The makeup of
poker
Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...
's dead man's hand has varied through the years. Currently, it is described as a
two-pair poker hand
In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called ''hands'', according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In hi ...
consisting of the black aces and black eights. The pair of aces and eights, along with an unknown
hole
A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid Body (physics), body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in m ...
card, were reportedly held by
Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
folk hero
A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythology, mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in Folk music, folk songs, folk tales ...
, lawman, and
gunfighter
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, reconnaissance, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, s ...
when he was murdered while playing a game. No contemporaneous source, however, records the exact cards he held when killed. Author
Frank Wilstach's 1926 book, ''Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers'', led to the popular modern held conception of the poker hand's contents.
Use of the phrase
The expression, "dead man's hand", appears to have had some currency in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, although no one connected it to Hickok until the 1920s.
["Was Wild Bill Hickok Holding the Dead Mans Hand When He Was Slain''](_blank)
; The Straight Dope
''The Straight Dope'' was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino. It was first published in 197 ...
article; retrieved March 2013. The earliest detailed reference to it was 1886, where it was described as a "
full house
''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...
consisting of three jacks and a pair of tens" ( ). Three jacks and red sevens ( ) are called the dead man's hand in the 1903 ''Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences''. The 1907 edition of ''
Hoyle's Games'' refers to the hand as jacks and eights ( ).
Hickok's hand

What is currently considered the dead man's hand card combination received its notoriety from a legend that it was the
five-card stud or
five-card draw
Five-card draw (also known as Cantredraw) is a poker variant that is considered the simplest variant of poker, and is the basis for video poker. As a result, it is often the first variant learned by new players. It is commonly played in home ...
hand, held by
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, reconnaissance, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, s ...
when he was shot in the back of the head by
Jack McCall on August 2, 1876, in
Nuttal & Mann's Saloon,
Deadwood,
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...
. Hickok's final hand purportedly included the aces and eights of both black
suits.
According to a book by Western historian Carl W. Breihan, the cards were retrieved from the floor by a man named Neil Christy, who then passed them on to his son. The son, in turn, told Mr. Breihan of the composition of the hand. "Here is an exact identity of these cards as told to me by Christy's son: the ace of spades with a heel mark on it; the ace of clubs; the two black eights, clubs and spades, and the queen of hearts with a small drop of Hickok's blood on it", (A♠ A♣ 8♠ 8♣ ) though nothing of the sort was reported at the time immediately following the shooting.
Hickok biographer Joseph Rosa wrote about the make-up of the hand: "The accepted version is that the cards were the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, two black eights, and the queen of clubs as the 'kicker'." (A♠ A♣ 8♠ 8♣ Q♣) Rosa, however, said that no contemporaneous source can be found for this exact hand. The solidification in
gamer
A gamer is someone who plays interactive games, either video games, tabletop role-playing games, skill-based card games, or any combination thereof, and who often plays for extended periods of time. Originally a hobby, gaming has evolved in ...
s' parlance of the dead man's hand as two pairs, black aces and eights, did not come about until after the 1926 publication of Wilstach's book—50 years after Hickok's death.
Legacy
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (also known as the LVMPD or Metro) is a combined city and county law enforcement agency for the Las Vegas, City of Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is headed by the Sheriff of Clar ...
Homicide Division, the Los Angeles Police Department CRASH squad, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System all use some variation of the aces and eights dead man's hand in their insignia. The Deadwood Police Department uses it as a patch on their uniforms.
See also
* List of poker playing card nicknames
References
External links
Dead Mans Hand: Wild Bill's Aces and Eights
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dead man's hand
Poker hands
Legends
American frontier
Superstitions
American folklore