How many combos of 99 are there?

6 combos, which is 0.45% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt 99 about 1 time in 221.0.

How many 99 combos are left if I hold a nine?

3 combos of 99 remain out of 6. With a two as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 408.

Which hands rank next to 99?

TT ranks number 5, just above 99, and 99 has 18.00% equity against it. 88 ranks number 7, just below, and 99 has 81.94% equity against it.

99 Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs

99 can be dealt in 6 combos. That is 0.45% of the 1,326 two-card hands, and its 72.06% equity against a random hand ranks it number 6 out of 169.

99: the 6 combos

Each pairing of two nines is its own combo: 4 x 3 = 12 ordered picks, halved because order does not matter, gives 6.

These are the 6 specific hands that count as 99. Each tile is one two-card holding, and no two tiles are the same hand.

How cards you can see change the count

This is the blocker table for 99. One visible card of a given rank removes the combos that need it, and the rest stay possible.

99 combos left after one known card of each rank
Known card	99 combos left
Ace	6
King	6
Queen	6
Jack	6
Ten	6
Nine	3
Eight	6
Seven	6
Six	6
Five	6
Four	6
Three	6
Two	6

With a nine in view, 3 of the 6 combos of 99 remain, which removes 50%. Any card of a different rank leaves all 6 combos in play.

When the board is paired

Boards with a pair remove two cards of one rank at once. The rows give the 99 combos left for each paired rank.

99 combos left after a pair of each rank on the board
Board pair	99 combos left
Aces	6
Kings	6
Queens	6
Jacks	6
Tens	6
Nines	1
Eights	6
Sevens	6
Sixes	6
Fives	6
Fours	6
Threes	6
Twos	6

Only a board pair of nines matters here: 1 combo of 99 remain, against 6 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. 99 makes up 3 of them, which is 0.24% (1 in 408); if you held neither card's rank in common with 99, it would be 6 of them, 0.49%.

How strong is 99?

Order all 169 classes by equity against a random hand and 99 lands at number 6, inside the top 10 of the 169 classes, with 72.06%. A tie is worth half a win in that figure.

Down to and including 99, the ranking holds 36 combos, or 2.71% of deals; 30 of them belong to hands above it.

99 against ranges of hands

Five ranges, five equities for 99. Counting only the combos your cards leave possible, it has 40.44% against the top 5 percent (60 combos), 49.89% against the top 10 percent (130 combos), 56.36% against the top 20 percent (264 combos), 59.93% against the top 30 percent (386 combos) and 63.98% against the top 50 percent (658 combos).

99 equity against the strongest hands
Opponent range	Combos in range	99 equity
Top 5 percent	60	40.44%
Top 10 percent	130	49.89%
Top 20 percent	264	56.36%
Top 30 percent	386	59.93%
Top 50 percent	658	63.98%

The line sits between the top 10 and top 20 percent: 99 is behind the narrower range and ahead of the wider one.

Blockers work on ranges as well as hands. Against the 130 combos of the top 10 percent, 99 leaves an average of 123.00. That is 7.00 combos fewer than the 130 an opponent has before you look.

Hands next to 99

Look at 99 against the hands that rank next to it. 99 has 18.00% equity against TT, the hand ranked number 5: it wins 17.75% of boards, ties 0.50% and loses 81.75%. It is the underdog in that matchup. 99 has 81.94% equity against 88, the hand ranked number 7: it wins 81.60% of boards, ties 0.67% and loses 17.73%. It is the favorite in that matchup.

There is only one way to write 99, since a pair cannot be suited or offsuit. Every pair is 6 combos, and the 13 of them make 5.88% of deals.

Questions about 99 combos

How many combos of 99 are there?: 6 combos, which is 0.45% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt 99 about 1 time in 221.0.
How many 99 combos are left if I hold a nine?: 3 combos of 99 remain out of 6. With a two as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 408.
Which hands rank next to 99?: TT ranks number 5, just above 99, and 99 has 18.00% equity against it. 88 ranks number 7, just below, and 99 has 81.94% equity against it.

How this was computed

Every 99 combo was listed from the 1,326 two-card holdings. For each blocker or board-pair row, the combos that contain a visible card were dropped and the rest were counted.

The rank and equity figures use our matchup table, which counts all 1,712,304 boards for each pair of classes. Ties are halves, and range matchups are weighted by live combos.

Source: GeorgeLiPoker's own count of the 52-card deck and its preflop matchup table.