Editing Dead man's hand

{{Short description|Poker hand purportedly held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was killed}}
{{Other uses}}
{{redirect|Aces and eights}}
[[File:Dead man's hand.jpg|right|upright=1.25|thumb|The card hand purportedly held by [[Wild Bill Hickok]] at the time of his death: black aces and eights]]

The makeup of [[poker]]'s '''dead man's hand''' has varied through the years. Currently, it is described as a [[two-pair]] [[hand (poker)|poker hand]] consisting of the black aces and black eights. The pair of aces and eights, along with an unknown [[kicker (poker)|hole]] card, were reportedly held by [[Old West]] [[folk hero]], lawman, and [[gunfighter]] [[Wild Bill Hickok]] when he was murdered while playing a game. No contemporaneous source, however, records the exact cards he held when killed.  Author [[Frank J. Wilstach|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.<ref name="Dope">[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/275/was-wild-bill-hickok-holding-the-dead-mans-hand-when-he-was-slain "Was Wild Bill Hickok Holding the Dead Mans Hand When He Was Slain''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904162335/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/275/was-wild-bill-hickok-holding-the-dead-mans-hand-when-he-was-slain |date=2012-09-04 }}; [[The Straight Dope]] article; retrieved March 2013.</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=https://thecasinowizard.com/news/the-dead-mans-hand-explained-what-is-the-dead-mans-hand-in-poker/| title=The Dead Man's Hand Explained – What is the Dead Man's Hand in Poker?| website=Casino Wizard| access-date=2020-05-06| archive-date=2020-06-10| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610013604/https://thecasinowizard.com/news/the-dead-mans-hand-explained-what-is-the-dead-mans-hand-in-poker/| url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest detailed reference to it was 1886, where it was described as a "[[full house (poker)|full house]] consisting of three jacks and a pair of tens" ({{cards|J}} {{cards|J}} {{cards|J}} {{cards|10}} {{cards|10}}).<ref>[http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0607E&L=ADS-L&P=R910&I=-3  ''Discussion''] {{Webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020093747/http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0607E&L=ADS-L&P=R910&I=-3 |date=2007-10-20}}; July 3, 1886, article in the ''[[Grand Forks Herald|Grand Forks Daily Herald]]''; at [[Linguist List]] online; retrieved February 2013.</ref> Three jacks and red sevens ({{cards|J}} {{cards|J}} {{cards|J}} {{hearts|7}} {{diamonds|7}}) are called the dead man's hand in the 1903 ''Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences''.<ref>Cora Linn Morrison Daniels, et al; editor; ''Volume 2''.</ref> The 1907 edition of ''[[Edmond Hoyle|Hoyle]]'s Games'' refers to the hand as jacks and eights ({{cards|J}} {{cards|J}} {{cards|8}} {{cards|8}} {{cards|?}}).<ref>[[Edmond Hoyle]] and editors; ''Hoyle's Games''; 1907; p. 405</ref>

==Hickok's hand==
[[File:DeadMansHandDeadwoodSD.JPG|thumb|Display in [[Deadwood, South Dakota]] with the dead man's hand (here given as A♠ A♣ 8♠ 8♣ {{diamonds|9}})]]
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]] hand, held by [[Wild Bill Hickok]] when he was shot in the back of the head by [[Jack McCall]] on August 2, 1876, in [[Nuttal & Mann's Saloon]], [[Deadwood, South Dakota|Deadwood]], [[Dakota Territory]]. Hickok's final hand purportedly included the aces and eights of both black [[Playing card suit|suits]].<ref name=Wilstach>{{cite book |last=Wilstach |first=Frank J. |title= Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers |year=1926 }}</ref>

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",<ref>''Wild Women of the West''; Signet; 1982; p. 77.</ref> (A♠ A♣ 8♠ 8♣ {{hearts|Q}}) 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♣)<ref>''Wild Bill Hickok: Gunfighter''; Joseph G. Rosa; 2003; p. 163.</ref>  Rosa, however, said that no contemporaneous source can be found for this exact hand.<ref>''Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and his Myth''; Joseph Rosa; 1996.</ref>  The solidification in [[card game|gamer]]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.<ref name=Wilstach/><ref name="Dope"/>

==Legacy==
{{original research|section|date=July 2023}}
{{primary sources|section|date=July 2023}}
The [[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]] Homicide Division, the [[Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums|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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lvmpd.com/Sections/Homicide/tabid/174/Default.aspx| title=Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department| access-date=20 March 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316135024/http://www.lvmpd.com/Sections/Homicide/tabid/174/Default.aspx| archive-date=16 March 2015| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.afmes.mil/index.cfm?pageid=operations.overview| title=Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner| access-date=20 March 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515041215/http://www.afmes.mil/index.cfm?pageid=operations.overview| archive-date=15 May 2012| url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Deadwood, South Dakota|Deadwood]] Police Department uses it as a patch on their uniforms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Police |url=https://www.cityofdeadwood.com/police |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=City of Deadwood South Dakota |language=en}}</ref>
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==See also==
*[[List of poker playing card nicknames]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.recentpoker.com/dead-mans-hand-aces-and-eights/ Dead Mans Hand: Wild Bill's Aces and Eights]

{{Wild West}}

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[[Category:Poker hands]]
[[Category:Legends]]
[[Category:American frontier]]
[[Category:Superstitions]]
[[Category:American folklore]]