List of slang names for poker hands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
In poker, players often use slang terms for particular types of hands. Though most are recent neologisms, others date back to poker's antiquity. All such slang terms typically connect a common concept (from life experience or storytelling) to the hand, in order to more easily characterize its general status relative to other hands. The terms range from whimsical to bawdy, some being of a racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise controversial nature.
The following lists should not be confused with "official" poker terminology. See list of poker terms.
[edit] Individual card slang
The following table lists slang terms commonly associated with individual cards:
| Card | Slang name |
|---|---|
| A | Bullet[1], Rocket[1] |
| K | Cowboy[1] |
| Q | Lady,[1] Girl,[1] Mop Squeezer, [1] Cowgirl, Bitch |
| J | Johnny,[1] Jackal,[1] Knave,[1] Hook[1] (play on shape), Fishhook,[1] Valet[1] (from French) |
| 10 | Dime |
| 9 | Nina Ross[1] |
| 8 | Snowman[1] (play on shape), Ocho[1] (from Spanish) |
| 7 | Hockey Stick,[1] Walking Stick, Candy Cane (play on shape), Mullet |
| 5 | Nickel[1] |
| 4 | Sailboat[1] (play on shape) |
| 3 | Trey[1] (standard usage, not slang), Crab[1] (play on shape) |
| 2 | Deuce[1] (standard usage, not slang), Duck[1] (play on deuce), Quacker[1] (play on duck) |
[edit] Five-card hand slang
Refer to the article on Rank of hands (poker) for more information about poker hands.
| Hand | Slang name |
|---|---|
| Straight flush, ace to five | Steel wheel |
| Four of a kind | Book, Case, Quads (e.g., "Quad Kings") |
| Four of a kind, aces | Four Pips (Each ace has one pip) |
| Full house | Full boat, Boat, Full, Tight (Canadian usage)
|
| Flush of hearts or diamonds | Pink, All Pink, All Red |
| Flush of clubs or spades | Blue, All Blue, All Black |
| Flush of clubs | Golf Bag, Puppy Feet, Puppy Toes, Pups |
| Straight, ten to ace | Broadway |
| Straight, ace to five | Wheel, Bicycle, Bike |
| Three of a kind | Trips (or Trip as in Ted has trip kings.), Set
|
| Three of a kind, kings | Alabama Night Riders, Three Wise Men |
| Three of a kind, sevens | Slot Machine |
| Three of a kind, sixes | Devil's hand, Mark of the Beast (referring to the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation) |
| Three of a kind, deuces | Huey, Dewey and Louie |
| Two pair, black aces and black eights | Dead man's hand (hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot and killed) |
| Two pair |
|
| One pair, aces | Aces and spaces (a hand with one pair of aces, and nothing else. Used derogatorily, especially in games such as seven-card stud, where two pair is a typical winning hand) |
| Outside straight draw | Bobtail, Open-ended, up-and-down-
|
| Outside straight flush draw | Big Bobtail |
| Inside straight draw | Gutshot, Belly buster
|
| Double inside straight draw | Double gutshot, Double belly buster
|
| Four cards of one suit | Busted flush, Four-flush
|
[edit] Texas hold'em slang
The following refer to hole (pocket) cards in Texas hold 'em:
| Starting hand | Slang name |
|---|---|
| AA | Pocket Rockets, American Airlines, Bullets, Two Pips |
| AK |
Big Slick (originally referred to A♠K♠, but the name has become common for any Ace-King, especially suited), Anna Kournikova (looks good but rarely wins), Machine Gun (AK-47), Walking Back to Houston ("I can see you learned to play in Houston. Those Houston players would come to Dallas and play that ace-king, but they'd always end up against a pair of aces. That's why we call that hand ‘Walking back to Houston.'" - T.J. Cloutier, quoted by Barry Greenstein) |
| AQ | Little Slick, Big Chick, Mrs. Slick, Doyle Brunson |
| AJ | Blackjack, Ajax, Jackass |
| AT | Johnny Moss |
| A8 | Dead Man's Hand (by analogy with Wild Bill's aces and eights) |
| A3 | Baskin-Robbins (plays off the number 31: 31 Flavors), Friday The 13th (An ace played low would be considered equivalent to 1) |
| A2 | Acey-Deucey, Drinking Age |
| KK | Cowboys, Elvis Presley, King Kong, Ace Magnets, Broke Back |
