If you’ve ever watched the World Poker Tour, you’ll know at least a handful of nicknames for poker hands. The most common ones of course are “pocket rockets” or “bullets” for pocket aces, and “snowmen” for pocket 8s. It seems if there is a hand, Vince Van Patten has a nickname for it. Phil Hellmuth: The Poker Brat. Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr was born in Madison, Wisconsin on July. Poker player: 3 Jake Daniels United States: Poker player: 8 Freddy Deeb Lebanon: Poker player: 1 Jonathan Duhamel Canada: Poker player: 7 Tom Dwan United States: Poker player: 5-6, 8 Peter Eastgate Denmark: Poker player: 5 Eli Elezra Israel: Businessman, poker player: 1-6 Antonio Esfandiari Iran: Poker player: 1-7 Sammy Farha Lebanon: Poker player: 1-4 Chris Ferguson.
15:4313 Mar
When it comes to nicknames, everybody hopes that they’ll get one that sounds cool, or dangerous, or – at the very least – one that's not offensive, negative, or just plain crap! Because nicknames stick with you, and become part of your life whether you like them or not!
Just ask basketball legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson (as cool a name as any) or heavyweight boxer Audley ‘Fraudley’ Harrison (hardly how a fighter wants to be seen) or soccer player Nicolas ‘The Incredible Sulk’ Anelka (yet another reason for the Frenchman to be unhappy!).
When it comes to poker nicknames, there are very few players who don’t sport at least one. It kind of goes with the territory, harking back to the days when smoky back-rooms and small-time hoods were part and parcel of the game.
Jimmy ‘The Greek’ is a name just as likely to be found in a gangster movie as it is in a poker tournament, and it has an ‘edgy’ ring to it – much more so than James George Snyder Senior as he was known formally (not to mention his original Greek name of Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos!).
Where are you from?
There are plenty of poker pros who have nicknames taken from their country of birth, and generally it’s a safe bet with few negative connotations, but although ‘The Flying Dutchman’ (Marcel Luske) and ‘The Great Dane’ (Gus Hansen) can be satisfied, Patrick Antonius’ nom de plume of ‘the Finn’ is about as dull as it gets! Johnny Chan gets a good one though – ‘The Orient Express’, although most of the Far East nicknames have a certain attractive mystique to them, such as David ‘The Dragon’ Pham, whose rail are prone to shout ‘You on fire!’ whenever he wins a big hand.
Of course, towns and cities can give names a certain little boost, and even though ‘Grand Rapids Tom’ (Tom McEvoy) isn’t too great, nor is John ‘Miami’ Cernuto, where would we be without ‘Amarillo Slim’ (the poker equivalent of ‘Minnesota Fats') or ‘Texas Dolly’ (Doyle Brunson, whose famous pseudonym was given by Jimmy The Greek nonetheless, who struggled to pronounce the ‘Grandfather of Poker’s’ name back in the day).
Looks can kill
This is always a dubious area for nicknames, unless you’re born from good genetic stock! Still, being named ‘the Bald Eagle’(Steve Zolotow) has a decent ring to it, even though resembling the actual bird itself is a mixed blessing at best.
Jack ‘Treetop’ Straus gained his name from his towering 6’ 6” frame, which had allegedly seen him play college basketball, although no records can be found to confirm this. What we do know, though, is that the famous poker saying ‘a chip and a chair’ probably came about as a result of his 1982 WSOP Main Event win. Down to one chip (a $25 or a $500 chip, depending on whose account you believe) Straus fought his way back to take the title and $520,000.
Poker Hall of Famer Crandell Addington, one of the founding fathers of the WSOP, was always referred to as ‘Dandy’ on account of his impeccable dress-sense: a suit and tie at the table reflecting the millionaire businessman’s sense of propriety.
Another nickname based on looks is Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, although kicking the money-lenders out probably isn’t top of the legendary poker pro’s to-do list! And as the original Jesus likely wasn’t a cowboy, it’s really just the long hair, long face combo which christened him for poker eternity.
