History Main / DeadMansHand

-->"''Pushing up the ante, I know you wanna see me\\
Read 'em and weep, the dead man's hand again''"\\
--'''Music/{{Motorhead}}''', "''Ace of Spades''"

* In the prologue of ''BatmanRIP'', Batman speaks to The Joker in Arkham Asylum. The Joker taunts Batman with his upcoming destruction while dealing out a dead man's hand.

* In ''TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'', the titular character Liberty draws this hand right before being shot.
* In ''AlongCameASpider'', aces and eights is referenced as the winning hand that gave ownership of a Turkish hand-made shotgun to the father of Agent Flannigan and later in the feature was the clue that revealed her involvement with the kidnapping plot.

* "Rambling, Gambling Willie" by BobDylan contains a direct reference to this hand, as well.
* The UncleKracker song "Aces and Eights" is named for the Dead Man's hand.
* The BringMeTheHorizon song "Alligator Blood" contains a reference to it.
* The song "Aces & Eights" from the LitaFord album ''Stiletto'' has the lyrics:

* RecklessKelly's song "Nobody Haunts Me Like You" also makes reference:

* BrutalDLX also references this in their lyrics:

* In the song "Fire Lake" by BobSeger:

* MichaelMcDermott has written a song titled "Aces and Eights". The song says that life can make you feel like:

* In the song "Little Wille the Gambler" by TownesVanZandt:

* The [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker gang]] that has been invading {{TNA}} as of summer/fall 2012 uses the dead man's hand as their calling card and actually goes by the name of Aces & Eights.

* ''{{Traveller}}''. ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' magazine #14 adventure "Aces & Eights". A set of playing cards (two aces, two eights and the joker), will, when put in an X-ray machine, create a map to the location of a 20 million credit treasure. The money was the payroll of the 1188th "Aces and Eights" Lift Infantry Brigade. The man with the cards is killed by the bad guys and the cards stolen, and the {{PC}}s must retrieve them.
* In ''{{Deadlands}}'', if you cast [[MagicMissile Soul Blast]] and draw a Dead Man's Hand, it becomes an automatic OneHitKill.

-->-- '''Music/{{Motorhead}}''', ''"Ace of Spades"

* In ''{{Stagecoach}}'', Luke holds this hand. He is shortly therafter gunned down by the Ringo Kid.

* The ''{{X-Files}}'' episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", has the titlular character playing poker with Agent Scully and holding a full house of aces and eights with the ace of hearts as the fifth card. As one might suspect from the episode name, he dies.

A Dead Man's Hand, also known as "aces and eights", is a poker hand consisting of two black aces, two black eights, and (traditionally) the nine of diamonds. It was supposedly the hand drawn by Wild Bill Hickok before his death, although this is unsubstantiated. This hand is now considered unlucky.

A Dead Man's Hand, also known as "aces and eights", is a poker hand consisting of two black aces and two black eights (that is, the pairs in spades and clubs), and a fifth card of any value. It was supposedly the hand drawn by Wild Bill Hickok before his death, although this is unsubstantiated. This hand is now considered unlucky.

A Dead Man's Hand, also known as "aces and eights", is a poker hand consisting of two black aces and two black eights (that is, the pairs in spades and clubs), and a fifth card of any value. It was supposedly the hand drawn by Wild Bill Hickok before his death, although this is unsubstantiated. This hand is now considered unlucky. It is the lowest hand in poker

A Dead Man's Hand, also known as "aces and eights", is a poker hand consisting of two aces, two eights, and a fifth card of any value. It was supposedly the hand drawn by Wild Bill Hickok before his death, although this is unsubstantiated. This hand is now considered unlucky.

* The Music/{{Motorhead}} song "Ace of Spades" refers to this hand.

* "Rambling, Gambling Willie" by BobDyllan contains a direct reference to this hand, as well.

* The {{Motorhead}} song "Ace of Spades" refers to this hand.

