In poker, when you are holding two pair, aces over eights, you have what is widely known as the Dead Man’s Hand. This is the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder - August of 1876 in Deadwood, South Dakota. Wild Bill was shot by Jack McCall during a poker game because McCall believed he was being cheated.
It is generally accepted that his hand included the aces and eights of both of the black suits, though there are various claims as to the identity of Hickok's fifth card. There is also some reason to believe that he had discarded one card, the draw was interrupted by the shooting, and he never got the fifth card due to him.
1. I'd always been under the impression that McCall was not involved with the game. McCall walked into the bar and saw that Hickock was playing. McCall believed his brother, Lew McCall, had been killed by Bill Hickock - and that was the reasoning for the murder.
Quick google search: http://www.abacom.com/~jkrause/hickok.html
Posted at 8:26PM on Sep 24th 2005 by sloshr