A2o: the 12 combos
Count every ace and two pairing (16) and take away the suited ones (4): 12 combos are offsuit.
These are the 12 specific hands that count as A2o. 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 A2o. One visible card of a given rank removes the combos that need it, and the rest stay possible.
| Known card | A2o combos left |
|---|---|
| Ace | 9 |
| King | 12 |
| Queen | 12 |
| Jack | 12 |
| Ten | 12 |
| Nine | 12 |
| Eight | 12 |
| Seven | 12 |
| Six | 12 |
| Five | 12 |
| Four | 12 |
| Three | 12 |
| Two | 9 |
With an ace or a two in view, 9 of the 12 combos of A2o remain, which removes 25%. Any card of a different rank leaves all 12 combos in play.
When the board is paired
Boards with a pair remove two cards of one rank at once. The rows give the A2o combos left for each paired rank.
| Board pair | A2o combos left |
|---|---|
| Aces | 6 |
| Kings | 12 |
| Queens | 12 |
| Jacks | 12 |
| Tens | 12 |
| Nines | 12 |
| Eights | 12 |
| Sevens | 12 |
| Sixes | 12 |
| Fives | 12 |
| Fours | 12 |
| Threes | 12 |
| Twos | 6 |
Only a board pair of aces or twos matters here: 6 combos of A2o remain, against 12 for any other pair.
A worked example
Suppose you look down at an ace and a three. Any opponent hand comes from 1,225 possibilities. A2o makes up 9 of them, which is 0.73% (1 in 136); if you held neither card's rank in common with A2o, it would be 12 of them, 0.98%.
How strong is A2o?
Order all 169 classes by equity against a random hand and A2o lands at number 59, inside the top 60 classes, with 54.93%. A tie is worth half a win in that figure.
Down to and including A2o, the ranking holds 434 combos, or 32.73% of deals; 422 of them belong to hands above it.
A2o against ranges of hands
Five ranges, five equities for A2o. Counting only the combos your cards leave possible, it has 27.24% against the top 5 percent (60 combos), 29.41% against the top 10 percent (130 combos), 38.78% against the top 20 percent (264 combos), 42.68% against the top 30 percent (386 combos) and 49.09% against the top 50 percent (658 combos).
| Opponent range | Combos in range | A2o equity |
|---|---|---|
| Top 5 percent | 60 | 27.24% |
| Top 10 percent | 130 | 29.41% |
| Top 20 percent | 264 | 38.78% |
| Top 30 percent | 386 | 42.68% |
| Top 50 percent | 658 | 49.09% |
A2o 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, A2o leaves an average of 110.00. That is 20.00 combos fewer than the 130 an opponent has before you look.
Hands next to A2o
Look at A2o against the hands that rank next to it. A2o has 59.16% equity against K7o, the hand ranked number 58: it wins 58.92% of boards, ties 0.49% and loses 40.59%. It is the favorite in that matchup. A2o has 57.48% equity against K4s, the hand ranked number 60: it wins 57.18% of boards, ties 0.59% and loses 42.23%. It is the favorite in that matchup.
A2s is what the same two ranks look like when they are suited: 4 combos at number 46, 57.38% equity. A2o has 3 times as many combos as A2s and is 2.45 points weaker against a random hand.
Questions about A2o combos
- How many combos of A2o are there?
- 12 combos, which is 0.90% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt A2o about 1 time in 110.5.
- How many A2o combos are left if I hold an ace?
- 9 combos of A2o remain out of 12. With a three as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 136.
- Is A2o stronger than A2s?
- No: A2o has 54.93% equity against a random hand and ranks number 59, while A2s has 57.38% and ranks number 46. A2s has 4 combos to A2o's 12.
How this was computed
Every A2o 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.