* In the ''FalloutNewVegas'' expansion "Dead Money", the player can get an achievement for getting the dead man's hand from the deadly, abandoned casino Sierra Madre.
* In ''TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', if the player has Guybrush keep losing against King André and then looking at the losing hands, one of the random comments Guybrush will make is "Aces and eights... that can't be good." This being a LucasArts game, Guybrush of course doesn't die... though he does ''fake'' his death at one point.

* Happens twice in the ''Videogame/WingCommander'' series. In ''Wing Commander II'', Spirit gets dealt the hand and later kamikazes a Kilrathi-controlled space station. In ''Wing Commander III'', Vagabond gets the killer hand, and dies later in a mission that goes badly wrong. Bonus points for it being one of the few times the card shark had lost... and to [[ButtMonkey Maniac]], no less.

* Obviously featured with prominence in ''Film/FinalDestination: Dead Man's Hand''.

* In the ''FalloutNewVegas'' expansion "Dead Money", the player can get an acheivement for getting the dead man's hand from the deadly, abandoned casino Sierra Madre.

* In the wild west supplement to the {{Munchkin}} Card game, Dead Man's Hand is a curse card that forces you to discard your whole hand.

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* ''DeadMansHand'' is the name of the seventh book of the ''WildCards'' series by GeorgeRRMartin. Aces are the murderer's literal calling card.

* In the prologue of ''{{Batman}} R.I.P.'', Batman speaks to The Joker in Arkham Asylum. The Joker taunts Batman with his upcoming destruction while dealing out a dead man's hand.

''DeadMansHand'' is the seventh book in the WildCards series by George R.R. Martin. It was originally part of the book ''Ace in the Hole'' but was split for length reasons.

On waking on Monday morning from his regular nightmare, Jay Ackroyd's new assignment as Chrysalis' bodyguard gets off to a bad start when he discovers his employer's battered corpse at the Crystal Palace with an ace of spades placed conveniently on top - the calling card of the bow-and-arrow killer, Yeoman. Not trusting the nat police to put too much effort into finding the killer of a joker, Jay sets off to solve the case by himself.

Daniel Brennan, thinking he's escaped the violence for a quieter life in the country, sees the news of his ex-lover's murder on TV (and his implied role in it), and finds himself dragged back into his old life when he, too, chooses to pursue the matter himself and find the person responsible.

In the process of searching for the murderer, Jay bets the farm on finding the missing reporter, Digger Downs; gets sweaty with the ultimate femme fatale; briefly gains a Takisian sidekick; and comes face to face with the hideous Ti Malice. Brennan. meanwhile, takes a trip in the magic kingdom; hears Wyrm's horrible confession; finds unexpected help from the church; and uncovers the secret of Chrysalis' success.

This book contains the following tropes:

* TheAce: Popinjay shines in this book.
* BattleCouple: [[spoiler: Wraith and Yeoman.]]
* ClearMyName: Yeoman has plans for this, but only for the murder of [[spoiler: Chrysalis.]]
* GoodVersusGood: Yeoman and Popinjay have a notable confrontation.
* {{Fetish}}: Chrysalis was apparently this to Yeoman and Popinjay, a fact utterly lost on her.
* TheGrotesque: The Oddity. [[spoiler: The Mother, who is basically a Deepspawn from DungeonsAndDragons.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Chrysalis]]
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Bludgeon has become this due to losing his reputation at the hands of Fatman. [[spoiler: He's also got A.I.D.s]]
** [[spoiler: Fatman, of all people. He's actually the one who murdered Chrysalis under the influence of Ti Malice's kiss and the stress it induces.]]
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler: Fatman killed Chrysalis out of horror she'd try to assassinate Gregg Hartman.]]
* StraightArrow: Yeoman.
* WhatTheHellHero: Popinjay nicely destroys Yeoman's code of honor in a brutal rant which points out he's nothing but a mass murderer, no matter what Zen Samurai bull he's been telling himself. Yeoman is briefly at a loss to what to do.

''DeadMansHand'' is the seventh book in the WildCards series by George R.R. Martin. It was originally part of the book AceInTheHole but was split for length reasons.

* FetishFuel: Chrysalis was apparently this to Yeoman and Popinjay, a fact utterly lost on her.