There’s a nickname for pretty much every starting hand in Texas hold’em.
Most poker players know all about famous poker hand nicknames like ‘big slick’ (A-K), ‘snowmen’ (8-8) and ‘Dolly Parton’ (9-5).
Many more may be familiar with other hands such as ‘Motown’ (J-5), the ‘computer hand’ (Q-7) or ‘the Robbi’ (J-4).
But we’re betting you probably haven’t heard of these ones yet (because we just made ‘em up). Here are 19 poker hand nicknames you can casually drop at your next home game.
Poker hand nicknames, new for 2025
A-K: The Rifle
Ace-king is often an all-or-nothing hand so, just like using a rifle in a gunfight, if you don’t win with it you’ll probably need to reload.
A-4: Oh sh*t
Ever peeled the corners of your hole cards and mistaken a 4 for an ace? And then gone all-in, thinking you've got pocket rockets but actually you just have a baby ace? Oops!
A-2: The Maradona
Named for the late soccer legend from Argentina, whose 5’5” frame belied his gigantic reputation. An ace, but a tiny kicker.
K-2: Streetball
A reference to the imperious basketball hustlers in the 1992 film White Men Can’t Jump: ‘The King and the Duck’.
Q-Q: The Okamoto
Ladies, back-to-back. Named for Japanese phenom Shiina Okamoto, winner of consecutive Ladies Championships at the WSOP.
J-J: The Delorean
Just like the iconic yet unreliable car, this hand looks great until everything quickly falls apart.
JsJx / JcJx: Tenacious D
A pair containing a black jack (or a Jack Black).
T-J: Terrance
Named for PokerOrg’s own player, writer and live events manager, Terrance ‘TJ’ Reid.
9-3: Infinity
A nod to the ‘90s hip-hop classic, ‘93 Til Infinity’.
9-2: Texas Folly
Not quite as strong as T-2, which was named for ‘Texas Dolly’ (Doyle Brunson) after he won two WSOP Main Events with the combo.
8-3: Goldilocks
From the title character of the famous children’s story. She discovered some bowls of porridge, and ‘ate three’.
7-7: The Cocktail
One of the easiest cocktails to make is the 7 & 7: A shot of Seagram's 7 Crown Whiskey topped with 7 Up.
6-7: Summer of Love
Where were you in 1967, man? Not born yet? No excuse.
6-4: Nintendo
Any old school gamers in the house? The Nintendo 64 was one of the great videogame consoles of the 1990s.
4-K: Shirtballs
From the US sitcom The Good Place. ‘Holy forking shirtballs!’
4-5: The 900 Number
Named for influential DJ The 45 King’s biggest hit. You might think you’ve never heard it, but you probably have.
2-J : The Schwarzenegger
The famous action movie star was once considered ‘too jacked’ to be an actor.
2-3: The Phil Collins
Also known as 'The Dirty Diaper', winning with this hand really is 'against all odds'.
2-2: Bon Jovi
When you shove with this hand and get called, the best you're likely to get is a flip: you’re ‘living on a prayer’.
Images courtesy of Kevin Abato/Mateusz Suski/Vasilios Muselimis/Unsplash.
