How many hands are in the top 20 percent?

The top 20 percent is 39 hands and 264 combos, which is 19.91% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to QJo. K9o is the first hand left out, because 12 more combos would reach 20.81%.

Why is the top 20 percent really 19.91%?

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 20 percent, so it lands on 19.91%, 264 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 20.

How many of the combos have an ace in them?

19 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 134 of 264 combos, 50.8%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 229 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

Top 20% of Poker Hands: Range and Combos

39 hands fit inside the top 20 percent, 264 combos in all. That is 19.91% of the 1,326 possible hands, ending at QJo, and it matches about 1 deal in 5.02.

The 39 hands in the top 20 percent

Think of a budget of 265.20 combos, which is 20 percent of 1,326. Hands are bought in rank order until K9o, whose 12 combos would raise the total to 20.81% and break the budget. What is left in the range is 19.91%.

The top 20 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, A6s, A8o, KTo, QTs, A4s, A7o, K8s, A3s, QJo.

How the combos split

The range is a mix of three kinds of hand. Because combos per hand are 6, 4 and 12, the table lists hands and combos side by side for pairs, suited and offsuit.

The top 20 percent by kind of hand
Kind	Hands	Combos	Share of range
Pairs	10	60	22.73%
Suited hands	18	72	27.27%
Offsuit hands	11	132	50.00%

Offsuit hands are 50.0% of the range's 264 combos. Pairs add 60, suited hands 72 and offsuit hands 132.

The range by top card

Grouping the range by the higher card of each hand shows where its combos come from. Each row counts the hands whose top card is that rank and the combos they bring.

The top 20 percent by higher card
Top card	Hands	Combos
Ace	19	134
King	9	62
Queen	4	26
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 19 of the 39 and 134 of the 264 combos, 50.8%. The lowest top card in the range is the five, with 1 hand and 6 combos.

Hands worth knowing at the edge

The border of the range is easy to name. Last in is QJo, ranked 39 at 58.14% equity against a random hand; first out is K9o, ranked 40 at 57.81%.

Compared with the top 15 percent, this range adds 9 hands and 68 combos: A6s, A8o, KTo, QTs, A4s, A7o, K8s, A3s, QJo.

How your cards shrink the range

Count what survives. The top 20 percent starts with 264 combos; a known card of each rank and a full holding take some of them away, as the two tables show.

Combos of the top 20 percent left after one known card of each rank
Known card	Combos left	Combos removed
Ace	229	35
King	243	21
Queen	248	16
Jack	249	15
Ten	252	12
Nine	256	8
Eight	256	8
Seven	257	7
Six	260	4
Five	260	4
Four	263	1
Three	263	1
Two	264	0

Combos of the top 20 percent left when you hold both cards of a hand
You hold	Combos left
AA	195
KK	223
AKs	209
AKo	209
QQ	233
JTs	237
77	251
A5s	226
72o	257

A known ace takes 35 combos out of 264; a known two takes 0. With AA in your hand 195 remain, against 257 with 72o.

A worked example

You hold AKs and your opponent plays the top 20 percent. Of that range's 264 combos, 209 use none of your two cards, so your opponent holds one of 209 hands, and the chance that a random deal of the other 1,225 hands falls in the range is 209 / 1,225 = 17.06%.

How strong the range is as a group

Equity for the whole top 20 percent: 64.16% against a random hand and 58.96% against the top 50 percent, each matchup weighted by how many hand pairs it stands for.

Questions about the top 20 percent

How many hands are in the top 20 percent?: The top 20 percent is 39 hands and 264 combos, which is 19.91% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to QJo. K9o is the first hand left out, because 12 more combos would reach 20.81%.
Why is the top 20 percent really 19.91%?: 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 20 percent, so it lands on 19.91%, 264 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 20.
How many of the combos have an ace in them?: 19 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 134 of 264 combos, 50.8%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 229 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 20 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.