Dead man's hand

In poker, the dead man's hands are a category of two-pair hands, namely the "aces over eights" ones. The origin of the name 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.

The hand in the rest of American culture

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

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• 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 Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and
• Dick Tracy

Bob Dylan's 1962 song "Rambling Gambling Willie" shows the tradition in these lines:

Related Topics:
Bob Dylan - 1962

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: It was late one evenin' during a poker game.

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

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

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

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And, in the next verse:

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

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: The moral of this story is very plain to see.

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

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

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Motörhead mentions the hand in their 1980 song Ace of Spades in the final verse:

Related Topics:
Motörhead - Ace of Spades

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

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

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

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

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: The Ace Of Spades

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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.

Related Topics:
Nelson DeMille - Soviet - Prison camp - American - Military - Missing in action - Spies - American everyday culture

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