Poker Trivia

Ring Games

Poker players often travel great distances to get to a tournament. There’s also a good chance that they booked their hotel rooms for at least a few days. Naturally, they want to win enough to cover their costs.

As the number of players in the tournament gets smaller, there will be more and more unused tables, often arranged in a ring around the remaining tables. Those eliminated from the tournament that still want to play form spontaneous cash games at these tables, which is how they came to be called “ring games.”

If you know any interesting or little-known poker stuff, post it here!

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Before 1834 poker used to be played with a deck of 20 cards and just 4 players. Each player would be dealt 5 cards and betting would be on who had the best hand.

Another fun fact, the longest game of poker in history started in 1881 and lasted 8 and a half years.

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Dead Man’s Hand

Aces and eights is often called, “The Dead Man’s Hand” because it is said to be the hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was murdered in 1876.

However, the earliest reference (in 1886) claims he had 3 jacks and a pair of 7’s. The idea that he had aces and eights comes from Frank Wilstach’s 1926 book *Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers, " which is almost certainly fictionalized.

The truth is, nobody knows what he had, or even if he had a hand at the time. (They might have been dragging the pot, shuffling, or mid-deal)

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There are a total of 133,784,560 distinct 7-card combinations possible in NLHE. If you were dealt 1 hand per second and no hand was ever repeated, it would take you ~4 1/4 years without stopping to see them all. If you ignore suits, the number of possible 7-card combinations becomes more manageable at a mere 6,009,159. That would only take you ~69 1/2 days.

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Full Boat

The old riverboat gamblers often lived on the boat so they could find a game whenever they wanted. Since the boat was, in effect, their house, they started calling a full house a "full boat,’ and the name just stuck.

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There are over 70 million decks of cards sold each year in the USA.
wonder how many world wide?

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During the 1930s a number of manufacturers produced a 65 card deck with an extra suit known as Eagles. Although more commonly used for bridge a 5 suited version of Poker does indeed exist.

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In a deck of cards, the king of spades represents David, King of Israel; the king of Clubs represents Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia; the king of Hearts is Charlemagne, King of France; and the king of Diamonds is Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome.

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I don’t have any trivia to share but just wanted to say thanks…these are all interesting :grin:

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ditto

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The Doyle Brunson

Many poker hands have nicknames, but my favorite is 10-2, which is named after the legendary Doyle Brunson.

In 1976, Brunson was heads up at the WSOP final table with Jesse Alto. Alto gets AJ and raises, Brunson has 10-2 and calls. The flop comes A J 10, Alto bets and Brunson moves allin and gets called. Turn brings a 2, river brings another 10, Brunson wins the hand and the title with a full house.

In the following year’s WSOP, he finds himself at the final table heads up against Bones Berland. Brunson is dealt 10-2 to Berland’s 8-5, and they limp to the flop. The flop brings 10-8-5, and both players check. The turn is a 2, Brunson bets, and Berland moves in and is called. The river brings another 10 because, hey, why not?

Years later Doyle said he quit playing the hand named after him, claiming he has lost more money with that hand than with any other.

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Speaking of poker hand nicknames, here’s a list of poker hand nicknames used to describe the most popular starting hands in poker, as well as poker hand rankings.

Pairs

AA – Rockets, Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines, Sticks, Snake Eyes, Flying Nazis, Teepees, Alan Alda, Joe Louis (As-Ac), Visine (Ah-Ad), Sharp Tops
KK – Cowboys, King Kong, Gorillas, Kangaroos, Krispy Kreme, Ace Magnets
QQ – Ladies, Hilton Sisters, Canadian Rockets, Canadian Aces, Siegfried & Roy, Double date, Jailhouse Rock, Snowshoes, Divas, Calamity Jane
JJ – Fishhooks, hooks, Johnnies, Jay Birds, Kid Dynamite, Gents, Dyne-O-Mite (JJ from Good Times)
TT – Dimes, Tension
99 – German Virgin (“nine nine” nine sounds like the German word for “no”), Barbara Felton (Get Smart Agent 99), Gretzky, Popeye’s
88 – Snowmen, Dog Balls, Octopuses, Piano Keys, Racetracks, Double Infinities, Wurlitzer, Two Fat Ladies, Little Oldsmobile
77 – Walking Sticks, Hockey Sticks, Sunset Strip, Mullets, Saturn
66 – Route 66, Cherries, Kicks
55 – Presto, Speed Limit, Nickels
44 – Magnum, Sailboats, Canadian Presto, Dirty Harry, Sailboats, Midlife Crisis, Darth Vader (black fours)
33 – Crabs, Treys, Strumpor Och Skor (Socks and Shoes)
22 – Ducks, Deuces, Pocket Swans, Quack Quack

