--- title: "33 vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/33-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/33-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "33 is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 61.39% to 38.62% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t8s-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/33-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9s-vs-43s.md"] --- # 33 vs 43s: preflop equity 33 is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 61.39% to 38.62% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts 33 at 61.39% and 43s at 38.61% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## 33 against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 33 against 43s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 33 | 58.924 | 4.922 | 36.154 | 61.385 | | 43s | 36.154 | 4.922 | 58.924 | 38.615 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. The non-pair hand shares a rank with the pair, so two of its outs for pairing are blocked by the pair itself. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. Of every 100 boards, about 4.92 are split pots, and the equity figures already include them. By strength against a random hand, 33 holds place 66 of 169 and 43s holds place 150. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 33 | 12,107,000 | 1,011,000 | 7,429,000 | | 43s | 7,429,000 | 1,011,000 | 12,107,000 | 12 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand. **33 against 43s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 33 | 1.590 | 1.697 | 2.766 | 0.629 | | 43s | 0.629 | 2.766 | 1.697 | 1.590 | The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops By flop texture, 33's equity runs from 49.20% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 65.31% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. The overall edge for 33 hides low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), where 43s comes out in front. **33 against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 33 wins | Ties | 43s wins | 33 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.786 | 63.864 | 2.885 | 33.251 | 65.306 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 4.995 | 46.241 | 5.924 | 47.835 | 49.203 | | Two-tone | 46.236 | 58.086 | 3.175 | 38.739 | 59.673 | | Monotone | 5.152 | 55.882 | 5.123 | 38.995 | 58.444 | | Paired | 17.831 | 58.390 | 12.056 | 29.554 | 64.418 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Start from the random-hand figures, 53.69% for 33 and 38.64% for 43s. This opponent changes them by +7.70 and -0.03 points. **33 and 43s here compared with each against a random hand, in percent** | Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 33, all flops | 61.385 | 53.693 | +7.692 | 1.14326 | | 33, rainbow, ten or higher | 65.306 | 53.693 | +11.613 | 1.21629 | | 33, rainbow, nine or lower | 49.203 | 53.693 | -4.490 | 0.91638 | | 33, two-tone | 59.673 | 53.693 | +5.980 | 1.11137 | | 33, monotone | 58.444 | 53.693 | +4.751 | 1.08848 | | 33, paired | 64.418 | 53.693 | +10.725 | 1.19975 | | 43s, all flops | 38.615 | 38.642 | -0.027 | 0.99930 | | 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 34.694 | 38.642 | -3.948 | 0.89783 | | 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 50.797 | 38.642 | +12.155 | 1.31455 | | 43s, two-tone | 40.327 | 38.642 | +1.685 | 1.04361 | | 43s, monotone | 41.556 | 38.642 | +2.914 | 1.07541 | | 43s, paired | 35.582 | 38.642 | -3.060 | 0.92081 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suits do not split this matchup, because no legal deal has the hands holding the same suit. **33 against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 33 wins | Ties | 43s wins | 33 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 58.924 | 4.922 | 36.154 | 61.385 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, 33 against 43s appears in 12 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0007%), and in 24 when the seats are swapped too (0.0015%). ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $122.78 for 33 and $77.22 for 43s; the first side gains $22.78 per all-in and the second gives up $22.78. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 589 for 33, 362 for 43s and 49 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side 43s against 33 adds nothing new: it is 38.61% for 43s and 61.39% for 33, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring 3s3h against 4d3d is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength. - [Open 3s3h against 4d3d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=3s3h&p2=4d3d) - [33 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/33.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [T8s vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t8s-vs-43s.md) - [33 vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/33-vs-53s.md) - [T9s vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9s-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 12 deals of 33 against 43s fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [T8s vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t8s-vs-43s.md) - [33 vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/33-vs-53s.md) - [T9s vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9s-vs-43s.md)