How many hands are in the top 30 percent?

The top 30 percent is 55 hands and 386 combos, which is 29.11% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to J9s. Q9o is the first hand left out, because 12 more combos would reach 30.02%.

Why is the top 30 percent really 29.11%?

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 30 percent, so it lands on 29.11%, 386 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 30.

How many of the combos have an ace in them?

24 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 186 of 386 combos, 48.2%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 338 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

Top 30% of Poker Hands: Range and Combos

The top 30 percent of starting hands is 55 hands and 386 combos, which comes to 29.11% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to J9s, so you are dealt a hand in it about 1 time in 3.44.

The 55 hands in the top 30 percent

Ranking order sets the range, and the 30 percent line sets its size: 397.80 combos out of 1,326. The first hand that does not fit is Q9o; with 12 combos it would bring the total to 30.02%. The range therefore reaches 29.11%.

The top 30 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, K9o, A5o, A6o, Q9s, K7s, JTs, A2s, QTo, 44, A4o, K6s, K8o, Q8s, A3o, K5s, J9s.

How the combos split

Splitting the top 30 percent by kind shows where the combos sit. The hand counts are on the left, and the combos each kind brings are on the right.

The top 30 percent by kind of hand
Kind	Hands	Combos	Share of range
Pairs	11	66	17.10%
Suited hands	26	104	26.94%
Offsuit hands	18	216	55.96%

Pairs bring 66 combos from 11 hands, suited hands bring 104 from 26 and offsuit hands bring 216 from 18. Offsuit hands lead with 56.0%.

The range by top card

Sort the 55 hands by their highest card and the range shows its shape. The table lists, for each top card, how many hands and how many combos the range holds.

The top 30 percent by higher card
Top card	Hands	Combos
Ace	24	186
King	14	98
Queen	7	46
Jack	3	14
Ten	1	6
Nine	1	6
Eight	1	6
Seven	1	6
Six	1	6
Five	1	6
Four	1	6
Three	0	0
Two	0	0

Ace-high hands supply 186 of the 386 combos (48.2%) from 24 hands. The range reaches down to a top card of four, where it holds 1 hand.

Hands worth knowing at the edge

Look at the two hands on either side of the line: J9s is in at number 55 with 55.66% equity, and Q9o is out at number 56 with 55.36%.

Compared with the top 25 percent, this range adds 8 hands and 58 combos: 44, A4o, K6s, K8o, Q8s, A3o, K5s, J9s.

How your cards shrink the range

Blockers shrink a range. For the 386 combos in this range, the first table gives the count left after one known card of each rank, and the second after both cards of a chosen hand.

Combos of the top 30 percent left after one known card of each rank
Known card	Combos left	Combos removed
Ace	338	48
King	356	30
Queen	365	21
Jack	369	17
Ten	370	16
Nine	373	13
Eight	374	12
Seven	378	8
Six	378	8
Five	378	8
Four	379	7
Three	382	4
Two	385	1

Combos of the top 30 percent left when you hold both cards of a hand
You hold	Combos left
AA	291
KK	327
AKs	309
AKo	309
QQ	345
JTs	354
77	371
A5s	331
72o	377

Compare the extremes: an ace leaves 338 combos and a two leaves 385; AA leaves 291 and 72o leaves 377, out of 386.

A worked example

With AA in your hand, 291 of the range's 386 combos are still possible, which is 23.76% of the 1,225 hands your opponent could hold. Hold AKs instead and 309 remain, 25.22%.

How strong the range is as a group

Whole-range equity comes to 61.88% against a random hand and 55.78% against the top 50 percent, with every matchup weighted by the card-compatible pairs of hands.

Questions about the top 30 percent

How many hands are in the top 30 percent?: The top 30 percent is 55 hands and 386 combos, which is 29.11% of the 1,326 two-card hands. It runs from AA down to J9s. Q9o is the first hand left out, because 12 more combos would reach 30.02%.
Why is the top 30 percent really 29.11%?: 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 30 percent, so it lands on 29.11%, 386 of 1,326 combos, rather than exactly 30.
How many of the combos have an ace in them?: 24 hands in the range have an ace as the higher card, adding up to 186 of 386 combos, 48.2%. Holding one ace yourself leaves 338 combos of the range possible for an opponent.

How this was computed

Ranking comes first: all 169 hand classes ordered by equity against a random hand. The range takes classes from the top for as long as their combos (6, 4 or 12 each) total no more than 30 percent of 1,326. The first class that would overshoot is left out entirely.

Known-card and two-card holdings are handled by removing every combo that uses one of those cards from the range. Equity for the whole range averages exact matchups, each counted over 1,712,304 boards, weighted by the pairs of hands that can coexist.

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