Poker Nicknames For Guys
“Texas Dolly”, “Amarillo Slim”, and “Treetop” are just a few of the best poker player nicknames that date back to the good old days of poker. The WSOP was young and professional respectability was just a pipe dream. “Texas Dolly”, “Amarillo Slim”, and “Treetop” are just a few of the best poker player nicknames that date back to the good old days of poker. The WSOP was young and professional respectability was just a pipe dream.
[RR] “Did you know that Steve Dannenmann’s nickname is Taxman?” Roderick the Rock asked Stan.
[SS] “Of course”, Stan the Stat affirmed. “Poker Player Nicknames is another one of my favorite lists! Should’ve mentioned it earlier.”
[RR] “Such a great handle for a successful poker player. As the Beatles sang, ‘one for you, nineteen for me’. Who else is on your list?”
The Top 100 Poker Player Nicknames With Explanations
Cool Nicknames For Poker
| Nickname | Player | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Action Dan | Dan Harrington | Ironic nickname given his usually tight play |
| Amarillo Slim | Thomas Preston | Tall and thin, and lived in Amarillo, Texas |
| The Ambassador of Poker | Mike Sexton | Has done a lot of work to popularize poker, including television commentating for the World Poker Tour |
| Back to Back | Layne Flack | From winning consecutive Legends of Poker events in Los Angeles in 1999; a.k.a. “The Alien” |
| The Bald Eagle | Steve Zolotow | For his resemblance to the American national bird |
| Bird Guts | Gavin Smith | From his proposed professional wrestling name when his brother’s high school friends told them it would be a good profession for him; a.k.a. “Caveman” |
| BoostedJ | Justin Smith | For his love of cars (“boosted” = “turbo-charged”) |
| Chino | David Rheem | Because he looks Chinese, although he’s actually Korean-American |
| Chip | David Reese | For his ability to win most of the chips at the table |
| Clever Piggy | Allen Cunningham | Wordplay on his last name (“cunning” + “ham”) |
| Cowboy | Hoyt Corkins | Wears a cowboy hat and boots at the table; a.k.a. “Nightmare” and “Mr. Move All In” |
| Crazy Horse | Ram Vaswani | For his alternately careful and erratic playing style; a.k.a. “The Looks” from an “Esquire” magazine article |
| The Croc | Billy Argyros | Australian who wears crocodile-shaped hats and crocodile-adorned shirts |
| Dandy | Crandell Addington | Liked to wear a suit and tie at the table |
| Darkhorse | Todd Brunson | For an early tournament that he won despite being a relative unknown |
| Devilfish | David Ulliott | For the poisonous fish which can be fatal if prepared incorrectly (bestowed by Stephen Au-Yeung in 1997; “You are a devilfish, aren’t you?”) |
| Diamond Joe | Joe Hachem | Won first WPT title at the Five Diamonds Poker Classic (Bellagio) |
| Downtown | Chad Brown | Rhyme based on being born and raised in New York City |
| The Dragon | David Pham | Derived from his rail repeatedly exclaiming, “You on fire!” |
| The Duchess of Poker | Annie Duke | Wordplay on her last name |
| durrrr | Tom Dwan | Online nickname meant to help put opponents on tilt (originally used on Party Poker in 2004) |
| E-Dog | Erick Lindgren | Nicknamed in San Pablo by a Filipino player he was beating, who said, “E, you dog” |
| El Matador | Carlos Mortensen | Born in Ecuador but raised in Spain |
| ElkY | Bertrand Grospellier | Short for “Elkantar”, his RPG character (Grospellier was formerly a top WarCraft [and StarCraft] player) |
| Eskimo | Paul Clark | Looks like the eskimo on the Alaskan Airlines logo |
| The Finn | Patrick Antonius | Born and raised in Finland |
| The First Lady of Poker | Linda Johnson | For her long poker career and other work in the industry (bestowed by Mike Sexton) |
| The Flying Dutchman | Marcel Luske | Born in the Netherlands |