Youth has always had a big influence on nicknames, with the most famous from the old-school being Stu ‘The Kid’ Ungar, although 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada also sports this name. Unless, however, Cada is Ungar’s kid, then I suggest he change his nickname – there is definitely only one Ungar in the poker world! Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu has found a way around this copycat-naming, however.
Actions speak louder than words
Or at least, they reflect them in the poker community. Speaking of actions, Dan ‘Action Dan’ Harrington only deserves his nickname in the ironic sense, his very safe and responsible approach to the game being a source of mirth for those who named him.
‘Mister Cool’, aka Ihsan ‘Sammy’ Farha, fully deserves his title – always dressing well and sitting unperturbed at the table. The unlit cigarette he has perpetually hanging from his lips, however, is now only cool in the retro world of 60’s film stars – but it’s as much a part of him as his ‘cool’ demeanor.
Being known as the ‘Robin Hood of Poker’ must be a great feeling – it’s hard for people to dislike you if, as Barry Greenstein has done for years, you donate your tournament winnings to charity. Although perhaps this Robin has had to tighten his belt as the last 10 years has seen only his net earnings given to good causes. Or perhaps it’s the Sheriff of Nottingham’s taxes to blame for this newer approach?).
Never lose it
Although nicknames tend to stay with a player throughout their career, some have come from a time before they made it to the green felt.
ElkY, for example, is the well-known moniker for Bertrand Grospelier, but if you have no idea (like me) where this nickname came from, you might be surprised to learn that it’s from his younger days when he was a top WarCraft and StarCraft player. ElkY in fact being the short version of his RPG character ‘Elkantar’. So now you know.
Jennifer Leigh is another to have carried her old nickname over into poker, ‘Jennicide’ being her online alias from the bulletin boards of her youth. 1973 Main Event winner Walter ‘Puggy’ Pearson had a childhood accident to blame for his canine nickname, although Puggy is somewhat better than the ‘Puggy-Wuggy’ some used for him.
Todd Brunson’s ‘DarkHorse’ name, from when he won an early event as an outside be,t has stuck with him all through his career, as has Rafe ‘FurstOut’ Furst’s after his memorable (though he probably hates being reminded of it) early bust out back in the 2003 WSOP Main Event.
What’s in a Name?
Some fortunate poker players have ended up with nicknames which would make most jealous, such as the recently-departed Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, fellow Englishman Ram ‘CrazyHorse’ Vaswami or Carlos ‘El Matador’ Mortensen - names which convey an aggression and fearless attitude, both very positive poker characteristics.
Somewhat less intimidating are the likes of Allen ‘Clever Piggy’ Cunninham, Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer or Bobby ‘The Owl’ Baldwin – they just don’t compare to the likes of Erik ‘Seiborg’ Seidel or Jerry ‘The Shadow’ Yang in the scary-named opponents stakes!
Names which could or should have been…
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As mentioned previously, poker players don’t often get to choose their nicknames – Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow might be happy with his on occasion, but it’s come back to bite him more often than not, even if it has helped pay his way through sponsorship.
If we could re-name players, Matusow would likely become ‘PottyMouth Mike’, Phil ‘The Tiger Woods of Poker’ Ivey might fancy Phil ’EdgeSorter’ Ivey and Howard ‘The Professor’ Lederer would sound just fine as Howard ‘Unforgiven’ Lederer to most fans of the game.
The Unabomber? The Shark? The Monk? Have a guess at who these guys really are - the first at least ought to be simple for any poker buff worth his salt!
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The Magician, The Master and The Mad Genius? Look’em up if you don’t know, and give them alternative nicknames if you can.
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My own nickname? Well, Andy ‘winninghorse’ Burnett works for me, but perhaps Andy ‘raisefoldlose’ Burnett is more appropriate!