--- title: "99 vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "99 is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 79.83% to 20.17% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/tt-vs-43s.md"] --- # 99 vs 43s: preflop equity 99 is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 79.83% to 20.17% 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, 99 finishes with 79.83% of the pot and 43s with 20.17%. ## 99 against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 99 against 43s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 79.476 | 0.711 | 19.813 | 79.831 | | 43s | 19.813 | 0.711 | 79.476 | 20.169 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. The pair outranks both of the other hand's cards, which is why the pair is a strong favorite. That is a clear edge, 79.83% to 20.17%, but 43s still wins often enough that one hand proves nothing. Ties are 0.71% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. Ranked by equity against a random hand, 99 is number 6 of the 169 starting hands and 43s is number 150. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 32,661,000 | 292,000 | 8,142,000 | | 43s | 8,142,000 | 292,000 | 32,661,000 | 24 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. **99 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 3.958 | 1.258 | 5.047 | 0.253 | | 43s | 0.253 | 5.047 | 1.258 | 3.958 | In the last column, a pot-to-call ratio at or above the figure makes a call break even or better at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Split by what the flop looks like, 99 peaks at 83.75% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and bottoms out at 71.03% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). 99 stays ahead on all five textures. **99 against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 99 wins | Ties | 43s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 83.553 | 0.398 | 16.049 | 83.752 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 70.583 | 0.887 | 28.530 | 71.026 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 77.878 | 0.449 | 21.673 | 78.102 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 73.172 | 2.644 | 24.184 | 74.494 | | Paired | 17.334 | 82.183 | 1.250 | 16.567 | 82.808 | Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank. ## Compared with a random hand A random hand would give 99 72.06% and 43s 38.64%. Against each other the change is +7.77 points for 99 and -18.47 for 43s. **99 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99, all flops | 79.831 | 72.057 | +7.774 | 1.10789 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 83.752 | 72.057 | +11.695 | 1.16230 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 71.026 | 72.057 | -1.031 | 0.98569 | | 99, two-tone | 78.102 | 72.057 | +6.045 | 1.08389 | | 99, monotone | 74.494 | 72.057 | +2.437 | 1.03382 | | 99, paired | 82.808 | 72.057 | +10.751 | 1.14920 | | 43s, all flops | 20.169 | 38.642 | -18.473 | 0.52195 | | 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 16.248 | 38.642 | -22.394 | 0.42048 | | 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 28.974 | 38.642 | -9.668 | 0.74981 | | 43s, two-tone | 21.898 | 38.642 | -16.744 | 0.56669 | | 43s, monotone | 25.506 | 38.642 | -13.136 | 0.66006 | | 43s, paired | 17.192 | 38.642 | -21.450 | 0.44490 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common 99 has 80.42% equity, and with none in common it has 79.24%. 99 does better with a shared suit, by 1.18 points. **99 against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 99 wins | Ties | 43s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 80.045 | 0.752 | 19.203 | 80.421 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 78.906 | 0.671 | 20.423 | 79.242 | ## 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 Put $100 each into a $200 pot and deal every board once: 99 averages $159.66 back, ahead of its $100 by $59.66, while 43s averages $40.34, short of its $100 by $59.66. Per 1,000 deals: 99 wins about 795, 43s wins about 198, and about 7 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side The reversed view, 43s against 99, shows 20.17% for 43s and 79.83% for 99. It is the same count, so it redirects here. ## Keep exploring 9s9h 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 9s9h against 4d3d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s9h&p2=4d3d) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [88 vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-43s.md) - [99 vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-53s.md) - [TT vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/tt-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The figures are counted, not estimated: 1,712,304 boards for every suit pattern of the 24 specific deals, with both seven-card hands compared each time. Equity gives half a win for a tie. For the flop rows, a board is counted once under each of the ten flops inside it. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-43s.md) - [99 vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-53s.md) - [TT vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/tt-vs-43s.md)