--- title: "55 vs K9s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-k9s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-k9s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "55 vs K9s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.38% to 48.62% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-a5s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-k9s.md"] --- # 55 vs K9s: preflop equity 55 vs K9s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.38% to 48.62% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, 55 finishes with 51.38% of the pot and K9s with 48.62%. ## 55 against K9s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 55 against K9s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55 | 51.081 | 0.593 | 48.326 | 51.377 | | K9s | 48.326 | 0.593 | 51.081 | 48.623 | 55 is a pocket pair and K9s is a suited hand. A pair against two higher cards is the classic race: the pair is usually a small favorite or close to even, and each overcard that pairs is a way to take the lead. With only 2.76 points between them, the board decides this matchup far more than the cards in hand. 0.59% 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 K9s is number 29. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55 | 20,992,000 | 244,000 | 19,860,000 | | K9s | 19,860,000 | 244,000 | 20,992,000 | Exact total: 24 deals times 1,712,304 boards. The other three counts come from the five-decimal percentages and are rounded to the nearest thousand, so read them as approximate. **55 against K9s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55 | 1.057 | 1.958 | 2.069 | 0.946 | | K9s | 0.946 | 2.069 | 1.958 | 1.057 | 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 The flop changes the picture. 55 does best on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 61.59%, and worst on two-tone flops, at 49.88%. The lead reverses on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and two-tone flops: there K9s is the favorite even though 55 is ahead overall. **55 against K9s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 55 wins | Ties | K9s wins | 55 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 49.797 | 0.309 | 49.894 | 49.952 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 61.224 | 0.738 | 38.038 | 61.593 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 49.698 | 0.363 | 49.939 | 49.879 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 49.671 | 2.646 | 47.683 | 50.994 | | Paired | 17.334 | 53.756 | 0.961 | 45.283 | 54.236 | Rainbow flops have three suits, two-tone flops repeat one suit, monotone flops are all one suit, and paired flops repeat a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Each hand has a baseline against a random hand: 60.33% for 55, 59.99% for K9s. Here the change is -8.95 and -11.37 points. **55 and K9s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55, all flops | 51.377 | 60.325 | -8.948 | 0.85167 | | 55, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.952 | 60.325 | -10.373 | 0.82805 | | 55, rainbow, nine or lower | 61.593 | 60.325 | +1.268 | 1.02102 | | 55, two-tone | 49.879 | 60.325 | -10.446 | 0.82684 | | 55, monotone | 50.994 | 60.325 | -9.331 | 0.84532 | | 55, paired | 54.236 | 60.325 | -6.089 | 0.89906 | | K9s, all flops | 48.623 | 59.988 | -11.365 | 0.81055 | | K9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.048 | 59.988 | -9.940 | 0.83430 | | K9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 38.407 | 59.988 | -21.581 | 0.64024 | | K9s, two-tone | 50.121 | 59.988 | -9.867 | 0.83552 | | K9s, monotone | 49.006 | 59.988 | -10.982 | 0.81693 | | K9s, paired | 45.764 | 59.988 | -14.224 | 0.76289 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? 55 has 51.56% when the hands share a suit and 51.20% when they do not. 55 does better with a shared suit, by 0.36 points. **55 against K9s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 55 wins | Ties | K9s wins | 55 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.239 | 0.635 | 48.126 | 51.556 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.922 | 0.552 | 48.526 | 51.198 | ## How often this matchup comes up This page stands for 24 specific-card matchups (0.0015% of 1,624,350 ordered deals), or 48 once you count the seats both ways (0.0030%). ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 55 takes back $102.76 of it, which is $2.76 more than it put in, and K9s takes back $97.24, $2.76 less than it put in. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 511 for 55, 483 for K9s and 6 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From K9s' side the equity is 48.62%, and from 55's side it is 51.38%. ## Keep exploring Try 5s5h against Kd9d in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open 5s5h against Kd9d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=5s5h&p2=Kd9d) - [55 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/55.md) - [K9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9s.md) - [55 vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-a5s.md) - [55 vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-a6s.md) - [QJs vs K9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-k9s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 24 specific 55 against K9s 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. ## Related - [55 vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-a5s.md) - [55 vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-a6s.md) - [QJs vs K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-k9s.md)