Poker Slang

Poker Slang

  Youve heard the terms and you may have used a few of them yourself. But with the sheer volume of poker slang, here is a nice refresher on some of the more common terms:


Dead Man's Hand: Two pair, aces and eights. Wild Bill Hickok held this hand when he was shot and killed; the name has stuck ever since.


Blue, All Blue: Flush of either Clubs or Spades


Puppy Feet, Pups: Flush of Clubs


One Jack Off: JJJxx; in other words, one jack off from making four of a kind.


Four Pips: AAAAx.


Motown: JJ55x (Jacks and Fives, Jackson Five. Mowtown is also a Jack and Five as pocket cards in Holdem games.


Devil's hand: 666xx (referring to the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation- some say that number was mistranslated, which makes one wonder if 66Axx will be the new Devils hand. The correct translation is supposed to be 661)


Wheel: Ace to five low straight, also known as a Bicycle.


Steel wheel: Ace-to-five straight flush. Its a steel or tough hand because it can only be beaten by a higher straight flush.


Big Bobtail: An open ended 4 card straight flush.


Quads, Quartet: Four of a kind.


A tired old joke, but one that will seem fresh to whomever is using it, is to say when you have Quads, Oh, I only have two pair a pair of twos, and a pair of twos!


XXUP: A shorthand for two pair. For example, AA332 would be referred to as Aces up.