Aces

AK – Big Slick, Big Slick in a Suit (suited), Santa Barbara, Anna Kournikova (good looking but rarely wins), Salt Lake Pair
AQ – Big Chick, Little Slick, Walking Back to Houston
AJ – Jack Ass, Blackjack, Ajax, Apple Jacks
A9 – Chris Ferguson
A8 – Dead Man
A5 – High Five
A4 – Plane Crash, Transvestite (you see the first ace, and the 4 looks like another, but it turns out not to be)
A3 – Ashtray, Baskin Robbins (31 flavors)
A2 – Little Slick, Acey-Deucy, Hunting Season (a bullet and a duck)

Other Starting Hand Nicknames

KQ – Royal Couple, Marriage (suited), Divorce (suited), Mixed Marriage (offsuit), Othello (offsuit), Lucy and Ricky
KJ – Kojak, King John, Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling), Bill Fillmaff (offsuit), Bachelor (offsuit), Tucson Monster, Just Kidding
KT – Katie, Big Al, Wood Cutter
K9 – Canine, Dog, Bow wow, Fido, Saw Mill, What a Dog, Pedigree (suited), Mutt (offsuit), Mongrel
K8 – Feast (the king ate), Kokomo
K7 – Columbia River (famous for Salmon, K7 sounds like King Salmon)
K4 – Fork, Fork Off when offsuited.
K3 – King Crab, Commander Crab, Krablar, Sizler
K2 – Everest, “Big Fritz” when suited.
QJ – Oedipus Rex, Maverick “Livin’ on jacks and queens”
QT – Quint, Robert Varkonyi, Hot Babe or Hot Stud, Goolsby
Q9 – Quinine
Q7 – Computer Hand
Q6 – Peanut Butter and Jelly
Q5 – Granny Mae
Q3 – Gay Waiter, San Franscisco Busboy, Streetwalker, Windsor Waiter
JQ – Fred & Ethel
JT – One Time Thought to be the Best Drawing Hand (suited)
J9 – T.J. Cloutier
J8 – Jeffrey Dahmer (Jeffrey Dahmer ate Jack)
J6 – Jack Talley, Railroad Hand
J5 – Motown, Jackson Five
J4 – Flat Tire
T9 – Countdown
T8 – Golden Dan, Tetris
T7 – Bowling Hand, Split
T5 – Woolworth, Merfs, Dimestore
T4 – Roger That, Convoy, Good Buddy, Over and Out, Broderick Crawford
T3 – Weinberg
T2 – Doyle Brunson or Texas Dolly
98 – Oldsmobile
96 – Big Lick, Railroad, Dinner for Two, Happy Meal, Good Lover, Prom Night (suited)
95 – Dolly Parton, Hard Working Man
94 – San Francisco (49ers), Joe Montana Banana
93 – Jack Benny
92 – Twiggy, Montana Banana, Golf Bag
86 – Henry Bowen, Pacheco Nuts
85 – Finky Dink
84 – Big Brother, Orwell
83 – Sven, Most feared hand in Texas Hold’em.
78 – RPM
76 – Union Oil, Philadelphia (76ers), Trombones
75 – Filipino Slick
74 – Cambodian Big Slick
73 – Hachem
72 – Whip (Worst Hand In Poker), Beer Hand, The Hammer
69 – Joe Bernstein
65 – Ken Warren
64 – The Rabbit
63 – Blocky, Jimmy Summerfield (offsuit)
62 – Ainsworth, Cowboy Wolford
57 – Heinz, Pickle Man
53 – Bully Johnson
52 – Pick up (as in 52 card pick up), Quarter, Two Bits
45 – Jesse James, Jane Russell, Moneymaker
43 – Waltz
42 – Lumberman’s Hand
38 – Raquel Welch
32 – Mississippi Slick, Polish Big Slick, Hooter Hand (suited), Can of Corn
24 – Solid Gold, Jack Bauer

