This article is about the poker hand. For the video game, see Dead Man's Hand (video game). This article is about the video game. ...

The dead man's hand, aces and eights.

In poker, the dead man's hand is a two-pair hand, namely "aces and eights." The origin of the name, legend has it, is the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder, which is accepted to have included the aces and eights of both of the black suits (sometimes considered "bullets"), although his biographer, Rosa, says no contemporary cite for his hand has ever been found. The term "dead man's hand" certainly predates the Hickok connection which only occcured in the mid-1920's. Prior to this, the term referred to a variety of hands. The earliest found reference to a "dead man's hand" is 1886, where it was described as "three jacks and a pair of tens." Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2433x2274, 4293 KB) Description: Dead mans hand, two pairs of aces and eights, the hand that wild Bill Hickock had when he was shot August 2, 1876. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2433x2274, 4293 KB) Description: Dead mans hand, two pairs of aces and eights, the hand that wild Bill Hickock had when he was shot August 2, 1876. ... Poker Room at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, which is awarded to the player or players... A poker hand such as J♦ J♣ 4♣ 4♠ 9♠, which contains two cards of the same rank, plus two cards of another rank (that match each other but not the first pair), plus one unmatched card, is called two pair. ... A hand in poker can mean any of the following: A unit of play consisting of a deal, one or more rounds of betting, and possibly a showdown. ... The word ace comes from the Old French word as (from Latin as) meaning a unit, from the name of a small Roman coin. ... Five-card draw is often the first poker variant learned by most players, and is very common in home games although it is now rare in casino and tournament play. ... James Butler Hickok (1837–1876) Gravesite James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a legendary figure in the American Wild West. ... The four Anglo-American playing card suits: spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds. ...

There are various claims as to the identity of Hickok's fifth card, and there is also some reason to believe that he had discarded one card, the draw was interrupted by the shooting, and he never got the fifth card due to him. One is said to be drawing in a poker game if one has a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. ...

The Stardust in Las Vegas had a 5 of diamonds on display as the 5th card; in the HBO television series Deadwood, a 9 of diamonds is used; the modern town of Deadwood, South Dakota also uses the 9 of diamonds in displays; and Ripley's Believe it or Not shows a queen of clubs. The Stardust Resort & Casino was a historic casino resort located on 63 acres along the famed Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. ... This article is about the city of Las Vegas in Nevada. ... HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network with headquarters in New York City. ... Deadwood was a weekly American television drama series that premiered in March 2004 on HBO. The series is a Western set in the 1870s in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. ... A photograph of Deadwood in 1876. ... Ripleys Believe It or Not! deals in the bizarre—events and items so strange and unusual that it is often hard to believe that they actually exist--but they do: believe it. ...

For other poker hands that have found a place in lore, see List of slang names for poker hands. // In poker, players may often use slang terms for particular types of hands. ...

The hand in popular culture

This ominous hand is sometimes used as a portent of death in songs, books and in movies that include

• Stagecoach (where a doomed character held the ace of diamonds in place of one black ace, and the queen of hearts as fifth card)
• The Plainsman (where Gary Cooper as Hickok held the king of spades as the fifth card)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (in Ken Kesey's novel McMurphy has a dead man's hands tattoo)
• The collectible card game Doomtown defines a Dead Man's Hand as having the Jack of Diamonds as the fifth card. In this game, it is considered to outrank any other poker hand, unless an opponent plays the card "That's Two Pair!" to reduce its rank.
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
• Dick Tracy
• Along Came a Spider
• Quantum Leap Season One, episode four, How the Tess was Won features a fixed hand of poker with the Dead Man's Hand being dealt out.
• A Party Poker ad shows a man playing poker against an opponent holding a dead man's hand with a Five of Diamonds as the fifth card. The camera then pans out to show that the setting is a morgue and the player holding the dead man's hand is a corpse
• Wing Commander IV featured a game of cards between Maniac and Vagabound. Maniac wins the hand with four queens, against Vagabound's hand, described as "full house, aces and eights". Shortly after, Vagabound is killed on an intelligence-gathering mission.
• Dead Man's Hand is the name of a first-person shooter for the Xbox and PC set in the American Old West, which features train trips and shoot-outs on horseback.

