Johnny JonezPoker has been known for a long time as one of the most exciting and fun casino games. Playing poker at home can be a lot of fun, especially for people who don’t go to real or can’t find best online casinos. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that many famous songs have been written about this exciting game over the years.
This article will explore the top 10 poker songs in 2023. Some of the songs are brand new, while others are older tunes that have stayed popular over the years. They include the following:
Ace of Spades (Motorhead)
Motorhead, one of the most popular heavy metal bands, gets the top spot on our list of the best songs with poker references. From the time the bassline starts to rumble until the end of this 1980 hit, which is three minutes long, you’ll be jumping around the house playing air guitar.
You might not catch all of the lyrics at first, but after a while, you’ll notice that they’re full of songs about gambling, like “pushing up the ante” and “double stake or split.” Even the song’s lyrics talk about “a dead man’s hand,” which is a hand with black aces and eights in pairs.
Viva Las Vegas – (Elvis Presley)
Elvis Presley’s iconic song “Viva Las Vegas,” about gambling and aversion to risk, is one of the most famous songs about poker. This story is about an old man with bad luck who wants to try his luck at poker in Las Vegas.
The song makes references to classic casino games such as Blackjack and Roulette and captures the excitement of the casino scene, which works almost as an online gambling commercial. In contrast to songs about gambling, the lyrics also discuss taking risks and having fun while driving. “Viva Las Vegas,” the iconic song, captures the spirit of Sin City.
Desperado (the Eagles)
The Eagles’ song “Desperado,” written by the undisputed kings of rock ballads, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, contains poker references to poker games and is one of the best poker songs ever recorded for those who play poker games. The song’s title might be misleading, but it’s not about a thief on the run. Instead, the main character sees solitude as a prison and fears dying alone.
The Eagles think that their whole lives can be summed up in one sentence, like “Don’t draw the queen of diamonds, kid, she’ll beat you if she can” or “The queen of hearts is always your best chance.”
Even though it was never released as a single, the song quickly became a fan favorite after being included on the Eagles’ second studio album, which came out in 1973 and had the same name as the song.
Huck’s Tune (Bob Dylan)
If you’ve seen the 2007 movie Lucky You, about an ambitious poker player willing to give up everything to join the pros at the poker table, you’ve probably heard this song. Even though Dylan’s lyrics are similar to the story and characters in this movie, Huck’s Melody is a beautiful, rich piece of music that will draw you in even if you don’t know why it was written.
Dylan sings about giving up on love to go after an impossible goal, showing that he still has a few tricks up his sleeve in the twenty-first century. Because of how well he says his words, such as “From my toes to my head, you knock me dead,” people from all backgrounds and walks of life can understand him.
Dylan’s “Best Love Song of the 2000s” could have easily won him a second Oscar if the movie hadn’t been such a failure. “Huck’s Tune” was not nominated for an Oscar, but most people think it is one of the best poker tunes ever written.
The Stranger Song (Leonard Cohen)
Even though the song’s lyrics are about a lot more than just poker, “The Stranger Song” by Leonard Cohen is still considered one of the best poker songs. The 1955 motion picture “The Man with the Golden Arm” inspired it when it debuted in 1967.
The Stranger Song is a story about a woman who dates men who aren’t ready to settle down instead of looking for the ideal woman, which is a vague and elusive goal. The story is told from the point of view of the woman. Leonard calls them “dealers” because they give out random combinations of cards while “waiting for the card that is so high and wild, he’ll never have to deal another.”
The woman has had enough of seeing another guy in her life fold his hand as if he were a card cheat “giving up the holy game of poker,” so she decides to move on and start seeing other men in the hopes that things will be different this time.
Because Cohen wrote the deep lyrics and played the sad bass lines, this song is not only one of the best poker songs but also one of the best songs about love that isn’t returned.
