--- title: "96s Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/96s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/96s" last_updated: "2026-10-21" type: "reference" summary: "96s is 4 combos of the 1,326 starting hands (0.30%). See how a known card or a board pair changes the count, plus its rank and equity." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/combos.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/j6o.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/j2s.md"] --- # 96s Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs 96s is 4 combos of the 1,326 starting hands (0.30%). See how a known card or a board pair changes the count, plus its rank and equity. 96s can be dealt in 4 combos. That is 0.30% of the 1,326 two-card hands, and its 47.43% equity against a random hand ranks it number 103 out of 169. - Combos: 4 - Share of 1,326: 0.30% - Rank of 169: 103 - Equity vs random: 47.43% - This hand and stronger: 57.77% ## 96s: the 4 combos Fix the suit, and the nine and six of that suit are the only choice; four suits make 4 combos. These are the 4 specific hands that count as 96s. Each tile is one two-card holding, and no two tiles are the same hand. The 4 combos of 96s: 9s 6s, 9h 6h, 9d 6d, 9c 6c. ## How cards you can see change the count This is the blocker table for 96s. One visible card of a given rank removes the combos that need it, and the rest stay possible. 96s combos left after one known card of each rank: | Known card | 96s combos left | | --- | --- | | Ace | 4 | | King | 4 | | Queen | 4 | | Jack | 4 | | Ten | 4 | | Nine | 3 | | Eight | 4 | | Seven | 4 | | Six | 3 | | Five | 4 | | Four | 4 | | Three | 4 | | Two | 4 | With a nine or a six in view, 3 of the 4 combos of 96s remain, which removes 25%. Any card of a different rank leaves all 4 combos in play. ## When the board is paired Boards with a pair remove two cards of one rank at once. The rows give the 96s combos left for each paired rank. 96s combos left after a pair of each rank on the board: | Board pair | 96s combos left | | --- | --- | | Aces | 4 | | Kings | 4 | | Queens | 4 | | Jacks | 4 | | Tens | 4 | | Nines | 2 | | Eights | 4 | | Sevens | 4 | | Sixes | 2 | | Fives | 4 | | Fours | 4 | | Threes | 4 | | Twos | 4 | Only a board pair of nines or sixes matters here: 2 combos of 96s remain, against 4 for any other pair. ## A worked example Suppose you look down at a nine and a two. Any opponent hand comes from 1,225 possibilities. 96s makes up 3 of them, which is 0.24% (1 in 408); if you held neither card's rank in common with 96s, it would be 4 of them, 0.33%. ## How strong is 96s? Order all 169 classes by equity against a random hand and 96s lands at number 103, below the middle of the ranking, with 47.43%. A tie is worth half a win in that figure. Down to and including 96s, the ranking holds 766 combos, or 57.77% of deals; 762 of them belong to hands above it. ## 96s against ranges of hands Five ranges, five equities for 96s. Counting only the combos your cards leave possible, it has 25.56% against the top 5 percent (60 combos), 32.18% against the top 10 percent (130 combos), 35.52% against the top 20 percent (264 combos), 36.95% against the top 30 percent (386 combos) and 38.51% against the top 50 percent (658 combos). 96s equity against the strongest hands: | Opponent range | Combos in range | 96s equity | | --- | --- | --- | | Top 5 percent | 60 | 25.56% | | Top 10 percent | 130 | 32.18% | | Top 20 percent | 264 | 35.52% | | Top 30 percent | 386 | 36.95% | | Top 50 percent | 658 | 38.51% | 96s is behind all five of these ranges, even the top 50 percent, so it is the underdog on average against each of them. Blockers work on ranges as well as hands. Against the 130 combos of the top 10 percent, 96s leaves an average of 123.00. That is 7.00 combos fewer than the 130 an opponent has before you look. ## Hands next to 96s Look at 96s against the hands that rank next to it. 96s has 33.09% equity against J6o, the hand ranked number 102: it wins 30.43% of boards, ties 5.32% and loses 64.25%. It is the underdog in that matchup. 96s has 43.64% equity against J2s, the hand ranked number 104: it wins 42.97% of boards, ties 1.33% and loses 55.69%. It is the underdog in that matchup. 96o is what the same two ranks look like when they are offsuit: 12 combos at number 120, 44.49% equity. 96o is 3 times as many combos but 2.94 points weaker against a random hand. Related to 96s: - [J6o combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/j6o.md) - [J2s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/j2s.md) - [96o combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/96o.md) - [All starting hands](https://georgelipoker.com/combos.md) - [Hand ranking calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/hand-ranking-calculator.md) - [Poker equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md) ## Questions about 96s combos **How many combos of 96s are there?** 4 combos, which is 0.30% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt 96s about 1 time in 331.5. **How many 96s combos are left if I hold a nine?** 3 combos of 96s remain out of 4. With a two as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 408. **Is 96s stronger than 96o?** Yes, by 2.94 points: 96s has 47.43% equity against a random hand and ranks number 103, while 96o has 44.49% and ranks number 120. 96o has 12 combos to 96s's 4. ## How this was computed Combos are counted by listing all 1,326 two-card hands in a 52-card deck and sorting each into its class. The known-card rows remove every combo that uses a card of that rank; the board-pair rows remove those that use either of two such cards. Rank and equity read our table of all 169 by 169 preflop matchups, each counted over every one of the 1,712,304 boards. Ties count as half a win, and a range is weighted by its live combos. Source: GeorgeLiPoker's own count of the 52-card deck and its preflop matchup table. ## Related - [Poker Combos: Count Every Starting Hand](https://georgelipoker.com/combos.md) - [J6o Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/j6o.md) - [J2s Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/j2s.md)