Dead Man's Hand Popular Rockabilly band which originated in Jacksonville, FL and later relocated to Los Angeles known for their blues-rich sound and driving rhythm. Their 1999 full length album, Days You Loved Me, won much acclaim amongst critics and roots music enthusiasts alike. Stagecoach is a 1939 western film, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. ... Diamonds () is one of the four suits found in playing cards. ... The queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. ... Hearts (♥) is one of the four suits found in playing cards. ... The Plainsman is a 1936 Western movie directed by Cecil B. DeMille that presents a highly fictionalized account of the relationship between Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper) and Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), with a villainous Charles Bickford inciting the Indians to battle. ... Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor of English heritage. ... A King of Hearts playing card The king is a playing card with a picture of a king on it. ... Rusty spade small spade for clay soil; the other one for sandy soil and loamy soil A spade is a tool fit for digging, or something resembling that. ... One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a 1975 film directed by MiloÅ¡ Forman. ... Kenneth Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, best known for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and as a (counter) cultural figure who, some consider, was a link between the beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. ... Collectible card games (CCGs), also called trading card games (TCGs) or customizable card games (a phrase specific to two Decipher, Inc. ... Doomtown (originally Deadlands:Doomtown) is a collectible card game, a companion to the Deadlands roleplaying setting. ... The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a classic Western movie made in 1962, starring James Stewart, John Wayne and Lee Marvin, and directed by John Ford. ... Dick Tracy is a comic strip detective and a popular character in American pop culture. ... Along Came a Spider is a 2001 American mystery film. ... Quantum Leap is a science fiction television series that ran for 97 episodes from March 1989 to May 1993 on NBC. It follows the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett (played by Scott Bakula), a brilliant scientist who after researching time-travel, and doing experiments in something he calls The Imaging... PartyGaming Plc is an online gambling company, best known for its online poker room PartyPoker. ... Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom is the third direct sequel in Chris Roberts Wing Commander science fiction flight simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console produced by Microsoft, first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. ... A personal computer (PC) is usually a microcomputer whose price, size, and capabilities make it suitable for personal usage. ... A typical archetype, the cowboy, in the Wild West. ... 1950s Rockabilly book by Harlan Ellison Rockabilly is one of the earliest forms of rock and roll as a distinct style of music. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ...

Bob Dylan's 1962 song "Rambling Gambling Willie" shows the tradition in these lines: Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ...

It was late one evenin' during a poker game.

A man lost all his money; he said Willie was to blame.

He shot poor Willie through the head, which was a tragic fate.

When Willie's cards fell on the floor, they were aces backed with eights.

And, in the next verse:

So all you rovin' gamblers, wherever you might be,

The moral of this story is very plain to see.

Make your money while you can, before you have to stop,

For when you pull that dead man's hand, your gamblin' days are up.

Bob Seger's 1980 song "Fire Lake" make reference to the legend in these lines: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Who wants to play those eights and aces

Who wants a raise

Who needs a stake

Who wants to take that long shot gamble

And head out to fire lake

Motörhead mentions the hand in their 1980 song Ace of Spades in the final verse: Motörhead are a British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy Kilmister (real name Ian Kilmister) after his ejection from the iconic space-rock band Hawkwind. ... Ace of Spades is a song by the heavy metal band Motörhead. ...

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

Read 'em and weep, the Dead Man's Hand again,

I see it in your eyes, take one look and die,

The only thing you see, you know it's gonna be,

The Ace Of Spades

Uncle Kracker has based an entire song on the hand, entitled Aces and Eights, where in the refrain, he repeats the lines: Uncle Kracker (born Matthew Shafer 9 November 1974 in Mount Clemens, Michigan) is an American rock and roll musician. ...

Aces and eights, aces and eights, aces and eights

That's a dead man's hand

The Crown mentions the hand in their song "Dead Man's Song" (Deathrace King - 2000): The Crown is a death/thrash metal band from Trollhättan, Sweden. ... Deathrace King is the fourth album by Swedish death/thrash metal band The Crown. ...

The cards are given, now place your bets with your soul at stake

But as a sinner you live to win, throwing the dice...

You get triple six and flash a gain of gold!

He's never lost before, but now he's been given the dead man's hand

In Nelson DeMille's novel The Charm School, the school in question is a Soviet prison camp for American military personnel missing in action forced to serve as role models for future spies, who live with them in a complete simulation of American everyday culture. The prisoners have secretly agreed among themselves on false customs they will teach in order to sabotage their students' future missions, and DeMille reveals this fact to the reader by describing a poker game where a two-pair hand has just been declared, and a prisoner misleads a student by inappropriately describing it as the dead man's hand. Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author. ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem: The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital (largest city) Moscow None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev Establishment October Revolution   - Declared 30... Prisoner of War camps Contents // Categories: Substubs | Prisons and detention centres ... MIA is a three-letter acronym that is most commonly used to designate a combatant who is Missing In Action, and has not yet returned or otherwise been accounted for as either dead (KIA) or a prisoner of war (POW). ... Espionage is the practice of obtaining information about an organization or a society that is considered secret or confidential (spying) without the permission of the holder of the information. ... This article very generally discusses the customs and culture of the United States; for the culture of the United States, see arts and entertainment in the United States. ...

In the 1990's television series entitled Quantum Leap when Sam is trying to win Tess and a ranch for the unfortunate veterinarian he has jumped into for the episode "How the Tess Was Won" Tess is dealt the dead man's hand dealt by Wayne. Wayne intends to ensure that the veterinarian inhabited by Sam can't win Tess in their week long cowboy contest by cheating for her and otherwise sabotaging the contest despite her request to win fairly or lose. Wayne, in the hopes that someday Tess will return his love, is desperate that Sam lose the contest and thus not marry her. Quantum Leap is a science fiction television series that ran for 97 episodes from March 1989 to May 1993 on NBC. It follows the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett (played by Scott Bakula), a brilliant scientist who after researching time-travel, and doing experiments in something he calls The Imaging...