--- title: "99 vs AQo: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-aqo.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-aqo" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, 99 or AQo? 99 leads 55.39% to 44.61% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-ajo.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-kqs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqo.md"] --- # 99 vs AQo: preflop equity Who is ahead, 99 or AQo? 99 leads 55.39% to 44.61% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, 99 holds 55.39% equity against AQo, which leaves AQo with 44.61%. ## 99 against AQo: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 99 against AQo, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 55.194 | 0.385 | 44.421 | 55.386 | | AQo | 44.421 | 0.385 | 55.194 | 44.614 | The matchup pits a pocket pair against an offsuit 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. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. Split pots make up 0.39% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, 99 is number 6 and AQo is number 14. **Boards behind the percentages: 123,285,888 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 68,046,000 | 475,000 | 54,765,000 | | AQo | 54,765,000 | 475,000 | 68,046,000 | 72 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 AQo 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 | 1.241 | 1.812 | 2.251 | 0.806 | | AQo | 0.806 | 2.251 | 1.812 | 1.241 | 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) (79.63%) and weakest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (48.19%). AQo is ahead on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, even though it trails 99 when every flop is counted. **99 against AQo by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 99 wins | Ties | AQo wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.717 | 48.112 | 0.154 | 51.734 | 48.189 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 79.099 | 1.065 | 19.836 | 79.631 | | Two-tone | 46.485 | 54.091 | 0.325 | 45.584 | 54.254 | | Monotone | 5.151 | 50.844 | 1.708 | 47.448 | 51.698 | | Paired | 17.333 | 60.834 | 0.233 | 38.933 | 60.950 | 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 Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts 99 from 72.06% by -16.67 points and AQo from 64.43% by -19.82 points. **99 and AQo 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 | 55.386 | 72.057 | -16.671 | 0.76864 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.189 | 72.057 | -23.868 | 0.66876 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 79.631 | 72.057 | +7.574 | 1.10511 | | 99, two-tone | 54.254 | 72.057 | -17.803 | 0.75293 | | 99, monotone | 51.698 | 72.057 | -20.359 | 0.71746 | | 99, paired | 60.950 | 72.057 | -11.107 | 0.84586 | | AQo, all flops | 44.614 | 64.432 | -19.818 | 0.69242 | | AQo, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.811 | 64.432 | -12.621 | 0.80412 | | AQo, rainbow, nine or lower | 20.369 | 64.432 | -44.063 | 0.31613 | | AQo, two-tone | 45.746 | 64.432 | -18.686 | 0.70999 | | AQo, monotone | 48.302 | 64.432 | -16.130 | 0.74966 | | AQo, paired | 39.050 | 64.432 | -25.382 | 0.60607 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Split by suits, the deals give 99 55.30% when the hands overlap in a suit and 55.80% when they do not. 99 does better with no shared suit, by 0.50 points. **99 against AQo by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 99 wins | Ties | AQo wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 60 | 83.33 | 55.104 | 0.401 | 44.495 | 55.304 | | No shared suit | 12 | 16.67 | 55.644 | 0.305 | 44.051 | 55.797 | ## How often this matchup comes up 99 against AQo is made up of 72 specific-card matchups in one seat order, 0.0044% of the 1,624,350 ordered deals, and 144 counting both seat orders, 0.0089%. ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, 99's average share is $110.78 (a gain of $10.78) and AQo's is $89.22 (a loss of $10.78). Think in thousands: about 552 of 1,000 go to 99, about 444 go to AQo, and about 4 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, AQo against 99, is 44.61% to 55.39%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring Try 9s9h against AdQc 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 9s9h against AdQc in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s9h&p2=AdQc) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [AQo combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aqo.md) - [99 vs AJo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-ajo.md) - [99 vs KQs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-kqs.md) - [88 vs AQo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqo.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 72 ways to deal one 99 and one AQo without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [99 vs AJo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-ajo.md) - [99 vs KQs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-kqs.md) - [88 vs AQo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqo.md)