list of slang names for poker hands

Individual card slang

The following table lists slang terms commonly associated with individual cards

 

Card

Slang name

A

Bullet, Rocket

K

Cowboy

Q

Lady, Girl, Mop Squeezer,  Cowgirl

J

Johnny, Jackal, Knave, Hook (play on shape), Fishhook, Valet (from French)

T

Dime

9

Nina Ross (Also hip-hop slang for 9mm pistol)

8

Snowman (play on shape), Ocho (from Spanish)

7

Hockey Stick, Walking Stick, Candy Cane (play on shape)

5

Nickel

4

Sailboat (play on shape)

3

Trey (standard usage, not slang), Crab (play on shape)

2

Deuce (standard usage, not slang), Duck (play on deuce), Quacker (play on duck)

Five-card hand slang

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)

  • A full house is commonly referred to as Xs full of Ys where X is the three of a kind and Y is the pair. For example, 555KK would be "fives full of kings"

Flush of hearts or diamonds

Pink, All Pink

Flush of clubs or spades

Blue, All Blue

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

  • In Hold 'em the term "set" refers to when a player has a pair in the hole and one matching card on the board, with "trips" referring to a pair on the board and one in the hand or three of a kind on the board.

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, aces and eights

Dead man's hand (hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot and killed)

Two pair

  • Two pair is commonly shorthanded as Xs up or Xs over Ys, with the top pair as X and the bottom pair as Y. For example, KK998 would be "kings up" or "kings over nines".)

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-

  • An outside straight draw: cards of two different ranks could complete the high or low end of the straight (e.g., _3456_)

Outside straight flush draw

Big Bobtail

Inside straight draw

Gutshot, Belly buster

  • An inside straight draw: only cards of a single rank could complete the straight (e.g., 34_67)

Double inside straight draw

Double gutshot, Double belly buster

  • Double inside straight draw: cards of two different ranks could fill gaps in the straight (e.g., 2_456_8)

Four cards of one suit

Busted flush, Four-flush

  • Four cards of one suit: only another card of that suit could complete a flush

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

AJ

Blackjack, Ajax, Jackass

AT

Johnny Moss, A-Team, Bookends

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 (when the flop comes Ace high with no King)

KQ

Marriage, Royalty

KQ suited

Royal Marriage

KQ unsuited

Mixed Marriage

K♥Q♥

Valentine's Day

KJ

Kojak, King John

KJ unsuited

Bachelor Hand (from "Jack-King-Off")

K9

Canine, Dog, Fido, Sawmill, The Donk

K7

King Salmon

K3

King Crab, Alaska Hand, Three Kings

QQ

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 rather liked this hand)

Q9

Quinine, "The Hellory"

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)

J♣9♣

T.J. Cloutier (T.J. flopped three straight flushes with this hand in one year)

J8

Jeffrey Dahmer ("Ate Jack")

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

T5

Five and Dime, Woolworths

T4

Good Buddy, 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)

9♠9♣

Phil Hellmuth (winning hand of the 1989 World Series of Poker Main Event)

99

Wayne Gretzky (his jersey number), German Virgin ("nein, nein" means "no, no" in German)

98

Oldsmobile

96

Big Lick, Porno, Dinner for Two (play on number 69)

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), The Sik

92

Montana Banana

88

Octopussy, Little Oldsmobile, Snowmen, Infinities, Double Infinity

86

Maxwell Smart (Agent 86 in Get Smart)

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

73

Hachem (named for Joe Hachem, winner of 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event who won the $7.5 million prize with this hand when he flopped a straight)

72 offsuit

The Hammer, Beer Hand (72 offsuit is the worst possible starting hand; this name implies that you would have to be drunk to play this hand.)

72 suited

Velvet Hammer

66

Route 66

63

Blocky

62

Ainsworth

55

Presto, Speed Limit, Nickels

54

Jesse James, Colt 45 (both play off the number 45), Moneymaker (winning hand of Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion)

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")

42

Willie Mays

33

Crabs, Hooters

32

Can of Corn

22

Ducks (from "deuces"), Swans, Sleepers, 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.)

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

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)