dead man's hand en · NOUN
Etymology
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.
Meanings
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A pair of aces and a pair of eights (especially, the black aces and eights), in a player's hand.
"A dead man's hand or queens on the roof at least," suggested Southack. "They say two aces and two eights can never be beat."
1907, Davida French with Esther Stevens and Laura Wells, “The Rulers of the Realm”, in Not Included in a Sheepskin: Stanford Stories, Stanford: The Stanford Book Store, page 172:
- An ace and an eight as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em
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(obsolete) Other various hands, among them a full house of three jacks and two tens.
When playing poker, should you hold a jack full on red sevens, it means death, and is called "a dead man's hand".
1903, Cora Linn Morrison Daniels, Charles McClellan Stevens, editors, Encyclopædia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, volume 3, J. H. Yewdale, page 1478:
Relateds
Synonyms
eights and aces ((poker) pair of aces and pair of eights) · aces and eights ((poker) pair of aces and pair of eights) · kelter