| 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 | Did 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). |
| 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.
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| 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" character
. |
| 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 the 2006 Five-Star World Poker Classic $25,000 buyin WPT Championship 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 | Used to live in Miami, Florida and got the nickname when he was paged in the Stardust with "Line 1 phone call for Miami John Baby Doll".
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| 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 | Bob Stupak bestowed the nickname after Chan took out the entire final table of the 1983 America's Cup Main Event in under an hour; 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 | Queens Poker Classic tournament employee Carol Robles bestowed the name for 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. |