What does your name say about you? Most would argue not much: We generally don’t get to choose our own, unless we really dislike the ones our parents picked out when we were born.
But when it comes to online poker screen names, which we choose ourselves, they tell a much better story. And like so much of what we do at the poker table, the names we choose to go by can be another source of information in a game where knowledge is power.
Let’s take a look at seven categories of online poker usernames, featuring some the most successful players in the world (and another called 'SolidPenis').
1. 'It's me... deal with it'
Sometimes it pays to be upfront about who you are and your approach to the game; knowing the type of player they’re up against might put your opponents on the back foot.
Phil Ivey is a hard man to figure out at the poker table, and that’s why his old Full Tilt screen name of ‘Polarizing’ was so apt.
With a big bet from Ivey you can never be entirely sure which end of his range he’s at, or whether he’s just read your soul and is toying with you like a cat with a baby bird. But at least he's being honest about how cunning and deceitful he can be.
Another option is to put part of your actual name in there, to make sure the competition knows you’re the real deal. Just ask Ivey’s fellow Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast, who goes by the suitably imperious name of ‘tsarrast’ when playing WSOP online.
For the ultimate descriptive screen names, head over to the high stakes games on GGPoker, where players such as Daniel Negreanu can be found using their real, actual names.
2. Taunts
Deliberately putting the opposition on tilt is often frowned upon, but surely just picking a provocative username is okay, right?
In an age where taking offence to things you see online has become part of many people’s daily routines, choosing a username to taunt your tablemates could have a tangible benefit. One man who might know is ACR Poker pro Jeff Boski, who goes by the online handle ‘ICuRaRook’.
Geddit? He sees you are a rook, rookie! C’mon, don’t tell me you never noticed that? What’s wrong with you? Like, durrrr…
Speaking of which, one player who also opted for a mocking screen name back in the glory days of Full Tilt was Tom Dwan, who became widely known as, yep, ‘durrrr’.
Did it help? Hard to say. Dwan was a legendary figure in the Full Tilt nosebleed games, where the caliber of opponents he faced were generally a) not drooling idiots, and b) unlikely to be tilted by a username. The man known as ‘durrrr’ famously won and lost fortunes at those tables, including a chunk to one of the next names on our list.
3. 'I have other interests too, you know…’
Like getting a tattoo, your choice of poker screen name can be an opportunity to tell the world a little about yourself.
So why not pick a name that reveals some of the other things you’re into? Perhaps you’re a big sports fan, love anime or The Lord of the Rings?
We’re going to assume the latter was the reason for Viktor Blom, the Swedish pro who made four final tables at the 2025 World Series of Poker, when he went for the now-iconic handle of ‘Isildur1’.
The name comes from the famous book series by JRR Tolkein, in which the character of Isildur possesses great power as the bearer of The One Ring, only to [SPOILERS] lose it all and be slain by orcs. Thankfully, Blom appears to have avoided this fate. So far.
If that all sounds a little too nerdy, why not co-opt the name of your favorite band into your online moniker? That appears to have been what WSOP stalwart Josh Arieh did when he picked the name ‘Sp33dwagon’ at WSOP.com, seemingly in reference to the US rock band REO Speedwagon.
Or, hey, maybe he just likes fast cars. Either way, it seems to have worked out well, as Arieh recently picked up WSOP bracelet number seven playing online with the ‘Sp33dwagon’ handle. Can’t fight that feeling.
4. Bait
You don’t have to spend your high school years as a nerd who’s good at math and Magic: The Gathering to excel at poker as an adult… but it probably helps.
So what better way for poker’s nerds to exact a tiny yet meaningful revenge than to give themselves an online poker nick that pokes fun at the ‘cool kids’?
While this is pure conjecture, we’re not convinced that the masked, high rolling poker star Isaac Haxton was actually a fan of women’s basketball when he chose the name ‘IluvetheWNBA’ back in his Full Tilt youth.
We don’t disrespect the sport by any means, but knowing the aggro macho vibes that can prevail in some circles online, we have a suspicion that Haxton’s choice of name was more a provocation to those who did.
Similarly, we have no concrete evidence that Phil Galfond, who went by the online name ‘OMGClayAiken’, was not a genuine fan of the 2003 American Idol runner-up from which he took inspiration.
Was he posing as a teeny-bopper to tease the bad boys in the online school playground? Was he hoping people playing him online would assume he was an inexperienced pop idol Stan (who happened to play $200/400 PLO)? Or was it all just a joke at the expense of the macho posers at the tables?
5. Hiding
Letting people know you’re a big kahuna at the online tables must come with a certain amount of ego-stroking, but there’s another, opposite school of thought that might be more profitable in the long run.
More anonymity means people won’t be hunting you down, seeking to scalp you for a story to tell the grandkids. They’re more likely to see you as just another faceless player online, and pay you less attention in general. While you steadily take their chips.
So when Phil ‘OMGClayAiken’ Galfond opened a PokerStars account, he didn’t stick with the name familiar to those who had taken him on, or watched him on the Full Tilt high stakes tables. Instead he went for the almost instantly forgettable name of ‘MrSweets28’.
You could say the same about names such as ‘Str8$$$Homey’ or ‘fanofdapoker’, which blend into the background of the type of poker and money-related nicknames you’ll often find online. Only in these cases you’d be facing off against Sam Greenwood ($39M+ live career earnings) and former WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen ($21M+).
6. Boring
In a hurry? Can’t come up with something weird or wacky, or just plain don’t want to?
Just keep it simple with your name, your initials or something that doesn’t take up too much time to think up.
Over at WSOP.com it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out who’s behind the usernames ‘normanchad’ or ‘darrenelias’. David Williams is ‘dwpoker’ and Matt Berkey is ‘berkey11_s4y’, getting in a reference to his Solve For Why training site.
We'd also group all those generic usernames involving money, skill and what a baller you are in here too. Sorry, it's been done.
Simple. Effective. Boring. Let’s move on to something a little more… interesting.
7. Out there
Plenty of players see the boring option and say 'no', running straight off in the other direction entirely. Anyone who’s played online poker will have seen numerous names that make you wonder what they were thinking.
An inside joke? A reference to something you know nothing about? The first thing that came into their head?
Some of our favorite less obvious nicknames include that of Dan Cates, known as ‘Jungleman’ thanks to his early online moniker, which in turn came from his friends’ references to his often-dishevelled appearance (and apparently not due to superpowers he received after being bitten by a radioactive tiger).
Bertrand Grospellier has used ‘ElkY’ since his days as a competitive e-sports gamer, but supposedly there’s no deeper meaning to it. Maria Konnikova goes by ‘bluerat’, and Brad Owen plays on WSOP.com under the name ‘mrmonkeybear’. Perhaps these were childhood nicknames?
One username we hope doesn’t have childhood connections is ‘SolidPenis’ — the name of a Russian PokerStars player who won a huge Spin & Go jackpot on a livestream, and so had his unique choice of handle immortalized forever. You can watch his big win here (but let's hope his mom isn't watching too).
Do you have an unusual screen name? What was your inspiration for it? And what are some of the weirdest ones you’ve come across online?
Let us know in the comments below.
