--- title: "K9s Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9s" last_updated: "2026-10-21" type: "reference" summary: "K9s 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/qjs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md"] --- # K9s Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs K9s 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. K9s is 4 combos out of the 1,326 possible two-card starting hands, or 0.30% of all deals. By equity against a random hand (59.99%) it ranks number 29 of the 169 starting-hand classes. - Combos: 4 - Share of 1,326: 0.30% - Rank of 169: 29 - Equity vs random: 59.99% - This hand and stronger: 14.48% ## K9s: the 4 combos A suited hand needs both cards in one suit, so each of the 4 suits gives exactly 1 combo: 4 in all. Here is every one of the 4 combos, written as the two cards you would see. Clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades each appear in the way the count above requires. The 4 combos of K9s: Ks 9s, Kh 9h, Kd 9d, Kc 9c. ## How cards you can see change the count Seeing a card changes which hands are possible. Here is the count of K9s combos that remain after you hold, or the board shows, one card of each rank. K9s combos left after one known card of each rank: | Known card | K9s combos left | | --- | --- | | Ace | 4 | | King | 3 | | Queen | 4 | | Jack | 4 | | Ten | 4 | | Nine | 3 | | Eight | 4 | | Seven | 4 | | Six | 4 | | Five | 4 | | Four | 4 | | Three | 4 | | Two | 4 | Holding a king or a nine takes K9s from 4 combos down to 3, a cut of 25%. Any card of a different rank leaves all 4 combos in play. ## When the board is paired A paired board shows two cards of one rank, and those two cards cannot be in an opponent's hand either. The table shows the K9s combos left when the board holds a pair of each rank. K9s combos left after a pair of each rank on the board: | Board pair | K9s combos left | | --- | --- | | Aces | 4 | | Kings | 2 | | Queens | 4 | | Jacks | 4 | | Tens | 4 | | Nines | 2 | | Eights | 4 | | Sevens | 4 | | Sixes | 4 | | Fives | 4 | | Fours | 4 | | Threes | 4 | | Twos | 4 | Kings or nines paired on the board leave 2 combos of K9s, and no other pair changes the count of 4. ## A worked example You hold a king and a two. Your opponent's hand is one of 1,225 equally likely two-card holdings. 3 of them are K9s, which is 0.24%, or about 1 in 408. If your two cards had nothing to do with K9s, the same hand would have 4 combos and a 0.33% chance, about 1 in 306. ## How strong is K9s? Measured against a random hand, K9s has 59.99% equity and the number 29 spot of 169, inside the top 30 classes. Wins count once and ties count half. Together with all stronger classes, K9s covers 192 combos, which is 14.48% of the 1,326 starting hands. ## K9s against ranges of hands Against a range, equity is averaged over every hand in it, weighted by how many combos of each hand are still possible. K9s makes 33.22% against the top 5 percent (60 combos), 35.37% against the top 10 percent (130 combos), 39.08% against the top 20 percent (264 combos), 43.60% against the top 30 percent (386 combos) and 52.45% against the top 50 percent (658 combos). K9s equity against the strongest hands: | Opponent range | Combos in range | K9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | | Top 5 percent | 60 | 33.22% | | Top 10 percent | 130 | 35.37% | | Top 20 percent | 264 | 39.08% | | Top 30 percent | 386 | 43.60% | | Top 50 percent | 658 | 52.45% | The line sits between the top 30 and top 50 percent: K9s is behind the narrower range and ahead of the wider one. Your own cards block part of an opponent's strong range. The top 10 percent holds 130 combos, and when you hold a combo of K9s an average of 117.00 of them stay possible. That is 13.00 combos fewer than the 130 an opponent has before you look. ## Hands next to K9s Compare K9s with the hand ranked just above it and the hand just below it. K9s has 57.19% equity against QJs, the hand ranked number 28: it wins 56.84% of boards, ties 0.71% and loses 42.45%. It is the favorite in that matchup. K9s has 41.52% equity against A5s, the hand ranked number 30: it wins 41.26% of boards, ties 0.52% and loses 58.21%. It is the underdog in that matchup. The offsuit twin of K9s is K9o, ranked number 40 with 57.81% equity against a random hand. K9o is 3 times as many combos but 2.18 points weaker against a random hand. Related to K9s: - [QJs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qjs.md) - [A5s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md) - [K9o combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9o.md) - [Top 15 percent range](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/range/15.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) - [QJs vs K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-k9s.md) - [K9s vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-a5s.md) - [K9s vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-a6s.md) ## Questions about K9s combos **How many combos of K9s are there?** 4 combos, which is 0.30% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt K9s about 1 time in 331.5. **How many K9s combos are left if I hold a king?** 3 combos of K9s remain out of 4. With a two as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 408. **Is K9s stronger than K9o?** Yes, by 2.18 points: K9s has 59.99% equity against a random hand and ranks number 29, while K9o has 57.81% and ranks number 40. K9o has 12 combos to K9s's 4. ## How this was computed Counting is done on the deck: 1,326 hands, 169 classes. The rows of each table apply the same rule, delete any combo that uses a card now visible, and report what is left. For rank and equity, the page reads a table of preflop matchups with all 1,712,304 boards counted per pair of classes. Ties are halves and ranges use live-combo weights. 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) - [QJs Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qjs.md) - [A5s Combos: Count, Blockers, Board Pairs](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md)