Texas Hold’em Preflop Odds
How often each hand wins when all the money goes in before the flop. Every number below is exact for the cards shown, calculated over all 1,712,304 possible boards.
Classic Preflop Matchups
| Matchup | Hands and equity |
|---|---|
| Aces vs kingsThe biggest preflop cooler. Kings still win about 1 time in 5. |
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| Kings vs ace-kingHolding a king cuts AK to 30%, worse than a coin flip. |
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| Queens vs ace-king offsuitThe classic coin flip. The pair is a small favourite. |
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| Queens vs ace-king suitedSuited AK closes the gap to almost even. |
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| Jacks vs ace-kingSame shape as queens: about 57/43. |
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| Deuces vs ace-kingEven the smallest pair is a slight favourite over two overcards. |
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| Tens vs ninesA bigger pair against a smaller one is about 4 to 1. |
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| Ace-king vs ace-queenDomination: with a shared ace, the weaker kicker keeps about 26%. |
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| Ace-king vs queen-jack, both suitedTwo overcards against two lower cards: about 63/37. |
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| Ace-king vs seven-six suitedA suited connector keeps 42% against AK. |
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| Aces vs jack-ten suitedThe best suited connector still has over 21% against aces. |
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| Aces vs seven-deuce offsuitBest vs worst starting hand. 72o still wins about 1 time in 8. |
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| Aces vs kings vs queensThree-way, aces win two times in three. |
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Starting Hands vs a Random Hand
Equity against one opponent holding any two cards. Useful for shoving ranges and for seeing how much of a hand’s value is real.
| Hand | Cards | Equity vs random |
|---|---|---|
| Pocket acesA♠A♥ | A♠A♥ | 85.2% |
| Pocket kingsK♠K♥ | K♠K♥ | 82.4% |
| Pocket queensQ♠Q♥ | Q♠Q♥ | 79.9% |
| Ace-king suitedA♠K♠ | A♠K♠ | 67.1% |
| Ace-king offsuitA♠K♥ | A♠K♥ | 65.3% |
| Jack-ten suitedJ♠10♠ | J♠10♠ | 57.5% |
| Pocket deuces2♠2♥ | 2♠2♥ | 50.3% |
| Seven-deuce offsuit7♠2♥ | 7♠2♥ | 34.6% |
What the Numbers Show
- A pair against two overcards is a coin flip. From deuces to queens, the pair wins 53–57% against AK.
- Domination is the costly spot. Sharing a card with a better hand (AQ vs AK, AK vs KK) leaves you with 26–30%, not the 40%+ of a flip.
- Suits are worth a few points. Suited AK has 46% against queens; offsuit AK has 43%.
- Nothing is a lock preflop. Aces lose to kings about 1 time in 5 and to 72o about 1 time in 8.
For outs and the rule of 2 and 4, see how to calculate poker odds. For which hand beats which, see the poker hand rankings. For Omaha, see the PLO matchup table.
How These Numbers Were Calculated
Each matchup was calculated with the hand evaluator from Handsight’s equity engine by checking every possible board, so the numbers are exact for those cards. A split pot counts as a share of the pot. The “vs a random hand” numbers come from 2 million random deals and are accurate to about ±0.1 percentage points.
Suits matter: the same ranks with different suits can move equity by a point or two. Last calculated .
