Ace higher card[edit]

Card
Alternative name Explanation
initials

AA

An alliteration, Alan Alda was the star of the television version

Alan Alda
of M*A*S*H[33]

Albert Anastasia An alliteration, first mob boss killed gangland style in 1957 [34]

American So called due to the commercial airline's acronym and logo, AA

Airlines (A♥ A♠) (the aces are of different colors to mimic the AA logo) [35]

So called due to it being the first mission to the moon while ace is
Apollo 11
considered 1, or because the hand "AA" means "11"

Banditerna (A♠ A♣) Swedish for "the Bandits"[33]

AA like a AA battery commonly used in portable electronic

Batteries
devices

AA is a strong pre-flop favorite ("smokes") over Big Slick (AK) or

Big Smoke
any other two-card hand.

Looks like bullets, possibly a reference to the Dead Man's Hand,

Bullets two pair of aces and eights, suggesting that Wild Bill drew a third
bullet in the back, which filled his hand in death[33]

Eyes Probably from snake eyes in dice[33]

Eyes of Texas From the song, probably an elaboration on dice[33]

Flying Nazis[36] Probably because an A looks like a plane, and the Nazis had the
 most successful flying "aces" in their air force

Two black eyes, what you will get in the ring if you fight Joe
Joe Louis (A♠ A♣)
Louis[37]

Pocket Rockets Looks like rockets[33]

Needles Looks like needles[33]

Rocky Mountains Looks like mountains, from Mat Rampson[33]

Sharp Tops Sharp on top, see also A4[33]

From dice[33] snake eyes is the outcome of rolling the dice in a

Snake Eyes
game of craps and getting only one pip on each die

Probably named because the hand is "the nuts". Possibly also a

Squirrel[38] reference to the phrase "Even a blind squirrel can find a nut once
in a while"[39]

Sticks Looks like sticks[33]

Teepees Looks like teepees[33]

A pip is a mark indicating the suit or numerical value of a playing

Two Pips[40]
card

Visine (A♥ A♦) Two red eyes, it gets the red out[41]

AK Anna Kournikova Initials; also looks good, but never wins.[42]

Annalise Keating Initials;

Barry From 5th annual Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica MS, as
Greenstein(A♦ K♦) per Hooter Huon[33]

Big Slick It is a slippery hand that one can easily lose a fortune over [42]

Due to the name of a gun designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, AK-

Kalashnikov
47.

Big Ugly (offsuit)[42] Imitating Big Slick, but "Ugly" if offsuit

Exxon
Since it has a lot of black in it.[43]
Valdez (A♠ K♠)

King Arthur[44] Named after the legendary British leader.

Korean Airlines[44] Named after the South Korean Airline

Mike Haven Mike played two pre-flops all-in in a row with these cards to win
(A♦ K♦) the final table, coming from behind[33]

No explanation found. The "pair" refers to the cards being well

Salt Lake Pair[42]
matched, rather than of equal value.

Santa Barbara Due to a big oil spill off Santa Barbara[33]

Named after the Norwegian rapper Arian Kollen. His initials are A
Arian Kollen
K, and he has also won some considerable pots with this hand.

Gamblers who played this hand too strongly were often left with
no getaway money.[33] Although other sources state its name was
Walking Back to
derived because the old time poker players would play this hand
Houston
so well that they'd leave their opponents walking back to
Houston[42]
 Antony & A for Antony and Cleopatra his queen. Named after the famous
Cleopatra[33] lovers and Shakespearian works

Big Chick Imitating Big Slick[33](AK)

Imitating Big Slick (AK). Hands involving Queens are often

Big Slut[45]
derogatory, especially if they don't win.

AQ
In his book, Doyle said he would never play AQ, and busted out of
Doyle Brunson
the 2008 WSOP Main Event holding AQ offsuit.

Little Slick[45] Imitating Big Slick (AK)

Mrs Slick[46] Imitating Big Slick (AK)

Rocket Queen A song made popular from Guns N'Roses

AJ Armani Jeans AJ is the acronym used by the brand Armani Jeans

The Unrare n/a

Apple Jacks[36] Backronym of AJ

Named after the foam cleaner due to the phonetic similarity

Ajax[40]
between "Ajax" and "Ace-Jack", or "A-Jacks"

Named after the card game in which AJ (Or an Ace with a picture
Blackjack[47]
card or 10) is the highest possible hand

Foamy Cleanser Ajax[33]

Hijack[48] As in "High-Jack"
 Jackass[49] Imitative of "Jack-Ace"

Likely to be named after the American Football player A.J.

Trapasso[50]
Trapasso

Bookends 2 ends of the highest straight[51]

AT
It's speculated that Johnny Moss is associated with this hand
Johnny Moss
because he began playing poker at the age of 10[52]

Rounders Hand From the movie[33]

A9
McDerment A corruption of the last name of Mike McDermott, the character
(A♣ 9♣) played by Matt Damon in the movie