Other Hands

A, K, Q, J, T – Broadway
A, 2, 3, 4, 5 – Wheel (Steel Wheel if suited), Bicycle or Bike, Pup or Puppy
Q, Q, Q, 3, 3 – San Francisco Waiters (‘queens with treys’)
K, K, K, K – The Four Horsemen (of the Apocalypse)
Q, Q, Q, Q – Village People (‘four Queens’)
3, 3, 3, 3 – Forest (‘four trees’)
A, A, 8, 8 – Dean Man’s Hand
A, K, 4, 7 – Assault Rifle
K, K, 9, 9 – Pair of Dogs (two K-9’s)
J, J, 5, 5 – Rock and Roll (Jackson Five)
9, 9, 6, 6 – Dinner for Four
K, K, K – The Three Wise Men, The Alabama Night Riders, Ku Klux Klan
A, A, A – Beatles Reunion
Q, Q, Q – Six Tits
T, T, T – Thirty Miles of Bad Road
6, 6, 6 – The Devil, The Beast
5, 5, 5 – Washington Monument
4, 4, 4 – Grand Jury
2, 2, 2 – Huey, Dewey and Louie
A, 2, 3 – ABC (First 3 Cards)
A – Bull
K – Cowboy
Q – Lady, Dame
J – Hook, J-bird, J-boy
9d – Course of Scotland
3 – Trey
A Joker – Bug
All Blue or All Pink – Any Flush
Any face card – Paint, Liner
Arkansas Flush – A Four Flush
Case Card – Fourth Card of a Rank
Club Flush – Golf Bag
Four of a Kind – Quads
Four Pair (Omaha) – Noah’s Ark
Pair in First Two Cards – Wired Pair
Heart Flush – Valentines
King high Club flush – Rodney
Three of a Kind – Trips, Gleek
Three of a Kind with Pair in the Hole – Set
Three Pair – Shoe Store

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Nice to see all my favs.

Good Times

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You missed 9/7s, the Persian Carpet Ride (from Antonio Esfandiari)

Great list. Wonder if there are any others to include?

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As seen in Replay (achievements):

TT - TNT
QQQ - Daisy hand
KKQQ - Mommas and Poppas
KQJ109 - Off broadway
2222 - Mighty ducks

Others, KQs, 666 ,AA88 etc are listed in Maya’s list.

I am going to improve my lingo here on:

Dummy, you win with the donk call on a beer hand…

(In omaha)
Shoe store, pch, no full
Noah’s Ark, still no fh, I knew

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Here’s a fun fact…

On any unpaired flop containing an ace, one (or more) of your opponents could have a straight draw. This is true no matter what the other 2 cards are.

(Of course, on some flops, they could have a made straight)

Flops containing an ace plus 1 Broadway card and 1 wheel card are even more dangerous. For example, with an AK5 flop, 2-3, 2-4, 3-4, 10-J, 10-Q, and JQ will all have straight draws.

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You can’t have a straight without 10 or 5.

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Show me an unpaired flop that contains an ace where someone might not have a straight draw.

Here’s one that probably everyone knows, but worth mentioning:

In Texas Hold’em, if there’s a straight 10 to ace on board and no possibility for a royal flush, it’s ALWAYS a split no matter what cards everyone has.

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An ace, a banana, and a bent spoon?

A :banana: :spoon:

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