99 vs A5s: preflop equity

Averaged over every possible board, 99 is ahead of A5s by 32.08 points of equity, 66.04% to 33.96%.

99

66.04%

Wins 65.83%, ties 0.42%

A5s

33.96%

Wins 33.75%, ties 0.42%

Equity counts a tie as half a win. Exact over every board.

99 against A5s: the numbers

Exact preflop results for 99 against A5s, in percent
HandWinsTiesLosesEquity
9965.8280.42133.75166.038
A5s33.7510.42165.82833.962

99 is a pocket pair and A5s is a suited hand. The pair sits between the other hand's two cards: one is higher and one is lower, so the pair is exposed to the higher card.

That is a clear edge, 66.04% to 33.96%, but A5s still wins often enough that one hand proves nothing. Ties are 0.42% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot.

99 ranks number 6 of 169 starting hands, and A5s ranks number 30, by equity against a random hand.

Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all
HandBoards won, aboutBoards tied, aboutBoards lost, about
9927,052,000173,00013,870,000
A5s13,870,000173,00027,052,000

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 A5s read as odds
HandEquity as odds (to 1)Wins one deal inLoses one deal inPot odds needed to call (to 1)
991.9441.5192.9630.514
A5s0.5142.9631.5191.944

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

Break the boards down by their first three cards and 99 is strongest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (74.53%) and weakest on monotone flops (62.16%). 99 stays ahead on all five textures.

99 against A5s by flop texture, in percent
FlopShare of flops99 winsTiesA5s wins99 equity
Rainbow, ten or higher25.22065.7910.19934.01065.890
Rainbow, nine or lower5.68974.0740.90325.02374.526
Two-tone46.54564.2220.30635.47264.375
Monotone5.21260.9602.40236.63862.161
Paired17.33468.9490.30130.75069.100

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

Relative to a random opponent, 99 changes by -6.02 points (baseline 72.06%) and A5s by -25.96 points (baseline 59.92%).

99 and A5s here compared with each against a random hand, in percent
CaseEquity hereAgainst a random handChange in pointsTimes the random-hand equity
99, all flops66.03872.057-6.0190.91647
99, rainbow, ten or higher65.89072.057-6.1670.91441
99, rainbow, nine or lower74.52672.057+2.4691.03426
99, two-tone64.37572.057-7.6820.89339
99, monotone62.16172.057-9.8960.86266
99, paired69.10072.057-2.9570.95896
A5s, all flops33.96259.923-25.9610.56676
A5s, rainbow, ten or higher34.11059.923-25.8130.56923
A5s, rainbow, nine or lower25.47459.923-34.4490.42511
A5s, two-tone35.62559.923-24.2980.59451
A5s, monotone37.83959.923-22.0840.63146
A5s, paired30.90059.923-29.0230.51566

Does a shared suit matter?

Two kinds of deal exist here. In 12 of them the hands share a suit and 99 holds 66.32%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 65.76%. 99 does better with a shared suit, by 0.56 points.

99 against A5s by suit overlap, in percent
DealsSpecific dealsShare of deals99 winsTiesA5s wins99 equity
Share a suit1250.0066.0880.46633.44666.321
No shared suit1250.0065.5670.37734.05665.756

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

Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. 99 averages $132.08 from the $200, up $32.08; A5s averages $67.92, down $32.08.

Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 658 for 99, 338 for A5s and 4 tied.

The same matchup from the other side

One page covers both views. From A5s' side the equity is 33.96%, and from 99's side it is 66.04%.

Open the calculator with 9s9h against Ad5d 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 24 specific 99 against A5s 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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