--- title: "99 vs A5s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a5s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a5s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "99 is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 66.04% to 33.96% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-kto.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a5s.md"] --- # 99 vs A5s: preflop equity 99 is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 66.04% to 33.96% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, 99 is ahead of A5s by 32.08 points of equity, 66.04% to 33.96%. ## 99 against A5s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 99 against A5s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 65.828 | 0.421 | 33.751 | 66.038 | | A5s | 33.751 | 0.421 | 65.828 | 33.962 | 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** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 27,052,000 | 173,000 | 13,870,000 | | A5s | 13,870,000 | 173,000 | 27,052,000 | 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** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 1.944 | 1.519 | 2.963 | 0.514 | | A5s | 0.514 | 2.963 | 1.519 | 1.944 | 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** | Flop | Share of flops | 99 wins | Ties | A5s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 65.791 | 0.199 | 34.010 | 65.890 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 74.074 | 0.903 | 25.023 | 74.526 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 64.222 | 0.306 | 35.472 | 64.375 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 60.960 | 2.402 | 36.638 | 62.161 | | Paired | 17.334 | 68.949 | 0.301 | 30.750 | 69.100 | 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** | Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99, all flops | 66.038 | 72.057 | -6.019 | 0.91647 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 65.890 | 72.057 | -6.167 | 0.91441 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 74.526 | 72.057 | +2.469 | 1.03426 | | 99, two-tone | 64.375 | 72.057 | -7.682 | 0.89339 | | 99, monotone | 62.161 | 72.057 | -9.896 | 0.86266 | | 99, paired | 69.100 | 72.057 | -2.957 | 0.95896 | | A5s, all flops | 33.962 | 59.923 | -25.961 | 0.56676 | | A5s, rainbow, ten or higher | 34.110 | 59.923 | -25.813 | 0.56923 | | A5s, rainbow, nine or lower | 25.474 | 59.923 | -34.449 | 0.42511 | | A5s, two-tone | 35.625 | 59.923 | -24.298 | 0.59451 | | A5s, monotone | 37.839 | 59.923 | -22.084 | 0.63146 | | A5s, paired | 30.900 | 59.923 | -29.023 | 0.51566 | ## 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** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 99 wins | Ties | A5s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 66.088 | 0.466 | 33.446 | 66.321 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 65.567 | 0.377 | 34.056 | 65.756 | ## 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%. ## Keep exploring 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. - [Open 9s9h against Ad5d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s9h&p2=Ad5d) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [A5s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md) - [99 vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a6s.md) - [99 vs KTo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-kto.md) - [88 vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a5s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## 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. ## Related - [99 vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a6s.md) - [99 vs KTo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-kto.md) - [88 vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a5s.md)