55
81.48%
Wins 80.11%, ties 2.74%
44
18.52%
Wins 17.15%, ties 2.74%
55 against 44: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 80.105 | 2.744 | 17.151 | 81.477 |
| 44 | 17.151 | 2.744 | 80.105 | 18.523 |
Two pocket pairs meet here: 55 against 44. Both hands are pairs, so the bigger pair is ahead on every board that does not pair a card below it.
A gap this wide means 44 is in trouble before the flop and has few good runouts. 2.74% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that.
In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, 55 is number 27 and 44 is number 48.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 49,379,000 | 1,691,000 | 10,572,000 |
| 44 | 10,572,000 | 1,691,000 | 49,379,000 |
The total is exact: 36 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 4.399 | 1.248 | 5.831 | 0.227 |
| 44 | 0.227 | 5.831 | 1.248 | 4.399 |
The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity.
Who is ahead on which flops
55 prefers paired flops, where it holds 83.36%, and likes low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) least, where it holds 76.17%. 55 stays ahead on all five textures.
| Flop | Share of flops | 55 wins | Ties | 44 wins | 55 equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 82.099 | 1.575 | 16.326 | 82.886 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 75.610 | 1.118 | 23.272 | 76.169 |
| Two-tone | 46.363 | 80.405 | 1.481 | 18.114 | 81.145 |
| Monotone | 5.152 | 74.498 | 3.369 | 22.133 | 76.183 |
| Paired | 17.576 | 79.319 | 8.079 | 12.602 | 83.358 |
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
A random hand would give 55 60.33% and 44 57.02%. Against each other the change is +21.15 points for 55 and -38.50 for 44.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55, all flops | 81.477 | 60.325 | +21.152 | 1.35063 |
| 55, rainbow, ten or higher | 82.886 | 60.325 | +22.561 | 1.37399 |
| 55, rainbow, nine or lower | 76.169 | 60.325 | +15.844 | 1.26264 |
| 55, two-tone | 81.145 | 60.325 | +20.820 | 1.34513 |
| 55, monotone | 76.183 | 60.325 | +15.858 | 1.26288 |
| 55, paired | 83.358 | 60.325 | +23.033 | 1.38182 |
| 44, all flops | 18.523 | 57.023 | -38.500 | 0.32483 |
| 44, rainbow, ten or higher | 17.114 | 57.023 | -39.909 | 0.30012 |
| 44, rainbow, nine or lower | 23.831 | 57.023 | -33.192 | 0.41792 |
| 44, two-tone | 18.855 | 57.023 | -38.168 | 0.33066 |
| 44, monotone | 23.817 | 57.023 | -33.206 | 0.41767 |
| 44, paired | 16.642 | 57.023 | -40.381 | 0.29185 |
Does a shared suit matter?
The suit split reads 81.62% for 55 with a shared suit and 80.78% without one. 55 does better with a shared suit, by 0.84 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 55 wins | Ties | 44 wins | 55 equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 30 | 83.33 | 80.237 | 2.757 | 17.006 | 81.615 |
| No shared suit | 6 | 16.67 | 79.445 | 2.677 | 17.878 | 80.783 |
How often this matchup comes up
How often does it happen? 36 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0022%) are 55 against 44, and 72 (0.0044%) if either hand may sit in either seat.
A worked example
Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. 55 averages $162.96 from the $200, up $62.96; 44 averages $37.04, down $62.96.
In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 801 won outright by 55, about 172 won outright by 44 and about 27 split.
The same matchup from the other side
The mirror image, 44 against 55, is 18.52% to 81.48%, and its address redirects to this page.
Keep exploring
Open the calculator with 5s5h against 4d4c already entered, a deal with no shared suit, and change any card to try your own hand. The matchups after it each swap one hand for a nearby one in the ranking.
How this was computed
We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 36 specific 55 against 44 deals meets all 1,712,304 boards, and the better five-card hand wins; a split pot is half a win each. The flop table reads each board under all ten of its three-card flops.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
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