--- title: "99 vs QTs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-qts.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-qts" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "99 vs QTs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.99% to 48.01% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a4s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a3s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qts.md"] --- # 99 vs QTs: preflop equity 99 vs QTs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.99% to 48.01% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. If 99 and QTs get all the chips in before the flop, 99 owns 51.99% of the pot in the long run and QTs owns 48.01%. ## 99 against QTs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 99 against QTs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 51.783 | 0.409 | 47.808 | 51.988 | | QTs | 47.808 | 0.409 | 51.783 | 48.012 | The matchup pits a pocket pair against a suited hand. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. Ties are part of the picture: 0.41% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win. For context, 99 sits at number 6 of 169 starting hands and QTs at number 34 when each is run 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 | 21,280,000 | 168,000 | 19,647,000 | | QTs | 19,647,000 | 168,000 | 21,280,000 | The total is exact: 24 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **99 against QTs 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 | 1.083 | 1.931 | 2.092 | 0.924 | | QTs | 0.924 | 2.092 | 1.931 | 1.083 | 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. 99 does best on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 76.67%, and worst on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, at 45.53%. The overall edge for 99 hides rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and two-tone flops, where QTs comes out in front. **99 against QTs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 99 wins | Ties | QTs wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 45.444 | 0.174 | 54.382 | 45.531 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 76.233 | 0.866 | 22.901 | 76.666 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 49.573 | 0.292 | 50.135 | 49.719 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 49.640 | 2.388 | 47.972 | 50.834 | | Paired | 17.334 | 58.453 | 0.295 | 41.252 | 58.601 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Start from the random-hand figures, 72.06% for 99 and 59.47% for QTs. This opponent changes them by -20.07 and -11.46 points. **99 and QTs 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 | 51.988 | 72.057 | -20.069 | 0.72148 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 45.531 | 72.057 | -26.526 | 0.63187 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 76.666 | 72.057 | +4.609 | 1.06396 | | 99, two-tone | 49.719 | 72.057 | -22.338 | 0.69000 | | 99, monotone | 50.834 | 72.057 | -21.223 | 0.70547 | | 99, paired | 58.601 | 72.057 | -13.456 | 0.81326 | | QTs, all flops | 48.012 | 59.468 | -11.456 | 0.80736 | | QTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 54.469 | 59.468 | -4.999 | 0.91594 | | QTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 23.334 | 59.468 | -36.134 | 0.39238 | | QTs, two-tone | 50.281 | 59.468 | -9.187 | 0.84551 | | QTs, monotone | 49.166 | 59.468 | -10.302 | 0.82676 | | QTs, paired | 41.399 | 59.468 | -18.069 | 0.69616 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 12 of them the hands share a suit and 99 holds 52.11%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 51.87%. The two rows differ by only 0.24 points, so suits barely change this matchup. **99 against QTs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 99 wins | Ties | QTs wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.881 | 0.449 | 47.670 | 52.106 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.686 | 0.368 | 47.946 | 51.870 | ## How often this matchup comes up You will meet this exact matchup 0.0030% of the time in a random heads-up deal: 48 of 1,624,350, counting either seat order. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. 99 is worth $103.98 on average (+$3.98); QTs is worth $96.02 (-$3.98). Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 518 for 99, 478 for QTs and 4 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side QTs versus 99 is this same page seen from the other hand: 48.01% for QTs, 51.99% for 99. ## Keep exploring Try 9s9h against QdTd 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 QdTd in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s9h&p2=QdTd) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [QTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qts.md) - [99 vs A4s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a4s.md) - [99 vs A3s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a3s.md) - [88 vs QTs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qts.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 24 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [99 vs A4s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a4s.md) - [99 vs A3s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-a3s.md) - [88 vs QTs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qts.md)