| KQ | Marriage, Royalty |
| KQ suited | Royal Marriage |
| K♥Q♥ | Valentine's Day |
| KJ | Kojak, King John |
| KJ offsuit | Bachelor Hand (from "Jack-King-Off") |
| K9 | Canine, Dog, Fido, Sawmill |
| K3 | King Crab, Alaska Hand, Three Kings |
| Cowgirls, Ladies, Siegfried and Roy, Four Tits, Bitches | |
| QJ | Maverick (the theme song for the television series Maverick speaks of the title character as "livin' on jacks and queens") |
| QT | Q-Tip, Varkonyi (named after Robert Varkonyi, 2002 World Series of Poker main event champion, who won his bracelet with a Full House with this hand) |
| Q9 | Quinine |
| Q7 | Computer Hand |
| Q3 | Gay Waiter, San Francisco Busboy ("Queen with a tray") |
| Q3 suited | Posh Gay Waiter |
| Q♥3♥ | Flaming Gay Waiter |
| JJ | Fishhooks, Hooks, Jokers, Kid Dyn-o-mite, Johnnies |
| JT | Cloutier (play on name: T. J. Cloutier) |
| J7 | Jack Daniel's (Jack Old No. 7) |
| J6 | Railroad Hand |
| J5 | Motown, Jackson Five |
| J4 | Flat Tire ("What's a jack for?") |
| TT | Binary, Dimes, TNT, Boxcars, Dynamite |
| T5 | Five and Dime, Woolworths |
| T4 | Good Buddy, Highway Patrol, Over and Out, Roger That (play on radio code 10-4), Broderick Crawford |
| T2 | Doyle Brunson, Texas Dolly (Brunson won the World Series of Poker Main Event with it twice in a row—1976 and 1977) |
| 99 | Wayne Gretzky (his jersey number), German Virgin ("nein, nein" means "no, no" in German) |
| 98 | Oldsmobile |
| 96 | Big Lick, Porno, Dinner for Two |
| 96 suited | Prom Night ("Sixty-nine suited") |
| 9♥6♥ | Valentine's Day |
| 95 | Dolly Parton (she sang "9 to 5"), Full-time job |
| 94 | Gold Rush, San Francisco (play off the number 49) |
| 93 | Jack Benny (play off his running gag of always being 39 years old) |
| 92 | Montana Banana, Twiggy |
| 88 | Octopussy, Little Oldsmobile, Snowmen, Infinities, Double Infinity, Doggie Balls |
| 83 | Raquel Welch |
| 77 | Hockey Sticks, Candy Canes, Walking Sticks |
| 76 | Philadelphia, Union Oil, Trombones (from the song "76 Trombones") |
| 75 | Heinz, Ketchup (play on Heinz's 57 varieties) |
| 74 | Double Down, Blackjack hand |
| 72 offsuit | The Hammer, Beer Hand (72 offsuit is the worst possible starting hand in Holdem; this name implies that you would have to be drunk to play this hand or that you'd better fold and go get more beer for everybody) |
| 72 suited | Velvet Hammer |
| 66 | Route 66 |
| 62 | Ainsworth |
| 55 | Presto, Speed Limit, Nickels |
| 54 | Jesse James, Colt 45 (both play off the number 45) |
| 52 | Bomber (B-52 bomber) |
| 44 | Sailboats (looks like two sails), Midlife Crisis, Magnum, Luke Skywalker ("May the fours be with you") |
| 4♠4♣ | Darth Vader ("Dark Side Of The Fours") |
| 33 | Crabs, Hooters |
| 32 | Can of Corn, Michael Jordan |
| 24 | Willie Mays, Jack Bauer |
| 22 | Ducks (from "deuces"), Swans, Quack Quack |
| any pocket pair | Wired pair, Wired (for example, a starting hand of 8-8 might be called "wired eights" or "eights wired") |
In addition, two types of hands are called "blackjack hands":
- Hands which are naturals in blackjack: any ace with any face or ten.
- Hands whose numeric total is 11: 9-2, 8-3, 7-4, 6-5. (In blackjack, such hands are very good for players.)
[edit] Omaha slang
Omaha slang is not as well developed as Texas Hold'em. The game is not as widely played, and there is a much greater variety of hands, since the pocket is four cards.
| Hand | Slang name |
|---|---|
| A-K-4-7 | Assault Rifle |
| Four pair (using hole cards and community cards) | Noah's Ark |
[edit] Flop slang
The following terms refer to the flop in Omaha hold'em and Texas hold'em:
| Flop | Slang name |
|---|---|
| Three different suits | Rainbow |
| Two different suits | Two-tone (i.e. one card of one suit, and two of another) |
| Three face cards | Paint (can also be used to refer to any picture card. I need to hit paint indicates somebody who is looking for a J,Q,K.) Also called a Picasso flop. |
| Three low cards | Rags, Ragged flop (cards unlikely to have helped anyone) |
| Three Sevens | Jackpot (referring to a jackpot on a slot machine) |
