If Bill didn’t die, he might have won the pot featured in the Five-Card Stud poker game he was playing. However, it’s not so bad as it can edge you towards a poker pot win. Getting a Dead Man’s Hand might be scary (if you’re in a poker room, you’d probably look around to spot enemies looking to gun you down). What’s the Significance of the Dead Man’s Hand?Īlthough the Dead Man’s Hand has a rich history, this hand isn’t as valuable as other poker hands, including Royal Flush and Full House. Although we can’t gauge the story’s authenticity, the resulting folklore remains a constant in poker gaming to date. For context, he had a poker hand fielding two black aces and eights.Īfter Bill’s death, there were several rumors about the identity of the individual who was killed with aces and eights and whether or not he had an “AA88” hand.

It was official - Bill was DEAD! While he died at a relatively early age of 39, the hand Bill had before his death made the rounds.

This wasn’t shooting practice as he aimed it at Bill’s head, delivering a shot moments later. Immediately he got in, he went behind Bill (a zone where he was unnoticed) and raised his pistol. Card rooms back in the day adopted similar settings - a bar filled with tons of cigars and whiskey to go around and poker tables for gamblers to hone their crafts while winning decent amounts (if lucky).Īs the Poker game progressed (bets had been made, and cards were shared amongst participating players), another gambler named Jack McCall entered the saloon. On August 2nd, 1876, Hickok played a Five-Card Stud poker game at Nuttal and Mann’s saloon. But, due to his profession as a law enforcer, Hickok spent most of his life slugging it out with criminals and bringing outlaws to book. As he grew into a man, Hickok became a jack of all trades - gambler, actor, and gunslinger. Ready to know more? Let’s dive in! Aces and Eights Casino: How the Dead Man’s Hand Came to ExistĪs we’ve established, this hand has roots in the Old West. That said, we’ll also deliver major tips on how to trump this hand at your favorite aces and eights casino. While we’ve given an overview of how the Dead Man’s Hand came to be, this article will dig deeper to give you the full version of this poker tale. Albeit a gory sight, the poker aces and eights casino poker hand he had at his death was inducted into poker folklore - and it remains a thing to date. However, it goes beyond the table as the Dead Man’s Hand became a thing when a famed law enforcer was shot dead at a poker table. The story of this poker hand is traceable to the Old West.

Aces eights casino nights