Ultimate List of Poker Hand Nicknames

Once you’ve played a few dozen hours of poker, you might assume that there’s a nickname for every poker hand you get.

Well, after scouring the internet and our own poker vocabularies, we can tell you this – that’s a good assumption.

Some of the most popular hands in poker have half a dozen different nicknames. It’s tough to keep track of them all.

Luckily, we’re here to help. Our list below has more than 150 poker hand nicknames categorized by hand type.

Check it out to learn the slang for your favorite poker hands.

Pocket pairs are hands that contain two cards of the same value. For example, pocket aces (AA), kings (KK), and queens (QQ).

The following are the most popular nicknames for pocket pairs in poker.

Pocket aces is the best starting hand that you can get pre-flop in games like Texas Hold’em. You’re approximately 80% to win against any two cards before the flop.

These are the most common poker hand slang for pocket aces.

• American Airlines: The acronym, “AA”, holds the same acronyms as this commercial airline. There are even some similarities when it comes to American Airlines’ logo and this poker hand.
• Apollo 11: You might hear some players call pocket aces Apollo 11 since Apollo 11 was the first mission to the moon. The ace is considered “1” in poker and furthermore, “AA” can translate directly to “11”.
• Bullets: An ace bears a similar resemblance to a bullet. Therefore, two aces could resemble two bullets, hence the plural form of the nickname.
• Batteries: This nickname refers to the “AA” symbol that can be found on most batteries.
• Pocket Rockets: Aces look like rockets and two aces in the hole is a pocket pair. Thus, pocket rockets.
• Snake Eyes: Snake Eyes is a borrowed reference from craps. In craps, you hit a Snake Eyes when you hit a one on each die.
• Teepees: The nickname “Teepees” refers to the pointy tip of the “A’ that makes them look like a teepee.

Pocket kings is the second-best hand that you can get in poker.

Like pocket aces, there is plenty of poker hand slang names for this combination.

• Ace Magnets: This term is called “Ace Magnets” because you don’t want to see an ace since this is the only pair that can beat you. This is quite the ironic name!
• Cowboys: The history behind this nickname is unclear. However, this nickname might come from the phonetic sound that the letter “K” makes and Texas Hold ‘Em’s Old West origins.
• Elvis Presley: The nickname “Elvis Presley” refers to this “King” of Rock and Roll.
• King Kong (or Gorillas): The name King Kong comes from the two K’s that come with this pocket pair. You can also find some players calling it “Gorillas”.

Pocket queens has a few nicknames that it goes by. Unfortunately, some of these names are derogatory, so these are the most common poker hand names you’ll find.

Pocket jacks is a difficult hand to play. It’s the fourth strongest pocket pair in Texas Hold’em, yet players tend to play them as if they were as strong as aces, kings, or queens.

Fortunately, the poker slang for pocket jacks isn’t nearly as difficult.

There are a few nicknames for the poker hand pocket tens. These are the most common ones you’ll hear at the table.

Pocket nines are a fun hand to play. You can raise with them, overcall with them, limp in pre-flop with them – it’s hard to go wrong, so long as you don’t overplay them.

Here are some of the different names you might hear someone call pocket nines.

You’ll find plenty of poker hand slang for pocket eights.

Here is some slang that you might hear when someone has pocket sevens.

Here’s some of the poker hand slang you might hear with pocket sixes.

If you get pocket fives, here are some nicknames you can call your hand.

Here are some poker nicknames you can use for pocket fours.

These aren’t as many nicknames for poker hands like fours, threes and twos – certainly not as many as pocket aces or kings. Here are the few nicknames that you’ll hear the most.

Pocket twos is the worst pocket pair you can get, but you can still win a huge pot if you flop a set. You’ll hit a set approximately 1 time for every 8 tries.

If you can’t get a pocket pair likes aces, kings, or queens, then a strong A-X hand is often the next best thing.

Here are some of the poker hand nicknames you might hear when you or someone else picks up a hand with an ace and another card.

Ace-King (AK)

Some of the most common slang for poker hands is for hands like ace-king.

• Big Slick: This is one of the most popular nicknames around. It’s a slippery hand known to bring big wins or big losses.
• Kalashnikov: Named after Mikhail Kalashnikov who designed the AK-47.
• King Arthur: Named after the legendary knight of the roundtable. This is also a play on his initials.
• Korean Airlines: Named after the well-known South Korean airline. This is also a play on Korean Airline’s initials.
• Walking Back to Houston: Popular poker slang by Texas players. This hand might leave you with no money if you overplay it.

There’s no doubt that there are plenty of good hand combinations you can make with the king card. Here are some of its most common nicknames.

King-Queen (KQ)

King-queen is a fun poker hand. You have the potential to flop strong hands like top-pair-top-kicker, as well as strong straight and flush draws.

Here are some of the most common poker hand slang for king-queen.

• King of Queens: TV show reference to the popular American sitcom starring Kevin James and Leah Remini.
• Marriage: An obvious nickname considering kings and queens make married couples.
• Divorce: Another iteration of the name for when this hand loses.
• Mixed Marriage: This is used if the hand is off-suit.
• Throne: A fitting name for the royal couple.
• Valentine’s Day: This nickname can be used when you’re dealt both the King and Queen of hearts.

Seeing a queen in your opening hand can be a good feeling. A pair of queens is often good, plus queens make for strong flushes and straights.

Here are some popular nicknames for queen hand combinations that you might get.

While the lowest of the face cards, some hand combinations with a jack can prove to be very formidable. Here are some names you can use for the J-X hands you pick up.

T-X hands can lead to some nice hand combinations, such as a straight, flush, or even royal flush.

Here are some common nicknames for the ten card in poker.

Some of our most favorite 9-X hands are suited connectors. Who wouldn’t want to flop a straight and/or flush draw?

Here are some of the most common nicknames for poker hands with a nine in them.

We’re starting to get halfway through the deck. Even though there aren’t a ton of 8-X hands we love to play, surprisingly, you’ll still find several nicknames for them.

Let’s look at some of the poker slang you can expect to hear when talking about 7-X hole cards.

The value of the six-card might not be too powerful, but you can occasionally make a strong hand.

If anything, there is entertainment value to be had in knowing the nicknames for various 6-X hands you can receive.

Here are some 5-X hand nicknames you might hear from players.

We’ve already covered several nicknames which involve the four card. However, here are two more hands with nicknames that we haven’t covered yet.

When it comes to threes, we’ve covered several of the nicknames that you might find already. But here are two more that we haven’t covered yet.

Those are all the slang names for poker hands that we could think of or find.

But if you know of one that we missed, contact us and we’ll add it to the list.

We want this to be the best list of poker hand names on the internet and, with your help, we can make that happen!