aces and a pair of eights, in a player's hand.' name='description'> dead man's hand - definition and meaning
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dead man's hand

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun poker A pair of aces and a pair of eights, in a player's hand.
  • noun poker (obsolete) Other various hands, among them a full house of three jacks and two tens.
  • noun poker An ace and an eight as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The aces and eights sense is from a legend that Wild Bill Hickok was holding such cards at the time he was killed in 1876.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • The dead man's hand is a two-pair poker hand, namely "aces and eights." The hand gets its name from the legend of it having been the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder (August 2, 1876). It is accepted that the hand included the aces and eights of both of the black suits and either the jack or queen of diamonds. The term, before the murder of Hickok, referred to a variety of hands.

    June 20, 2008

  • Pushing up the ante, I know you've got to see me -

    read 'em and weep: the dead man's hand again...

    - Motorhead, Ace of Spades

    June 20, 2008

  • Yarb, didn't they sing that song on "The Young Ones" once?

    June 20, 2008