On the Nickel (Tom Waits)
When a player first hears the words “On the Nickel” by Tom Waits, they might not make much sense. When Tom Waits says he’s gone to “a place where a royal flush can never beat a pair,” he’s not talking about a weird version of poker that’s been changed for another purpose. Instead, he describes a world where every rule has been broken for a long time, and only the strongest people are left.
At the time the song was made, there were a lot of people there who had done bad things, including card cheat tricks on the full house. Waits does a great job of making a meta- reference here since poker players are likely to know that fifth street is called the river in many types of poker.
On the Nickel is Tom Waits’ biggest hymn to those who have been disenfranchised and mistreated, to those who have lost the game of life, which is the biggest game of all.
Deuces Are Wild (Aerosmith)
Players who have played Deuces Wild Poker know that the main goal is to get a pair of twos, if lady luck smiles on them. This is because two can stand in for any other card. In 1988, when Jim Vallance and Steven Tyler wrote the song “Deuces Are Wild,” they had this idea in mind.
Tyler’s character in the song is ready to do anything, as the line “I love you because your deuces are wild, girl, like a double dose of lovin’ so amazing” demonstrates.
This happy song starts with the line, “Because you and I are two of a kind.” This is another way to talk about the card game of poker. Steven thinks that they would make a great couple because they are so different from each other.
The record label originally rejected the track for the band’s album Pump. However, it became one of the most popular poker songs and is now on almost every greatest hits album by Aerosmith.
Diamond Jack (Wishbone Ash)
The lively song uses the metaphor of a high-stakes poker game to talk about what life is all about. Throughout the song, the band talks about how unpredictable life is and how to learn to accept things as they are. The lyrics “an ace of hearts, every man’s dream” exemplify this.
“Black magic or lady luck” could reference something else in popular culture. In the movie “The Cincinnati Kid,” a more experienced player figures out that a young man is not who he says he is after the young man pulls a jack of diamonds to make a very unlikely straight. So, the punter realizes that the young pretender isn’t as good as he claims to be.
Kenny Rogers (The Gambler)
This is a great gambling song with a poker reference. If there is one poker song that should go down in history, it should be this all-time great piece of country music, which is also one of the most famous songs about poker night and poker hand.
In the song, Kenny Rogers talks about a time when he met a gambler on a train that was “going nowhere.” The gambler and the main character agree that the main character will give the gambler a shot of whiskey for every piece of advice he gives.
Once the catchy chorus starts, you get all the information you need: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” This applies to playing poker and living your life, as any famous player would tell you if you asked them.
This devil-may-care Texas Holdem song, which has been sung by the one and only Johnny Cash, is a good one even if you don’t like country music. The back vocals, which go well with Johnny’s deep voice and give The Man in Black’s version of the song more depth, are another nice thing about the song.
Poker Face (Lady Gaga)
In the early 2000s, Lady Gaga’s rise to fame started around the same time the world experienced the global poker boom. And what else could the girl do besides cash in on the game’s rising popularity?
“Poker face,” one of the most popular songs about poker by Lady Gaga, is about love and poker. It has a catchy beat and a lot of lines about poker, like “I want to hold ’em like they do in Texas” and “can’t read my poker face.” The song also compares love to different kinds of gambling.
The hip-hop song “Poker face” is an ode to the game of poker. “And here comes Shawn Wigs, Ghostface Killah!” declares a poker tournament commentator at the start of the song. Ghostface and Shawn Wigs take turns boasting about their poker skills over a playful piano loop, with Ghostface proclaiming himself to be the “poker god” and Shawn Wigs claiming to be able to read his opponents like a book. Poker face contains numerous clever poker references.
Honourable Mentions
Lots of more poker songs can spark your interest! These are the ones you should check out in your free time:
- Queen Of Hearts (Juice Newton);
- Pokerface (Ghostface Killah);
- The Card Cheat (The Clash);
- Shape of My Heart (Sting);
- The Stranger Song (Leonard Cohen);
- Gambler (Madonna);
- Waking Up In Vegas (Katy Perry).
All these songs are worth listening and being added to your music album. Enjoy your favourite songs!