How many hands are in the top 10 percent?

The top 10 percent is 20 hands and 130 combos, which is 9.80% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to KJs. A8s is the first hand left out, because 4 more combos would reach 10.11%.

Why is the top 10 percent really 9.80%?

Hands go in as whole classes, in rank order, and a class is never split. The range stops at the last class that keeps the total at or under 10 percent, so it lands on 9.80%, 130 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 10.

How many of the combos have an ace in them?

10 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 74 of 130 combos, 56.9%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 110 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

Top 10% of Poker Hands: Range and Combos

A top-10-percent range holds 20 hands and 130 combos: 9.80% of the 1,326 starting hands, from AA to KJs. One deal in 10.20 lands inside it.

The 20 hands in the top 10 percent

The range is built by walking down the ranking of 169 hands and adding each class while the total stays at or below 10 percent of 1,326, which is 132.60 combos. The next hand, A8s, would add 4 combos and take the total to 10.11%, so it stays out and the range stops at 9.80%.

The top 10 percent on the 13 by 13 grid

AA AKs AQs AJs ATs A9s A8s A7s A6s A5s A4s A3s A2s AKo KK KQs KJs KTs K9s K8s K7s K6s K5s K4s K3s K2s AQo KQo QQ QJs QTs Q9s Q8s Q7s Q6s Q5s Q4s Q3s Q2s AJo KJo QJo JJ JTs J9s J8s J7s J6s J5s J4s J3s J2s ATo KTo QTo JTo TT T9s T8s T7s T6s T5s T4s T3s T2s A9o K9o Q9o J9o T9o 99 98s 97s 96s 95s 94s 93s 92s A8o K8o Q8o J8o T8o 98o 88 87s 86s 85s 84s 83s 82s A7o K7o Q7o J7o T7o 97o 87o 77 76s 75s 74s 73s 72s A6o K6o Q6o J6o T6o 96o 86o 76o 66 65s 64s 63s 62s A5o K5o Q5o J5o T5o 95o 85o 75o 65o 55 54s 53s 52s A4o K4o Q4o J4o T4o 94o 84o 74o 64o 54o 44 43s 42s A3o K3o Q3o J3o T3o 93o 83o 73o 63o 53o 43o 33 32s A2o K2o Q2o J2o T2o 92o 82o 72o 62o 52o 42o 32o 22

In the range
Not in the range

In order, the hands are AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, AKs, 77, AQs, AJs, AKo, ATs, AQo, AJo, KQs, 66, A9s, ATo, KJs.

How the combos split

The table splits the range by kind of hand. Suited and offsuit hands count differently, because a suited hand has 4 combos and an offsuit hand has 12, so the combos do not follow the number of hands.

The top 10 percent by kind of hand
Kind	Hands	Combos	Share of range
Pairs	9	54	41.54%
Suited hands	7	28	21.54%
Offsuit hands	4	48	36.92%

9 pairs make 54 combos, 7 suited hands make 28 and 4 offsuit hands make 48. The largest share is pairs, at 41.5% of the range.

The range by top card

Here is the range by top card. A row says how many of the 20 hands start with that rank and how many combos those hands add up to.

The top 10 percent by higher card
Top card	Hands	Combos
Ace	10	74
King	3	14
Queen	1	6
Jack	1	6
Ten	1	6
Nine	1	6
Eight	1	6
Seven	1	6
Six	1	6
Five	0	0
Four	0	0
Three	0	0
Two	0	0

The ace row alone is 74 combos, 56.9% of 130. The range ends at the six row, which has 1 hand and 6 combos.

Hands worth knowing at the edge

KJs just makes it, number 20 of 169 with 62.57% equity. A8s just misses, number 21 with 61.94%, because its 4 combos do not fit the budget.

Compared with the top 5 percent, this range adds 9 hands and 70 combos: AKo, ATs, AQo, AJo, KQs, 66, A9s, ATo, KJs.

How your cards shrink the range

Seeing a card removes combos from an opponent's range. Here is what is left of these 130 combos for a known card of each rank, and then for several two-card holdings.

Combos of the top 10 percent left after one known card of each rank
Known card	Combos left	Combos removed
Ace	110	20
King	121	9
Queen	122	8
Jack	122	8
Ten	123	7
Nine	126	4
Eight	127	3
Seven	127	3
Six	127	3
Five	130	0
Four	130	0
Three	130	0
Two	130	0

Combos of the top 10 percent left when you hold both cards of a hand
You hold	Combos left
AA	91
KK	113
AKs	102
AKo	102
QQ	115
JTs	115
77	125
A5s	110
72o	127

An ace is the biggest blocker, removing 20 combos and leaving 110. A two removes 0. Two aces cut the range to 91, and 72o to 127.

A worked example

Worked example: you look down at AKs and an opponent's range is the top 10 percent, 130 combos before you look. Your cards remove some, leaving 102. Of the 1,225 hands left in the deck, 8.33% are in the range.

How strong the range is as a group

Against a random hand, the whole range scores 68.50%. Against the top 50 percent it scores 64.61%. Matchups are weighted by the pairs of hands that can really be dealt.

Questions about the top 10 percent

How many hands are in the top 10 percent?: The top 10 percent is 20 hands and 130 combos, which is 9.80% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to KJs. A8s is the first hand left out, because 4 more combos would reach 10.11%.
Why is the top 10 percent really 9.80%?: Hands go in as whole classes, in rank order, and a class is never split. The range stops at the last class that keeps the total at or under 10 percent, so it lands on 9.80%, 130 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 10.
How many of the combos have an ace in them?: 10 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 74 of 130 combos, 56.9%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 110 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

How this was computed

The range comes from our ranking of all 169 starting hands by equity against a random hand. Hands are added in that order while the total of their combos (6 for a pair, 4 for a suited hand, 12 for an offsuit hand) stays within 10 percent of 1,326, and a hand that would go over is left out whole.

Blocker counts list every combo of every hand in the range and remove the ones that use a known card. Group equity comes from our table of all 169 by 169 preflop matchups, counted over every one of the 1,712,304 boards with no sampling, and weighted by the pairs of hands that can be dealt together.

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