2 definitions:
1. (as stated by Wikipedia, the best source to fuck with your teachers): a two-pair poker hand consisting of the black aces and
black eights. The pair of aces and eights, along with an unknown hole card, were reportedly held by Old West folk
hero, lawman, and gunfighter Wild
Bill Hickok when he was
shot and killed.
2. When an individual has some catastrophic blackmail on someone else but only chooses to use it as a last resort (loosely based off Russia's dead hand (go look that up))
(second definition defined here)
Person 1: Yo, how did Mark get fired? Wasn't he a model employee?
Person 2: Yeah, but he was fucking with the wrong
guy for too long, then that
guy recorded him saying some of the foulest fucking
shit ever, and then he showed their boss.
Person 1: Seems a little excessive.
Person 2: Well, that was his dead mans hand. He tried to resolve the situation by literally any other means, but Mark just keep pushing his
luck.
Person 1: Well, I guess that's fair.