A2s: the 4 combos
Fix the suit, and the ace and two of that suit are the only choice; four suits make 4 combos.
Spelled out, A2s is these 4 holdings. The suits are what separate them from each other, and the ranks are the same in all.
How cards you can see change the count
A card in your hand or on the board takes combos away from your opponent's possible hands. This table counts what is left of A2s for each rank of card you can see.
| Known card | A2s combos left |
|---|---|
| Ace | 3 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen | 4 |
| Jack | 4 |
| Ten | 4 |
| Nine | 4 |
| Eight | 4 |
| Seven | 4 |
| Six | 4 |
| Five | 4 |
| Four | 4 |
| Three | 4 |
| Two | 3 |
With an ace or a two in view, 3 of the 4 combos of A2s remain, which removes 25%. Any card of a different rank leaves all 4 combos in play.
When the board is paired
Two board cards of one rank are out of reach for your opponent. The table gives the A2s combos that remain for each paired rank.
| Board pair | A2s combos left |
|---|---|
| Aces | 2 |
| Kings | 4 |
| Queens | 4 |
| Jacks | 4 |
| Tens | 4 |
| Nines | 4 |
| Eights | 4 |
| Sevens | 4 |
| Sixes | 4 |
| Fives | 4 |
| Fours | 4 |
| Threes | 4 |
| Twos | 2 |
Only a board pair of aces or twos matters here: 2 combos of A2s remain, against 4 for any other pair.
A worked example
Say your hole cards are an ace and a three. That leaves 1,225 possible two-card hands for an opponent, and 3 of them are A2s: a 0.24% chance, roughly 1 in 408. Without the ace in your hand it would be 4 combos, 0.33%, roughly 1 in 306.
How strong is A2s?
A2s ranks number 46 of the 169 starting-hand classes, inside the top 60 classes. Against one random hand it has 57.38% equity, which counts a win as 1 and a tie as one half over every five-card board.
316 of the 1,326 starting hands are A2s or better by this ranking. That is 23.83% of deals.
A2s against ranges of hands
Tighter ranges are harder to beat. A2s gets 31.00% against the top 5 percent (60 combos), 33.24% against the top 10 percent (130 combos), 42.13% against the top 20 percent (264 combos), 45.84% against the top 30 percent (386 combos) and 51.88% against the top 50 percent (658 combos), and each figure counts every combo your cards leave possible.
| Opponent range | Combos in range | A2s equity |
|---|---|---|
| Top 5 percent | 60 | 31.00% |
| Top 10 percent | 130 | 33.24% |
| Top 20 percent | 264 | 42.13% |
| Top 30 percent | 386 | 45.84% |
| Top 50 percent | 658 | 51.88% |
The line sits between the top 30 and top 50 percent: A2s is behind the narrower range and ahead of the wider one.
Check what A2s does to the top 10 percent range of 130 combos: averaged over its 4, 110.00 remain for an opponent. That is 20.00 combos fewer than the 130 an opponent has before you look.
Hands next to A2s
Rank says who is stronger against a random hand; a head-to-head says who is stronger against each other. A2s has 54.32% equity against JTs, the hand ranked number 45: it wins 54.05% of boards, ties 0.53% and loses 45.42%. It is the favorite in that matchup. A2s has 58.16% equity against QTo, the hand ranked number 47: it wins 57.91% of boards, ties 0.50% and loses 41.59%. It is the favorite in that matchup.
Switch A2s from suited to offsuit and you get A2o: 12 combos, rank 59, 54.93% equity. A2o is 3 times as many combos but 2.45 points weaker against a random hand.
Questions about A2s combos
- How many combos of A2s are there?
- 4 combos, which is 0.30% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt A2s about 1 time in 331.5.
- How many A2s combos are left if I hold an ace?
- 3 combos of A2s remain out of 4. With a three as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 408.
- Is A2s stronger than A2o?
- Yes, by 2.45 points: A2s has 57.38% equity against a random hand and ranks number 46, while A2o has 54.93% and ranks number 59. A2o has 12 combos to A2s's 4.
How this was computed
Every A2s 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.