dead man's hand
English
Etymology
The aces and eights sense is from a legend that Wild Bill Hickok was holding such cards at the time he was killed in 1876.
Noun
dead man's hand
- (poker) A pair of aces and a pair of eights (especially, the black aces and eights), in a player's hand.
- 1907, Davida French; Esther Stevens, Laura Wells, “The Rulers of the Realm”, in Not Included in a Sheepskin: Stanford Stories, Stanford: The Stanford Book Store, page 172:
- "A dead man's hand or queens on the roof at least," suggested Southack.
"They say two aces and two eights can never be beat."
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- (poker) An ace and an eight as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em
- (poker, obsolete) Other various hands, among them a full house of three jacks and two tens.
- 1903, Cora Linn Morrison Daniels, Charles McClellan Stevens, editor, Encyclopædia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, volume 3, J. H. Yewdale, page 1478:
- When playing poker, should you hold a jack full on red sevens, it means death, and is called "a dead man's hand".
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Synonyms
- ((poker) pair of aces and pair of eights): aces and eights / eights and aces
- kelter
See also
- dead man's fingers
References
- Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN