Pokeriad / Learn / Dead man's hand
What is the dead man's hand?
Updated November 2026
The dead man's hand is two pair, black aces and black eights, said to be what Wild Bill Hickok held when he was shot dead at a poker table in Deadwood on August 2, 1876. Nobody knows what the fifth card was, and there's no record from the time of what he was holding at all.
The story of the hand arrived decades after the shooting, which makes it a good example of how poker legends get made.
The hand
The fifth card is unknown.
| Who | Wild Bill Hickok |
|---|---|
| When | August 2, 1876 |
| Where | Deadwood, Dakota Territory |
| Five cards, aces and eights | 1 in 1,641 |
| Black aces and eights | 1 in 59,067 |
What happened that day?
Hickok was playing cards at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon when Jack McCall walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. The shooting itself is well documented. The cards aren't.
What's recorded
When did the name first appear?
The phrase turns up in print ten years later, and early versions describe very different hands.
- 1886A newspaper in Grand Forks describes the dead man's hand as a full house, three jacks and a pair of tens.
- 1903 and 1907Other sources give jacks and sevens, and then jacks and eights.
- 1920sThe phrase gets linked to Hickok.
- 1926Frank J. Wilstach's book helps fix the version we know now, about 50 years after the shooting.
What was the fifth card?
Nobody can say. One Hickok biographer gives the queen of clubs and another gives the queen of hearts, and neither account comes from the time of the shooting. So when someone tells you the kicker, they're repeating a story.
Two versions
Is it actually a good hand?
It's a decent one. Two pair beats any one pair and loses to three of a kind or better, and aces up is the highest two pair there is. Against a single opponent you'd be happy to get all your chips in with it.
The real exposure is to full houses, straights and flushes, and that's true of every two pair.
How rare is it?
Dealt five cards, some combination of two aces and two eights comes up 1 time in 1,641. Asking for the two black aces and the two black eights specifically makes it 1 time in 59,067.
One every
How well do you know the story?
Twelve spots in three rounds.
Questions players ask
Why is it called the dead man's hand?
Because of the story that Hickok was holding it when he was killed.
Was Wild Bill Hickok really holding aces and eights?
Possibly, but nothing from 1876 says so.
Is it unlucky to play?
Cards have no memory. It wins or loses like any other two pair.
How this page was checked
Dates, names and the changing versions of the hand come from Wikipedia's page on the dead man's hand, which cites the original newspapers and biographies. The two odds are exact counts of five-card hands.
Know someone who tells this story at the table?
Send them the part nobody can prove.