Poker Hands

Starting Hands

A light-hearted look at some of the possible starting hands in Texas Hold'em poker. Unlike in most other situations, we don't recommend playing the beer hand...!

AA : American Airlines, Pocket Rockets, Bullets, The Boots, Two Pips. Hal Fowler’s winning hand WSOP 1979
KK : Cowboys, King Kong, Kangaroos, Kray Twins, Ace Magnets.
QQ : The Ladies, Jailhouse Rock, Siegfried and Roy, Flower Girls, Hilton sisters, Snow Shoes. Tom McEvoy’s winning hand WSOP 1983.
JJ : Jay Birds, Hooks.
TT : Dimes (A dime in American currency is worth 10c). Mansour Matloubi’s winning hand WSOP 1990.
99 : Mints (after eights…), Phil Hellmuth (Specifically the two black nines - Hellmuth won the WSOP winning hand 1989) Popeyes, Red Balloons (from the song by Nena). Ben ‘Sailor’ Roberts’ winning hand WSOP 1975.
88 : Snowmen, Two fat Ladies, Racetracks, Chinese Aces (The Chinese have eight as their lucky number). Greg Raymer’s winning Hand WSOP 2004; Jerry Yang’s winning hand WSOP 2007.
77 : Saturn, Mullets, Sunset Strip, Walking Sticks.
66 : Route 66, Kicks.
55 : Presto, Speed limit, Noel Furlong’s winning hand WSOP 1999.
44: Sailboats, Midlife Crisis, Magnum.
33: Crabs, Larry Bird (his shirt number at The Boston Celtics), Hooters, City Park (two trees). Bill Smith’s winning hand WSOP 1985.
22: Ducks, Pocket Swans, The Larte, Desmond (Tutu).

AK : Walking back to Huston, Big lick, Anna Kournikova, Santa Barbara.
AQ : Little Click, Doyle Brunson, Big Chick, Stu Ungar’s winning hand WSOP 1981.
AJ : Black Jack, Ajax, Rockette, Adam and Joe, Apple Jacks, Jackass, Apple Juice.
AT : Johnny Moss, Corners.
A9 : Johnny Chan’s winning hand WSOP 1987; Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson’s winning Hand WSOP 2000.
A8 : The Dead Man’s hand (Wild Bill Hikcock was shot in the back when holding this hand – two pair A-A-8-8), Reet Candy.
A7 : Puggy Pearson’s winning hand WSOP 1973.
A5 : High Five.
A4 : Stu Ungar’s winning hand WSOP 1997.
A3 : Baskin Robbins (31 flavours of ice cream).
A2 : Hunting Season (a bullet and a duck), Acey-Duecey.

KQ : Marriage, Royalty. Carlos Mortensen’s winning hand WSOP 2001.
KJ : Kojack, Bill Filmath, Bachelor’s Hands (Jack King Off) King John, Tucson Monster. Brad Daugherty’s winning hand WSOP 1991.
KT : Katie.
K9 : Canine, Saw Mill, Fido, What a Dog.
K8 : Royal Banquet, Kokomo, The Dancing Hand. Russ Hamilton’s winning hand WSOP 1994.
K7 : Columbia river.
K4 : Sex.
K3 : King crab, Seafood.

QJ : Maverick.
QT : Quint, Goolsby, Varkonyi, Best hand in poker, Watch your hair Phil (this hand caused Phil Hellmuth to have his head shaved in 2002). Robert Varkonyi‘s winning hand WSOP 2002.
Q9 : Jamie Gold ‘s winning hand WSOP 2006.
Q8 : Kuwait.
Q7 : The Computer Hand (according to a computer simulation this is the median hand that is generally profitable against a random hand).
Q5 : Granny Mae.
Q3 : Gay Waiter (Queen with a trey).

JQ : Oedipus
JT : Cloutier (play on the name T J Cloutier).
J9 : Scotty Nyguen’s winning Hand WSOP 1998; Johnny Chan’s winning hand WSOP 1988.
J8 : Dahmer (Jeffery Dahmer ate Jack).
J7 : Jack Daniels.
J6 : Railroad Hand. Jim Bechel’s winning hand WSOP 1993.
J5 : Motown ( Jacks and Fives – say fast ), Redmond Special.
J4 : Flat Tyre (play on words – What’s a jack for?).

T9 : Countdown.
T8: Rosary, Hail Mary.
T7 : Bowling Hand (seven-ten is the big split in ten pin bowling) Daniel Negreanu (hand has to be off-suit).
T5 : Woolworth, Five and Dime.
T4 : Broderick Crawford, Over and Out, "Roger That, Good Buddy" (CB radio call), Convoy.
T2 : Doyle Brunson, Texas Dolly (Doyle Brunson won the WSOP twice with this hand, in 1996 and 1997).

98 : Oldsmobile. Dan Harrington’s winning hand WSOP 1995; Huck Seed’s winning hand WSOP 1996.
96: Joe Bernstein, Dinner for Two, Prom night (when suited).
95 : Dolly Parton (Sang the song 9 to 5).
94 : San Francisco (The 49ers are San Fran’s American Football team), Gold Rush
93 : Jack Benny (he always claimed to be 39 years old).
92 : The Montana Banana (Article 92 made poker legal in the state of Montana).

87 : RPM (78 was the old).
84 : George Orwell (He wrote the novel 1984). Hamid Dastmalchi’s winning hand in WSOP 1992.
83 : Raquel Welch.

76 : Union Oil, Philadelphia (The 76ers are the basketball team from the city).
75 : Heinz (57 varieties), Ketchup.
74 : Double down (Blackjack reference for doubling your bet when dealt 11).
73 : Hachem (Joe Hachem flopped a straight with this hand in the WSOP 2005 to win it all).
72 : Beer Hand (You play it if you are leaving the game and getting the beers; frames 2 and 7 in ten pin bowling are the ‘beer frames’), The hammer, The Worst Hand in Poker, Teddy Lee.

65 : Retirement (the age thereof).
64 : Arlo, The Hennessey.
63 : Blocky.

54 : Jesse James, Colt, The Moneymaker (Chris Moneymaker ‘s winning hand WSOP 2003; Stu Ungar’s winning hand WSOP 1980).
53 : The JymJam.
52 : The Powerhouse.

43 : George W Bush (43rd president).
42 : The Mad Yank, Bill Clinton (42nd president), Lumberman’s hand.

32 : The Hooter hand, Mississippi Slick, Michael Jordan (his shirt number at the Chicago Bulls).