How many hands are in the top 15 percent?

The top 15 percent is 30 hands and 196 combos, which is 14.78% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to A5s. A6s is the first hand left out, because 4 more combos would reach 15.08%.

Why is the top 15 percent really 14.78%?

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 15 percent, so it lands on 14.78%, 196 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 15.

How many of the combos have an ace in them?

14 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 98 of 196 combos, 50.0%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 170 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

Top 15% of Poker Hands: Range and Combos

In numbers, the top 15 percent is 30 hands and 196 combos, 14.78% of the 1,326 starting hands. It starts at AA, ends at A5s and covers about 1 deal in 6.77.

The 30 hands in the top 15 percent

The cut-off rule is simple: take classes in rank order while the total stays within 15 percent, or 198.90 of the 1,326 combos. A6s is left out because 4 more combos would reach 15.08%, so the exact share is 14.78%.

The top 15 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, A8s, KTs, KQo, A7s, A9o, KJo, 55, QJs, K9s, A5s.

How the combos split

The 30 hands fall into three kinds. Combos per hand differ by kind (6, 4 and 12), so the combo column, not the hand column, shows the true weight of each kind.

The top 15 percent by kind of hand
Kind	Hands	Combos	Share of range
Pairs	10	60	30.61%
Suited hands	13	52	26.53%
Offsuit hands	7	84	42.86%

Offsuit hands are 42.9% of the range's 196 combos. Pairs add 60, suited hands 52 and offsuit hands 84.

The range by top card

Look at the range through its highest card. For each rank, the table gives the hand count and the combo count out of 196 combos.

The top 15 percent by higher card
Top card	Hands	Combos
Ace	14	98
King	7	46
Queen	2	10
Jack	1	6
Ten	1	6
Nine	1	6
Eight	1	6
Seven	1	6
Six	1	6
Five	1	6
Four	0	0
Three	0	0
Two	0	0

Hands with an ace on top are 14 of the 30 and 98 of the 196 combos, 50.0%. The lowest top card in the range is the five, with 1 hand and 6 combos.

Hands worth knowing at the edge

The range's last hand is A5s: number 30, 59.92% equity against a random hand. Its first absentee is A6s: number 31, 59.91%.

Compared with the top 10 percent, this range adds 10 hands and 66 combos: A8s, KTs, KQo, A7s, A9o, KJo, 55, QJs, K9s, A5s.

How your cards shrink the range

A known card cannot be in an opponent's hand. The tables count the combos of the top 15 percent that survive one card of each rank, and the ones that survive a full two-card holding.

Combos of the top 15 percent left after one known card of each rank
Known card	Combos left	Combos removed
Ace	170	26
King	179	17
Queen	184	12
Jack	184	12
Ten	188	8
Nine	188	8
Eight	192	4
Seven	192	4
Six	193	3
Five	192	4
Four	196	0
Three	196	0
Two	196	0

Combos of the top 15 percent left when you hold both cards of a hand
You hold	Combos left
AA	145
KK	163
AKs	154
AKo	154
QQ	173
JTs	176
77	189
A5s	167
72o	192

A known ace takes 26 combos out of 196; a known two takes 0. With AA in your hand 145 remain, against 192 with 72o.

A worked example

You hold AKs and your opponent plays the top 15 percent. Of that range's 196 combos, 154 use none of your two cards, so your opponent holds one of 154 hands, and the chance that a random deal of the other 1,225 hands falls in the range is 154 / 1,225 = 12.57%.

How strong the range is as a group

Taken as a whole, the range has 65.92% equity against one random hand, and 61.36% against the top 50 percent. Both figures weight each matchup by the combos that can be dealt together.

Questions about the top 15 percent

How many hands are in the top 15 percent?: The top 15 percent is 30 hands and 196 combos, which is 14.78% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to A5s. A6s is the first hand left out, because 4 more combos would reach 15.08%.
Why is the top 15 percent really 14.78%?: 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 15 percent, so it lands on 14.78%, 196 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 15.
How many of the combos have an ace in them?: 14 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 98 of 196 combos, 50.0%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 170 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

How this was computed

Start with the 169 classes ordered by equity against a random hand. Walk down the list adding combos (a pair is 6, a suited hand 4, an offsuit hand 12) and stop before the total passes 15 percent of 1,326.

Live combos are tallied from the deck after the known cards are removed. Group equity averages our exact table of preflop matchups, every board counted, with weights set by how many pairs of specific hands each matchup stands for.

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