| Fordman | Dennis Phillips | Sold Ford trucks |
| Fossilman | Greg Raymer | Collects fossils and uses a trilobite as a card protector |
| Foucault | Andrew Brokos | Online nickname from the French philosopher, Michel Foucault, as Brokos majored in philosophy |
| Full Blown Tilt | Greg Mueller | For his explosive conduct at the table; a.k.a. “FBT” for short |
| Furst Out | Rafe Furst | Wordplay on his last name from the 2003 WSOP Main Event, when it took him only 11 minutes to become the first player to bust out |
| Gentleman Jack | Jack Keller | Ironic nickname from his days as a stock boy |
| Golden Boy | Jamie Gold | Wordplay on his last name and his youthful appearance |
| The Grand Old Man | Johnny Moss | One of the first Texas Hold ‘Em players, and winner of the first two World Series of Poker crowns |
| Grand Rapids Tom | Tom McEvoy | Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| The Great Dane | Gus Hansen | Born in Denmark |
| The Greek | Jimmy Snyder | Greek-American (born as Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos) |
| The Grinder | Michael Mizrachi | Solid, consistent player who “grinds” his way through tournaments |
| Happy | Jeff Shulman | For his positive disposition |
| Hot Chips | Tiffany Michelle | For her poker chip tricks and the “M*A*S*H” character Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan |
| Iceman | Huck Seed | For his extremely calm demeanor |
| Iceman | Jeff Lisandro | For his cold and calculating play |
| Isildur1 | Viktor Blom | Online nickname from “The Lord of the Rings” character1 |
| Isser | Peter Eastgate | His real-life nickname (I don’t know what it means though); a.k.a. “Icegate” |
| Jennicide | Jennifer Leigh | From her teenage alias on hacking bulletin boards |
| Jesus | Chris Ferguson | Looks like Jesus Christ |
| Joan | Chip Jett | For the “I Love Rock and Roll” singer |
| Johnny World | John Hennigan | Friend called him that because he was a world-class pool and poker player who traveled around the world |
| The Kid | Joe Cada | Became youngest WSOP Main Event champion at age 21 in 2009 |
| The Kid | Stu Ungar | Became youngest WSOP Main Event champion at age 26 in 1980 (surpassed by Phil Hellmuth in 1989) and looked even younger; a.k.a. “Stuey” and “The Comeback Kid” |
| Kid Poker | Daniel Negreanu | Became youngest WSOP bracelet winner at age 23 in 1998 (broken in 2004); also very young looking, with child-like enthusiasm for the game |
| The King | Amir Vahedi | Wordplay on his first name, which means an independent ruler or chieftain? |
| The Knife | Martin de Knijff | Wordplay on his last name for his playing style |
| Kwikfish | Paul Wasicka | Nicknamed by a frustrated online opponent |
| Lady Maverick | Vanessa Rousso | From a $25,000 buy-in tournament in which she sold off shares of herself, like in the Mel Gibson version of the movie “Maverick” (bestowed by a relative); a.k.a. “Pokerness” |
| Luckbox | John Juanda | For his apparent good fortune at cards; a.k.a. “JJ” |
| Mad Genius of Poker | Mike Caro | For his deep-thinking strategy |
| The Magician | Antonio Esfandiari | Formerly a professional magician |
| The Master | Men Nguyen | Nicknamed “The Young Master” by one of his poker students in 1991, but he retorted that he wasn’t young |
| The Mathematician | David Sklansky | For his logical, mathematical approach to the game |
| Miami | John Cernuto | Lives in Miami, Florida |
| Mister Cool | Sammy Farha | For his demeanor; often keeps an unlit cigarette in his mouth |
| Mixed Games | Kristy Gazes | For her preferred type of poker |
| Money | Chris Moneymaker | Abbreviation of his last name |
| The Monk | Andy Black | Renounced all his possessions and lived as a Buddhist monk for five years |
| The Mouth | Mike Matusow | For his loquaciousness |
