Ever since people have been playing poker, players have been giving hole cards various nicknames. Here, I have collected some of the most known and popular nicknames for hole cards.
Pairs’ nicknames:
AA: Pocket Rockets; Bullets; American Airlines
KK: Cowboys; King Kong
QQ: Ladies, Whores, Siegfried & Roy
JJ: Fishhooks; hooks
TT: Dimes
99: German Virgin; Barbara Feldon (Get Smart Agent 99)
88: Snowmen; Doggie Balls; Piano Keys
77: Sunset Strip
66: Route 66
55: Speed Limit
44: Magnum; Sailboats
33: Crabs
22: Ducks
Other poker hands and their nicknames:
AK: Big Slick; Santa Barbara
AQ: Big Chick; Walking Back to Houston
AJ: Ajax
A8: Dead Man’s hand
KQ suited: Marriage
KQ offsuit: Mixed Marriage
KJ: Kojak
K9: Fido Canine What a Dog
K3: Commander Crab; King Crab
QJ: Maverick
QT: Quint; Varkony
Q7: Computer hand
Q3: Gay Waiter; San Francisco Busboy (queen with a tray)
J5: Motown; Jackson Five
J4: Flat ties (what’s a jack for?)
T5: Woolworth’s; Five and Dime
T4: Broderick Crawford; Convoy; Good Buddy
T2: Texas Dolly
98: Oldsmobile
69: Big Lick; Dinner for Two
95: Dolly Parton
92: Montana Banana
76: Union Oil
57: Heinz
45: Jessie James; Jane Russell
39: Jack Benny
38: Raquel Welch
29: Twiggy
You can find the explanation of all the nicknames on the Wikipedia.
Lets choose some of the nicknames and make a short explanation of it. These ones must be included:
Texas Dolly
The ’Texas Dolly’ is a hand consisting of a ten and a two of any suit. The hand got its name from the living legend, Doyle Brunson and came to settle on the name ’Texas Dolly’ after a pronunciation mistake by a fellow poker player. The mistake came during a competition where Doyle Brunson’s name was mistaken for ’Dolly’. This nickname stuck and upon Doyle Brunson winning the WSOP two times in a row (1976 and 1977) with the hand of 10-2 off-suit, the ’Texas Dolly’ was born.
Dead Man’s hand
The dead man’s hand is a poker hand, consisting of ‘aces and eights’. The hand got named after the legend of Wild Bill Hickok, who was supposedly dealt this hand at the time of his murder in August 2, 1876. Rumors have it that the hand consisted of the aces and eights of both the black suits;
Hickock was playing five card draw at the time of his murder. There is no solid proof as to the identity of Hickok’s fifth card. On the draw, the shooting interrupted Hickock’s game and he never got the fifth card he was due.
Big Slick
The Big Slick consists of an Ace and a King and has a reputation to be known as a slippery hand that one can easily lose a fortune over.
The AK is not only known as the Big Slick. There are many other nicknames for AK, which include:
Anna Kournikova (looks good but never wins),
Walking Back to Houston (Players putting too much faith in this hand were often left with no money to get away and were sent packing home)
