In poker, players may often use slang terms for particular types of hands. Though most are recent neologisms, others date 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, with some being of a racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise controversial nature. For more information about the rank of winning poker hands read the rank of hands article.
Strip Poker - Hands - Individual Card Slang
Card |
Slang name |
A |
Bullet, Rocket |
K |
Cowboy |
Q |
Lady, Bitch, Girl, Cowgirl, Mop Squeezer |
Q♥ |
Judith (may come from Bible) |
Q♦ |
Rachel (may come from Bible) |
J |
Johnny, Jackal, Knave, Hook (play on shape), Valet (from French) |
T |
Dime |
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) |
Strip Poker - Hands - Five-card Hand Slang
Hand |
Slang name |
Straight flush, ace to five |
Steel wheel |
Four of a kind |
Book, Quads (e.g., "Quad Kings") |
Four of a kind, aces |
Four Pips (Each ace has one pip) |
Full house |
Full boat, Boat, Full - 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 |
Klan Rally, Alabama Night Riders, Three Wise Men |
Three of a kind, sixes |
Devil's hand, Mark of the Beast (referring to the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation) |
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 - 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) |
Strip Poker - Hands - Texas Hold'em Slang
Starting hand |
Slang name |
AA |
Pocket Rockets, American Airlines, Bullets, Two Pips, Cowboy Killers |
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 |
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 |
KQ |
Marriage, Royalty |
KQ suited |
Royal Marriage |
KQ unsuited |
Mixed Marriage |
KQ ♥ |
Valentine's Day |
KJ |
Kojak, King John, Jacking Off sexual play on words - Jack King off suit |
K9 |
Canine, Dog, Fido, Sawmill |
K3 |
King Crab, Alaska Hand, Crablar |
QQ |
Cowgirls, Ladies, Siegfried & Roy, Hilton Sisters, Olsen Twins, Dykes, Girls with curls, Bitches, Mop squeezers |
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 |
Q7 |
Computer Hand (according to a computer simulation, the hand of non-connected cards that makes the most straights) |
Q3 |
Gay Waiter, San Francisco Busboy ("Queen with a trey") |
Q3 suited |
Posh Gay Waiter |
Q♥3♥ |
Flaming Gay Waiter |
JJ |
Fishhooks, Hooks, Jokers |
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 |
Dimes, TNT |
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 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 (play on number 69) |
96 suited |
Prom Night ("Sixty-nine suited"), Big Lick (play of the hand big slick, better suited for strip poker) |
9♥6♥ |
Valentine's Day |
95 |
Dolly Parton (she sang Workin' 9 to 5), Full-time job |
94 |
Gold Rush, San Francisco (play off the number 49) |
93 |
The Sik |
92 |
Montana Banana |
88 |
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 Joseph Hachem, winner of World Series of Poker, 2005 who won the $7.5 million prize with this hand when he flopped a straight) |
72 offsuit |
The Hammer |
72 suited |
Velvet Hammer |
66 |
Route 66 |
62 |
Ainsworth |
55 |
Presto, Speed Limit, Nickels, Sammy Hagar - I can't drive 55. |
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 Fours") |
33 |
Crabs, Hooters |
32 |
Can of Corn |
32 offsuit |
Houta Hand (pronounced like "Hooter", named for a Native American dealer who advocates playing this hand) |
22 |
Ducks (from "deuces"), Swans, Sleepers, Quack Quack |
12 |
Porn Star - 12" penis. |
any pocket pair |
Wired pair, Wired - For example, a starting hand of 8-8 might be called "wired eights" or "eights wired" |
Strip Poker - Hands - Flop Slang
Flop |
Slang name |
Three different suits |
Rainbow |
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,A) |
Three low cards |
Rags, Ragged flop (cards unlikely to have helped anyone) |
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Additional Strip Poker Resources |
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