| The Mouth from Down Under | Tony Guoga | For his loquaciousness; a.k.a. “Tony G” |
| Napoleon | David Benyamine | Born in Paris, France; a.k.a. Degenyamine |
| Noel | J.J. Furlong | Born on Christmas Day |
| Numbers | Berry Johnston | For his calculating play? |
| The Orient Express | Johnny Chan | Born in China; a.k.a. “The Orangeman”, as he usually has an orange with him (originally to counter the then-pervasive cigarette smoke) |
| The Owl | Bobby Baldwin | For his ability to read his opponents’ cards; with his eyeglasses, looks like an owl (possibly bestowed by Doyle Brunson) |
| Poker Babe | Erica Schoenberg | For her looks |
| The Poker Brat | Phil Hellmuth | For his immature rants, often aimed at his opponent’s perceived poor play |
| PokerKat | Kathy Liebert | Wordplay on her first name |
| The Prince of Poker | Scotty Nguyen | From his fashion style (lots of bling) and attitude; a.k.a. “The Train” |
| The Professor | Howard Lederer | For his calculated, studious approach to the game (bestowed by poker player and commentator Jesse May); a.k.a. “Bubs” (was “Bubba” before he had gastric bypass surgery) |
| Professor Backwards | Ted Forrest | For his unconventional style of play; a.k.a. “The Suicide King”, “The Hitman”, and “Spooky” |
| Puggy | Walter Pearson | From a childhood accident that disfigured his nose; a.k.a. “Puggy Wuggy” |
| Raptor | David Benefield | From his AOL Instant Messenger name that he chose when he was only ten years old; a.k.a. “Bebop86” for the anime series “Cowboy Bebop” |
| The Razor | John Phan | Wordplay on “raiser” for his sharp play (also was a fan of the Razor phone) |
| Robin Hood of Poker | Barry Greenstein | For several years, donated all his tournament winnings to charity; since 2006 has donated his net earnings instead |
| The Rock | Andy Bloch | Rhyme based on his generally tight play |
| Sailor | Bryan Roberts | Served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War |
| Seiborg | Erik Seidel | For his calculating play; a.k.a. “Sly” |
| The Shadow | Jerry Yang | Because “he was like their shadows that followed them everywhere” (bestowed by fellow players) |
| Shaniac | Shane Schleger | Wordplay on his first name plus “Maniac” |
| The Shark | Humberto Brenes | From his shark card protector |
| Sominex | Mark Gregorich | For his blandness, which will knock you out like the sleeping pill |
| Supernova | Dario Minieri | For the top status in PokerStars’ VIP program |
| Taxman | Steve Dannenmann | From his job as a CPA |
| Texas Dolly | Doyle Brunson | Born and raised in Texas; “Dolly” came from Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder’s mispronunciation of “Doyle”; a.k.a. “The Godfather of Poker” |
| The Tiger Woods of Poker | Phil Ivey | For being at the top of his profession like the golfer; a.k.a. “Poison”, wordplay on his last name, and “No Home Jerome”, for his fake ID when he played underage in Atlantic City |
| Tiltboy | Phil Gordon | From his California poker group known as the Tiltboys; a.k.a. “Tallphil” |
| Treetop | Jack Straus | 6’6″ tall former basketball player |
| Unabomber | Phil Laak | Looks like murderer Ted Kaczynski when he wears a gray sweat jacket zipped all the way up, with the hood over his head, and sunglasses hiding his eyes |
| Whatta Player | Kenny Smith | For his repeated expression “what a player”, which he would yell while waving his hat whenever he won a pot |
| X-22 | Paul Magriel | As a professional backgammon player, he played a practice tournament against himself, which player X-22 won. |
Footnotes:
Creative Poker Nicknames
- In 2009, Blom was only identified by his handle yet was competing successfully at the highest online stakes. His real identity wasn’t revealed until 2011, after he had signed on with PokerStars.