Nicknames of Poker Hands

There’s a seemingly endless list of nicknames used for hands in poker. The list seems to get bigger and bigger all the time too, as players are often coming up with new ones. Some of them are obvious, some of them amusing, and many of them are really quite tenuous.

It’s by no means essential to be aware of all, or even any, of these nicknames. You might see them used in chat at poker sites though, or in poker forums and you can even hear them at the live tables. It can, therefore, be useful to know at least a few them.

On this page we have listed a large selection of the most popular and commonly used nicknames for hands in poker. Please note that that there are many more that we could add to the list but this is certainly a good place to get started.

Pocket Pair Nicknames

The term pocket pair is used in poker games such as Texas Hold’em where there are cards dealt to the players (hole cards) and cards dealt to the board (community cards). A pocket pair is when a player has a pair in their hole cards.

Each one of the possible pairs has at least one nickname associated with it and many of them have several. We’ve listed some of the most commonly used nicknames for each pocket pair below.

Pair of Aces

The most common terms used to describe a pocket pair of aces are bullets and pocket rockets. Several other terms are also used with varying degrees of frequency. These include the following.

Pair of Kings

A king card is commonly referred to as a cowboy in poker, so a pocket pair of kings is often referred to simply as cowboys. Other nicknames that are used include the following.

Pair of Queens

Ladies is probably the most frequently used term to refer to a pocket pair of queens. Several derogatory names are used too such as bitches, Hilton Sisters, Calamity Jane, and Snowshoes.

Pair of Jacks

Brothers, jaybirds, and fish hooks are commonly used nicknames to describe a pocket pair of jacks. Also used are Kid Dy-no-mite, The Two Jakes, and Suckers.

Pair of Tens

A pocket pair of tens is normally referred to simply as dimes. TNT and Dynamite are also used, along with the term Tension. This is believed to be because holding a pair of tens is tense because of the high chance of over cards.

Other Pairs

The following are some of the frequently used terms to describe other pocket pairs.

• Pair of Nines – Phil Hellmuth, Wayne Gretzky, Popeyes
• Pair of Eights – Piano Keys, Pretzels, Snowmen
• Pair of Sevens – Candy Canes, Walking Sticks, Axes
• Pairs of Sixes – Boots, Kicks, Route 66
• Pair of Fives – Nickels, Snakes, Speed Limit
• Pair of Fours – Sailboats, Magnum,
• Pair of Threes – Crabs, Treys
• Pair of Twos – Ducks, Desmond, Richard Nixon

Nicknames for Hole Card Combinations with an Ace

There are nicknames for all hole combinations that include an ace. In particular there are several for the ace and king combination which is most commonly known as Big Slick, but there are a myriad of other nicknames used as well. Here are a few examples.

• Anna Kournikova
• Kalashnikov
• King Arthur
• Korean Airlines
• Walking Back to Houston

Below we have listed popular nicknames for all the other combinations that include an Ace.

• Ace & Queen – Big Chick, Little Slick, Mrs Click
• Ace & Jack – Armani Jeans, Hijack, Jackass, Ajax, Apple Jacks
• Ace & Ten – Bookends, Johnny Moss
• Ace & Nine – Rounders Hand, Jesus, Gimp
• Ace & Eight – Dead Man’s Hand, Asterix and Obelix
• Ace & Seven – The Sonnert, Slapshot
• Ace & Six – Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mile High Club
• Ace & Five – High Five
• Ace & Four – Stu Ungar, Transvestite, Plane Crash
• Ace & Three – Ashtray, Thrace, Baskin-Robbins
• Ace & Two – Acey-Deucey, Hunting Season.

Nicknames for Other Hole Card Combinations

Pretty much every single hole card combination has at least one nickname and poker players seem to be coming up with new ones all the time. We won’t list all of them, but here’s a selection of some of our favorites and some of the better known ones.

More Poker Hand Nicknames

There are also nicknames for other specific combinations of cards, apart from simply hole card combinations. Some of these are used quite frequently, so we have listed a small selection of these below.

• Quad Kings – Four Horsemen
• 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 – Even Stevens
• Quad Aces (with a king kicker) – Knights of the Round Table
• A, K, Q, J, T – Broadway
• A, 2, 3, 4 ,5 – Wheel
• Quad Queens (with a jack kicker) – Bachelor’s Dream
• Any Club Flush – Golf Bag
• Quad Twos – Mighty Ducks
• Three Twos – Huey, Dewy and Louie