--- title: "53s vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/53s-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/53s-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, 53s or 43s? 53s leads 58.26% to 41.74% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/64s-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/64s-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/54s-vs-43s.md"] --- # 53s vs 43s: preflop equity Who is ahead, 53s or 43s? 53s leads 58.26% to 41.74% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, 53s finishes with 58.26% of the pot and 43s with 41.74%. ## 53s against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 53s against 43s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 53s | 42.521 | 31.481 | 25.998 | 58.262 | | 43s | 25.998 | 31.481 | 42.521 | 41.738 | The matchup is suited hands on both sides, 53s against 43s. Because the hands share one rank, the one with the higher kicker is ahead when that rank pairs and the other hand is mostly drawing. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. 31.48% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that. By strength against a random hand, 53s holds place 146 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 53s | 8,737,000 | 6,469,000 | 5,342,000 | | 43s | 5,342,000 | 6,469,000 | 8,737,000 | 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. **53s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 53s | 1.396 | 2.352 | 3.846 | 0.716 | | 43s | 0.716 | 3.846 | 2.352 | 1.396 | The last column is the break-even price: the pot odds a call needs to offer, as a ratio of pot to call. ## Who is ahead on which flops Split by what the flop looks like, 53s peaks at 60.75% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and bottoms out at 55.75% on monotone flops. 53s stays ahead on all five textures. **53s against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 53s wins | Ties | 43s wins | 53s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 42.150 | 34.389 | 23.461 | 59.344 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 50.255 | 20.989 | 28.756 | 60.750 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 44.106 | 28.256 | 27.638 | 58.234 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 44.017 | 23.456 | 32.527 | 55.745 | | Paired | 17.333 | 36.110 | 41.283 | 22.607 | 56.751 | A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 39.69%, 53s changes by +18.57 points, and 43s, from 38.64%, by +3.10. **53s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 53s, all flops | 58.262 | 39.693 | +18.569 | 1.46782 | | 53s, rainbow, ten or higher | 59.344 | 39.693 | +19.651 | 1.49507 | | 53s, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.750 | 39.693 | +21.057 | 1.53050 | | 53s, two-tone | 58.234 | 39.693 | +18.541 | 1.46711 | | 53s, monotone | 55.745 | 39.693 | +16.052 | 1.40440 | | 53s, paired | 56.751 | 39.693 | +17.058 | 1.42975 | | 43s, all flops | 41.738 | 38.642 | +3.096 | 1.08012 | | 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 40.656 | 38.642 | +2.014 | 1.05212 | | 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.250 | 38.642 | +0.608 | 1.01573 | | 43s, two-tone | 41.766 | 38.642 | +3.124 | 1.08084 | | 43s, monotone | 44.255 | 38.642 | +5.613 | 1.14526 | | 43s, paired | 43.249 | 38.642 | +4.607 | 1.11922 | ## Does a shared suit matter? For this pair the shared-suit row is empty: the two hands cannot both own a card of one suit without reusing a card. **53s against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 53s wins | Ties | 43s wins | 53s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 42.521 | 31.481 | 25.998 | 58.262 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 12 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0007% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 24, or 0.0015%. ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 53s takes back $116.52 of it, which is $16.52 more than it put in, and 43s takes back $83.48, $16.52 less than it put in. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 425 for 53s, 260 for 43s and 315 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side 43s against 53s adds nothing new: it is 41.74% for 43s and 58.26% for 53s, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring 5s3s against 4h3h 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 5s3s against 4h3h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=5s3s&p2=4h3h) - [53s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/53s.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [64s vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/64s-vs-43s.md) - [64s vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/64s-vs-53s.md) - [54s vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/54s-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 12 ways to deal one 53s and one 43s without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [64s vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/64s-vs-43s.md) - [64s vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/64s-vs-53s.md) - [54s vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/54s-vs-43s.md)