Nicknames for Texas Hold’em Poker Hands

Josh H
by Josh H  |  Owner and Editor-in-Chief
The Hammer Poker Hand Nickname
The worst statistical starting hand in Hold’em with its tongue-in-cheek nickname of “The Hammer”

With the literal poker explosion in the last several years and millions of new players flocking the the game, poker hand nicknames have become more prevalent and popular than ever.

With poker television announcers spreading the word and old-time cardroom regulars passing along the word like cultural oral tradition, new poker players might feel lost amongst the jargon and lingo of seasoned veterans. With the obscurity of some of these nicknames, who can blame them?

While some hand nicknames are fairly transparent (American Airlines, Fish Hooks, and Jackson Five), the newer poker generation may have trouble with others (Broderick Crawford, Dead Man’s Hand, and Walking Back to Houston).

The following list contains some of the most popular poker hand nicknames.

Nicknames for Hold’em Pocket Pairs

AA

American Airlines

Rockets

Bullets

Snake Eyes

KK

Cowboys

King Kong

QQ

Ladies

JJ

Fishhooks or Hooks

1010

Dimes

99

Phil Hellmuth (won the 1989 Main Event with two black nines)
Wayne Gretzky (the Great One’s jersey number)

88

Snowmen

Piano Keys (88 keys on a piano)

77

Walking Sticks

Sunset Strip (TV show title)

66

Route 66

Boots (for the slight resemblance of a boot to a 6)

55

Speed Limit

Presto

44

Magnum (the .44 Magnum pistol was Dirty Harry’s gun)

Sailboats

33

Crabs

Treys

22

Ducks (the 2 is similar to a duck’s shape in water)

Unpaired Hold’em Starting Hands

AK

Big Slick

Walking Back to Houston (the old-time Texas poker players were cautious with this tempting, but vulnerable, Hold’em hand. Overplay Ace-King and you’d be left walking back to Houston.)

AQ

Doyle Brunson (the poker legend hates to play AQ)

AJ

Ajax

A10

Johnny Moss

A8

Dead Man’s Hand (Wild Bill Hickok was holding Aces and Eights when he was shot and killed)

A3

Baskin-Robbins (an Ace is also a 1 when playing lowball, making 31 for 31 flavors)

KQ

Marriage

KJ

Kojak

Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

K9

Canine

Fido

K3

King Crab or Commander Crab (a 3 is often called a “crab”)

QJ

Maverick
(Jacks and Queens from the “Maverick” theme song)

Q7

Computer Hand (statistically, this is the average winning hand in Hold’em)

J6

Railroad Hand (repeating “Jacks and sixes” sounds like a train on its tracks)

J5

Jackson Five

Motown

J4

Flat Tire (what’s a jack for?)

10-5

Dime Store
Woolworths (the old discount five and dime store chain)

10-4

Broderick Crawford (his catchphrase in “Highway Patrol”)

Roger That

10-2

Doyle Brunson (he won both his WSOP Championships with this modest holding)

98

Oldsmobile (the classiest model was the 98)

93

Jack Benny (always claimed to be 39 years old)

76

Union Oil (owns the 76 gas station brand)

75

Heinz (for Heinz’ 57 flavor varieties)

72

The Hammer

63

Blocky (from Doyle Brunson’s Super System)

54

Jesse James (he was allegedly killed with a shot from a .45 pistol)

Other Poker Hands

AKQJT

Broadway

A2345

Wheel

KKK

Three Wise Men

TTT

Thirty Miles of Bad Road (Gilroy to San Jose)

QQKK

Mommas and Poppas

AK47

Assault Rifle
(named after the Russian machine gun)

222

Huey, Dewey, and Louie (three famous “ducks”)

Unbeatable
Hand

Nuts

Four of a
Kind

Quads

Club Flush

Golf Bag

3 of a Kind

Set (using a pocket pair)

Trips (using a pair on the board)

Any Face
Card

Paint
A pair of 2's is "Ducks"
One of my favorite poker hand nicknames because it never gets old showing kids how there are hidden “ducks” on our cards.

Whether to add a bit of humor and sociality to the game or just made out of boredom in between deals, poker is one of the great purveyors of nicknames both for its players and its hands.

Big Slick.
Big Slick is one of the most iconic poker hand nicknames.

While Texas Hold’em starting cards have inspired most of the two-card hand nicknames, some have their roots way back in the Wild West draw poker days.

7-2 Hand in Hold'em
The hammer, nicknamed sarcastically for being the worst statistical starting hand in Hold’em.
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12 thoughts on “The Most Famous Poker Hand Nicknames”

  1. 2/7 Should be called No Man’s Hand. Playing off no man’s land, the land between the trenches in WW1. It’s no man’s hand because it does NOthing for you and your in danger if you dont fold and get the hell out of there.

    Reply

  2. ak = anna kournikova the tennis player, looks pretty but wins nothing
    10-6 the graveyard, 10pm to 6am the normal nightshift

    Reply

    • It’s A-K. I’ve seen a couple of opposite explanations for the term. Either players were prone to playing A-K too strongly so they would be left “walking back to Houston” after they overplayed it or the old Texas rounders would play the hand so well that when you ran into one of them with A-K you’d be left “walking back to Houston”. The former seems to make more sense.

      I’ve heard A-Q called “Little Slick” or “Doyle Brunson” because of how much he described his dislike of it in Super System.

      Reply

    • Good ones. I’ve heard “Woolworths” as well for 10-5, which goes along with “Five and Dime” and “Dime Store”. I will have to add those in to the list.

      I don’t know the Murphy’s one. The closest I could find was “Merfs”, which describes a draw poker variant where Tens and Fives are wild of all things. Is that it?

      Reply

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