Good Poker Names
Almost all online poker sites do not allow you to change your screen name – ever. That means you’d better give some serious thought to your choice right now because you’re going to have to live with it throughout your whole poker career.
Ace-Ace (A-A) The best starting hand in poker has generated numerous names through the years. Bullets – Poker was played in the Old West and references to cowboys and gun fighting are numerous – and part of the fun. The look of the two letters (A) remind players of bullets and thus the name seems a natural. On this page we have listed a large selection of the most popular and commonly used nicknames for hands in poker. Please note that that there are many more that we could add to the list but this is certainly a good place to get started. Pocket Pair Nicknames. Depending on a good mix of strategy, patience, and risk taking, poker can be a great activity for parties and even family game night. Poker chips are integral equipment, since they represent the currency used in each bet. Some important considerations when picking out poker chips are material and weight. THE TEAM NAME 'LISTS' Each Team Names E-Book is organized into 'Lists' which include team name ideas that relate to the list title. SEE ALL LISTS: ( Team Name Lists) Example: The Miscellaneous Team Names E-Book has a list called Good Poker Team Names with Good Poker Team Name Ideas.
For example, many Liverpool F.C. fans in 2010 decided that variations on ‘TorresLFC’ were a good idea. They must be regretting that now almost as much as poor old ‘TorresCFC’ is. If you’re a sports fan choose something that stands the test of time. Similarly, don’t use a currently popular band or video game or other possibly short-lived fad. Don’t use the current year or your current age – because next year they both mean absolutely nothing.
The best approach is to ask yourself what you want from a screen name. Let’s assess the possibilities one by one, bearing in mind that there can be plenty of overlap between them.
Choose a screen name that relates to you personally
If you have no concerns about being identified you can choose your own name or parts of it, or a nickname. You may need to include numbers in this kind of screen name as there’s a good chance that your first choice will be in use already. You can add numbers to the name or replace letters with similar numbers, e.g. ‘3’ for ‘E’ and ‘5’ for ‘S’. You can also use the names of those close to you, including pets, but bear in mind privacy concerns. You can even use something self-descriptive like ‘fivebellies’ or ‘sweatynutsack’.
Choose a screen name that may tilt your opponents
There are a number of ways to do this. You can choose a name that is offensive, either to almost everybody or just to certain groups. Be careful with these though. If you go too far and use racist/sexist comments etc. you can expect them to be rescinded by the poker room. Mild examples are ‘Religion_LOL’ and ‘lol_poor people’.
Then there are the personal insults like ‘durrrr’, ‘umakemelookpro’, ‘uhaveasmallPP’, ‘MyVPIPisurIQ’, ‘B4IFURU18’, ‘Nh Wp FU’, ‘Om Nom Nom’ and ‘UPay4MyWeed’.
Another way to try to tilt opponents is to issue a challenge to them. Examples include, ‘reload_pls’, ‘YouBetIJam’, ‘NiceTrySucka’, ‘imbad-beatme’, ‘idontchinkso’.
Self-deprecating or condescending names, particularly when combined with aggressive play or chat can also be tilting. Names like, ‘relax_max’, ‘WhyDaddyDrinks’, ‘ifartinmysleep’, ‘2stuk2givafuk’, ‘CheckCallPray’, ‘TrustFundGone’ and ‘LimpinAintEasy’. Although, to be honest, most of these are more likely to elicit a chuckle rather than tilt.
Another effective way to tilt people is to misspell your chosen name. Normally you should take care that you have spelled your chosen name correctly, but if you really want to wind up a grammar nit choose a name like ‘YouLooser’ or ‘PokerProffesional’. 95% of your opponents won’t even notice – but that other 5% will have steam coming out of their ears.
Finally, a clever choice is a name like ‘2donks1flop’ which succeeds in being both critical and self-deprecating – not to mention funny.
Choose a screen name that is misleading
Most poker players are men and many believe that women are no good at poker. Therefore some male players play using a female persona. The same principle holds for certain nationalities. Many players believe that Southern European players play more emotionally and are more fishy than average. You can try to take advantage of that. e.g. ‘repopadopolis’ would be a great name for a Greek player.
Choose a screen name that is unmemorable.
You usually don’t want other players to remember you. Therefore some players will seek out names that are pretty anonymous. Maybe a common name with some numbers like ‘John2589’ or maybe just numbers, or a meaningless jumble of numbers and letters or maybe something unpronounceable using symbols. Just remember not to get carried away and make it so obscure that it becomes memorable. The same goes for avatars. Some players will choose to play without an avatar. However, if nearly all the players in your usual games play with an avatar, playing without one will only make you stand out as “that guy without an avatar.”
Choose a screen name that you find funny or interesting
This category is a kind of catch-all. It includes sports teams and players and characters from books, like ‘Isildur1’. It includes corrupted names of famous people, like ‘Cashisclay’ and ‘Fidel_Cashflow’. Also words and expressions corrupted to apply to poker terms. As you can imagine, the word ‘muck’ features a lot in these. Examples include ‘gomuckurself’, ‘shiphappens’, ‘donkeywhisperer’, ‘MuckingFaster’ and many predictable variations on the hand KJo.
You can simply use words or expressions that sound or look good. ‘ValueTowny’, ‘iclickbuttons’, ‘OMGSPLOSION’, ‘SirMucksalot’, ‘PfOaKcEeR’, ‘toadlystoned’, ‘PeppermintHippo’ and ‘BEEPBEEPIMAJEEP’ are great examples.
Names can just be funny like ‘DontRaiseImGay2’ or ‘wewaise’ (with an avatar picture of Elmer Fudd.) They can be an internet meme, such as 2plus2’s ‘THE F DO’ and ‘[ ]NameDelivers’. They can be just plain weird like ‘sexualintercoursewithdeadcats’ and ‘mydogisgay’. They can even be as obscure as a clever grammar joke such as ‘fckvwls’. Or maybe just something that sounds good, like ‘gobbledygook’ or ‘jabberwocky’.
Now choose your screen name
We hope you find some food for thought here to help you decide upon the perfect screen name for you. Most of the above names are real screen names, and we hope you agree that many are clever and funny too. So don’t just choose the first name that comes into your head. Think about the long term. You can try to be funny but not crude or juvenile, please. We’ve already got plenty of them – yes, I’m talking to you ‘Hugh G Rection’.
Above all be creative and come up with a unique name that you will be proud of for years to come.
15:43
13 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?).
Best Online Poker Names
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…
Fun Poker Names
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.
Good Poker Screen Names
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!
The Magician, The Master and The Mad Genius? Look’em up if you don’t know, and give them alternative nicknames if you can.
Good Poker Club Names
My own nickname? Well, Andy ‘winninghorse’ Burnett works for me, but perhaps Andy ‘raisefoldlose’ Burnett is more appropriate!