly Parton" |
Dolly Parton starred in the
movie "9 to 5". |
|
9 4 |
"Joe Montana Banana" or
"San Fransisco" |
49 refers to San Francisco's
Football team, the 49ers,
which in turn refers to men
of the 1849 gold rush in the
Sierra Nevada mountains east
of San Francisco. |
|
9 3 |
"Jack Benny" |
For years Jack Benny claimed
to be 39 years old. |
|
9 2 |
"Montana Banana"
or "Twiggy"
or "Golf Bag" |
Twiggy was a fashion model. |
|
8 7 |
"RPM" |
The very first record format
was a 10 inch disc that spun
78 revolutions per minute. |
|
8 6 |
"Henry Bowen" |
Henry Bowen was a Texas
gambler. |
|
8 5 |
"Finky Dink" |
|
|
8 4 |
"Orwell" |
George Orwell was the author
of the book "1984". |
|
8 3 |
"Raquel Welch"
or "Sven" |
Raquel Welch still claims to
be 38. |
|
8 2 |
|
The second worst starting
hand in holdem. |
|
7 6 |
"Union Oil"
or "Trombones" |
Named after the gas station
"Union 76" and the song "76
Trombones" in the movie
"Music Man". |
|
7 5 |
"Heinz" |
The Heinz company in
Pittsburgh, PA has 57
varieties of condiments, the
most famous being ketchup. |
|
7 4 |
"Cambodian Big Slick" |
|
|
7 3 |
"Hachem" |
Joseph Hachem won the 2005
World Series main event
holding 7c3s when the flop
came 4d5d6h. |
|
7 2 |
"Beer Hand" |
The worst starting hand in
holdem. It's called the
'Beer Hand' because it's
either time for a beer; or
if you win with this you
need to get other players a
beer; or only a person full
of beers would play this
hand. |
|
6 5 |
"Ken Warren" |
Ken Warren is a poker
writer, who lists himself as
the nickname for 65 in one
of his books. |
|
6 4 |
"Gilchrist" or
"The Rabbit" |
Named "Gilchrist" after the
Australian cricketer Adam
Gilchrist for his ability to
always hit 6's and 4's.
|
|
6 3 |
"Blocky" or "Jimmy
Summerfield" |
It's unconfirmed that the
nickname "Jimmy Summerfield"
is named after a poker
tournament director. |
|
6 2 |
"Ainsworth"
or "Cowboy Wolford" |
Unconfirmed reference to
British poker player Ron
Ainsworth. Byron "Cowboy"
Wolford would also play this
hand. |
|
5 4 |
"Jesse James"
or "Jane Russell" or
"Moneymaker" |
Jesse James was thought to
have been shot with a .45.
Moneymaker won in 2003 with
this hand. |
|
5 3 |
"Bully Johnson" |
A poker player that Doyle
Brunson described as being
laid back and quiet. He
played this hand after being
raised preflop and caught a
straight on the flop to beat
another guy's trip aces. |
|
5 2 |
"Quarter"
or "Two Bits" |
Nicknamed because they are
synonymous with 25 cents. |
|
4 3 |
"Waltz" |
In music, waltzes are always
in 3/4 meter. |
|
4 2 |
"Lumberman's Hand" |
A common piece of lumber is
a two by four. |
|
3 2 |
"Mississippi Slick"
or "Polish Big Slick" |
Derogatory terms, as 32 is
the complete opposite hand
of Ace-King or Big Slick,
the best non-pair starting
hand in holdem. |
